Hi,

One of my friends at work had her mini one stolen without keys , it was a 2002 model , i was just curious as i have heard of houses been broken into to take keys for the car to steal, is this only with newer mini's? can a bmw mini one 2002 be stolen easily without the keys?

Thanks guys

can a bmw mini one 2002 be stolen easily without the keys?



One of my friends at work had her mini one stolen without keys , it was a 2002 model ,

Yes?


i was just curious as i have heard of houses been broken into to take keys for the car to steal, is this only with newer mini's?


Pretty sure that if you steal the keys for any car, it will work with the car for which they were stolen.

Sorry if i didn't make my question clear enough!

I know any car can be stolen with the keys!

My question was that is it easier to steal an earlier mini than a newer one.

I think they both come with an immobiliser but is the later better?

you question was perfectly clear.
maybe a loader? i'm sure it had an imoboliser. can't see the point unless to break it. unless they cloned the key?

All Mini's have an engine imobolisor fitted which won't allow the engine to be started without the correct key but alarms were still optional in 2002.

As said the Mini could have been lifted on a low loader lorry.......if it had an alarm this would have sounded but many people no longer react to car alarms going off.
On a 10 year old secondhand car there could also be several other spare programmed keys circulating in the 'wrong hands' for the car from previous owners......

There have also been recent cases of 'secure' cars including new BMW's being opened and stolen reported on forums like Pistonheads, so it may that the thieves have developed some new technology or methods which are as yet not widely understood?

All good points from mab01uk - not sure there's much else to add. :)

There have also been recent cases of 'secure' cars including new BMW's being opened and stolen reported on forums like Pistonheads, so it may that the thieves have developed some new technology or methods which are as yet not widely understood?

However, and without wanting to go too far off topic...

I was speaking to a mate in the motor industry about this not so long ago... some of the "techniques" which thieves have come up with to steal cars which supposedly can't be stolen borders on frankly unbelievable.

Thankfully, none of the tales related to BMW or MINI, but – without going into too much detail – there are apparently well documented cases of Mercedes and Bentley models being stolen without keys which beggar belief... no low loaders, no super high tech gadgets, just ways of exploiting a car's security features so that alarms and immobilisers can be deactivated, the doors unlocked and the ignition started.

At the end of the day, I guess if someone is determined enough to steal your car, they'll jolly well find a way and there isn't much you can do about it! :(

Hi,

I thought i would update this to let everyone know what actually happened.

It turns out she was actually part of a parking scam that day that affected dozens of people! The car was illegally lifted away from a free parking area as was many others cars!

She is meant to be getting the car back today.

Thanks for all the replies :)

Many years ago I had my car stolen off the street in broad daylight. I asked the policeman taking my report how this could have been prevented. He was quick to respond by saying always park in a lot that requires you to pay when you leave. No thief will invest as little as 25 cents in your car.

Cheers...