BMW Steering wheel stolen

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Tue 5 Dec 2023 00:38
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Warning

My neighbours owns a BMW and had his steering wheel stolen.

In the camera footage, they were in the car for 30 seconds. They managed to disable the alarm. Only a single beep from the horn.

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Tue 5 Dec 2023 07:30
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Dave N
Its big here in sweden. No prizes for guessing where they go, for onward sale to the rest of europe and america.
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Tue 5 Dec 2023 21:02
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Lee Power

Be warned if the vehicle has a steering wheel lock fitted that it makes it easier for this theft to occur.

The usual damage is they take the steering wheel including top part of the column out including the stalk pack.

From what I've seen elsewhere it seems its a design weakness in the upper mechanical end stop in the manually adjustable telescopic column that allow the complete top part to be ripped out.

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Wed 6 Dec 2023 09:19
BMW Steering wheel stolen - badbusdriver

Be warned if the vehicle has a steering wheel lock fitted that it makes it easier for this theft to occur.

The usual damage is they take the steering wheel including top part of the column out including the stalk pack.

From what I've seen elsewhere it seems its a design weakness in the upper mechanical end stop in the manually adjustable telescopic column that allow the complete top part to be ripped out.

So if a steering wheel lock is fitted, it is easier to steal the steering wheel than if no steering wheel lock fitted?

Really?

;-)

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Wed 6 Dec 2023 10:52
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Falkirk Bairn

20+ years ago there was an epidemic of airbags being stolen from cars - Honda was a prime target.

It got so bad Honda could not supply replacements. In steps a "shady businessman" who had stocks of 2nd hand airbags.

He had teams out stealing the airbags then he was re-selling on-line to people that had had their car broken into and the airbag stolen - 2nd hand at prices higher than brand new.

It came to an end when Honda had all the airbag serial numbers tied to the chassis number of new cars.

The "businessman" received a long period inside.

Apparently, in the US, there has been recent increase in airbag thefts - £1500 - £2000+ for new airbags so a "good margin" for the thief.

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Wed 6 Dec 2023 11:07
BMW Steering wheel stolen - gordonbennet

Good grief, there really is nothing these low lifes will stoop to, anything bar a days work.

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Wed 6 Dec 2023 11:47
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Maxime.

Round here it.s the valve caps on the tyres and anything else detachable.

Including windscreen wipers.

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Thu 7 Dec 2023 07:59
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Lee Power

Edited by Lee Power on 07/12/2023 at 08:00

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Thu 7 Dec 2023 08:02
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Lee Power

The steering wheel lock gives the thief more leverage to yank the top part of the column out.

Plenty of videos on YouTube if you don't believe me.

Search: BMW M4 F83 competition, steering wheel and lock stolen in under 10 seconds

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Wed 6 Dec 2023 19:06
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Warning

He had to have the car towed away. When the tow truck came, I still don't know how the chap managed to drive the car on to the tow truck, without a steering wheel.....

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Wed 6 Dec 2023 19:27
BMW Steering wheel stolen - RT

He had to have the car towed away. When the tow truck came, I still don't know how the chap managed to drive the car on to the tow truck, without a steering wheel.....

Provided the steering lock isn't on the front wheels can be kicked to alter direction as it's being winched up the flat bed.

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Wed 6 Dec 2023 19:33
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Steveieb

I would have thought that Audi headlights would be an attractive alternative at £2500 each and possibly simpler to remove ?

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Wed 6 Dec 2023 20:30
BMW Steering wheel stolen - badbusdriver

He had to have the car towed away. When the tow truck came, I still don't know how the chap managed to drive the car on to the tow truck, without a steering wheel.....

Provided the steering lock isn't on the front wheels can be kicked to alter direction as it's being winched up the flat bed.

Also, and again assuming steering lock isn't on, self grip pliers on the exposed end of the steering column. Seen plenty of steering wheel-less cars being moved like that when I worked in garages!

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Wed 6 Dec 2023 22:16
BMW Steering wheel stolen - bathtub tom

Also, and again assuming steering lock isn't on, self grip pliers on the exposed end of the steering column. Seen plenty of steering wheel-less cars being moved like that when I worked in garages!

I understand stolen cars were often driven like that!

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Thu 7 Dec 2023 08:53
BMW Steering wheel stolen - skidpan

Round here it.s the valve caps on the tyres and anything else detachable

Wow, that must get them enough cash to feed a serious drug habit.

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Sat 23 Dec 2023 02:20
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Warning

UPDATE: Spoke to my neighbhour about why his car was n't back. He said the insurers wrote off his car as a write-off. Something about taking too long.

It was a 2018/2019 4 Series BMW. They bought nearly new. Don't think it was high mileage. Looked clean and new.

Help me understand - how does a stolen steering wheel make a car a write-off?

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Sat 23 Dec 2023 06:31
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Xileno

Is a hire car involved?

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Sat 23 Dec 2023 09:07
BMW Steering wheel stolen - bathtub tom

The insurance company can get quite a premium when the car is sold and who knows, the eventual purchaser may even re-unite it with the original wheel.

Cynical, moi?

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Sat 23 Dec 2023 09:54
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Ethan Edwards

Help me understand - how does a stolen steering wheel make a car a write-off?

Easy. Constructive Total Loss. Say value of car 1000 pounds. Replacement parts say 500 quid but Labour will be say 450 add in VAT etc and it costs more to repair than it's worth. BMW will be charging premium prices for new OEM replacements. And as another poster said x days of car hire at 150 quid a day ...the costs can soon make repair uneconomic.

Edited by Ethan Edwards on 23/12/2023 at 09:56

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Sat 23 Dec 2023 12:57
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Andrew-T

<< Easy. Constructive Total Loss. Say value of car 1000 pounds. Replacement parts say 500 quid ... >>

I think a 4/5-year-old BMW should be worth rather more than that, even for example ?

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Sun 24 Dec 2023 10:16
BMW Steering wheel stolen - Brit_in_Germany

The issue here would be more like the car is worth £10,000 with the steering wheel or £9,000 to someone pepared to repair it and sell on. As the replacement parts are not immediately available, the insurance company faces paying for weeks of hire car costs but if they write the car off it only costs them the £1,000 difference in values.

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