I'm sure this has happened to many others. Bought a new Citroen Picasso from a Citroen main dealer and had the spare wheel stolen after about two weeks - very easy - thief simply lifted the spare wheel carrier out of its holding hook and hey presto I'm about £200.00+ down.
To add insult to injury the dealer said it's a common problem (has been for years), particularly on French cars. Why wasn't I told when I bought the car - I would happily have paid to have the (now fitted) dealer available security device fitted? Call me a cynic but could it be to do with the earnings potential for dealers!!
Anyway - wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and successfully or otherwise argued the case with a dealer for a part or total contribution toward the cost of replacement?
Silver
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Was it really that simple? Surely if the carrier is done up reasonably tightly it would be impossible to just "lift up"? If it was that loose wouldn't there also be a danger of the carrier boumcing out of the hook? Course, even if it's done up tight, the thief could always use bolt cutters..... Presumably there's another 3 or 4 Picassos with the same problem in your area so that the thief has a full set???
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This was a favourite theft item on Fiestas, especially with a nice, new alloy underneath the back end.
Four cars, a half hours work & ££££ earned in the pub car park.
They were always awkward to tighten the securing bracket fully, many owners didn't.
Why have all the board, rushed outside & started praying to the rear of their cars, by the way?!!
VB
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I suffered this on a Citroen ZX years ago. They simply cut the rack in two points under the car and hey presto.
I went to the dealers and he instantly knew the price of the new wheel, rack and labour (about £400 from memory) because "it happens all the time".
The clamp that prevents it was available from stock at £25.
It is a complete money-spinning con.
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Suffered the same fate about four years ago. My wife's Saxo lost a brand new spare while the thieves left my part used one propped against the 106 I had at the time. A mechanic at my local Cit dealer reckoned it would take him about two seconds to spring the carrier from it's hook, and as in Woody's case he confirmed that it was a common problem.
We had a couple of more Saxo's after that and after about 100 miles from delivery I would swop the spare for one of the fronts. Thieves are not interested in anything used, they want something they can sell as brand new. Another method is to spraypaint the tread a nice bright pink. Soon wear off when you have to use it, but usless to anyone trying to pass it off as a legit wheel & tyre.
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Very common in my neck of the woods. Several feet of 3/8" steel chain and a big Masters padlock is SOP. Never lost one yet.
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Was it really that simple? Surely if the carrier is done up reasonably tightly it would be impossible to just "lift up"?
It really was that simple, especially on the Renault 19, where they just bent the lugs of the fixing bracket outwards. The catch then slides off the cradle. After removing the wheel they put the cradle back and bent one lug to hold it in place.
I noticed my wheel had gone when I reached the south of France and got a puncture! Toe-rags, was the air bleu? Of course M. Froggy was only to pleased to help me out. Not!
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We've had the same problem with a Saxo, and yes, it's a common problem. However:
> Why wasn't I told when I bought the car
We can't say we didn't know about this: we did, as HJ mentions it in his car-by-car breakdown. But we still never checked on a regular basis, and only noticed by chance. What baffles me is, why would anyone want our ropey old spare - it's only a "get-you-home" job isn't it - certainly not the same width as the VTRs tyres.
Carole
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My car has the standard vauxhall alloys fitted to it and i was suprised when the spare was also a alloy wheel, but to be honest if it was stolen somehow i wouldn't bother paying for another alloy wheel just to sit around doing nothing save yourselfs a lot of money just buy a steely as a spare.
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Have a look at this co. which sells locks for the cradle :
www.ospreyproducts.co.uk
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In my experience as a lease car manager, theft of the spare wheel from French built cars on the fleet was a regular occurrence. When the problem was drawn to the attention of the manufacturers, they responded with; "such theft just doesn't happen on the continent so it must be a British thing".
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We bought our car around about the same time. Last year when we took for service, the mechanic said our spare was stolen. So I spent £200+ as well. Only on Sat when we took the car for MOt they said the spare is gone again. At no point did they let us know there is a solution this problem, except they asked us to keep the spare in my garage. Ummm! Anyway the car has been in garage for most of its time since last year. So now I ask myself if Citroen doing this? Yep definate cash pot for Citroen.
What can we do? I am writing to Citroen UK after gather some evidence.
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I cover the spare in a very dirty plastic sack..and tighten up hard so impossible to lever off.
As the bag is black it's not very visible and of course impossible to see condition of tyre or wheel. So hopefully not worth the effort of low lives as they don't know what they are getting (part worn tyre/steel wheel:-)
madf
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Same thing happened with the spare on our Citroen Berlingo. Again, the salesman didn't mention it when we were buying - but when it happened, another member of staff at the dealer acknowledged that he had heard this was a problem with some Peugeot/Citroen vehicles.
We keep the spare in the boot now. The Berlingo boot is big, so we don't miss the space, and if we do need the spare, we can access it more quickly.
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Had my Picasso for 2 years and the spare is still there. Pity the same can't be said for the roof bars...
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Happens to a lot of cars that have 'under car storage' like the PUGs and more recently the VX Zafira. My parents had wheels taken from their 405 and 205 once upon a time and now that I have my PUG - got a PUG wheel bolt-thingy fitted to safeguard it. Sometimes you only know of the shortcomings through experience, sorry to hear about your loss :(
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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Just been outside and done the vansboy prayer bit!
Spares still present and correct on both Xantia and Berlingo. Think we were offered some sort of lock as an extra on the Berlingo.
If the maker gives you a spare at all it has to be put somewhere and at least with the underslung arrangement there's no need to empty the boot onto a wet car park to access it. Never lost one yet in 16 years of BX's, 205, Xantia and Berlingo, no alloys though.
Pug104 and siblings kept it on top of the engine, but then you had to lift the damn thing out to check the oil!!
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Yeah, I remember my Talbot Samba's spare wheel was mounted on top of engine! Many a time I went back to the garage to collect it after a service as they had forgotten to replace it!
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A friend of mine had his nicked by a garage that he took his car to for some work. They denied it and how can he prove it? Still he's unlucky like that.
Steve.
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Some Renaults used to have the spare under the bonnet as well. It was a sensible idea since you were more likely to keep an eye on the pressure as you checked your water and oil weekly - we all do that don't we... Yes!!
Also I found on my old Renault 5 that if you turned the wheel upside down, an old biscuit tin fitted perfectly. I could then keep a few tools in it.
Later Renaults then slung the tyre under the back, where it was prone to theft and getting filthy. My Megane has the tyre back in the boot again, presumably because there wouldn't be room under the bonnet on a modern car - more gadgets etc.
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