29/05/2013
Case study
SUMMER DROP TOP DRIVING RECOVERED FOR COBRA CUSTOMER
• Technology marketer Rod Banner has car recovered in just 45 minutes from first reporting
• Banner's Audi A5 convertible one of the 75% of vehicles stolen that are taken with their keys
• Average cost of stolen cars is nearly £35k according to Cobra
• Massive lesson learned, says Banner; always look after car keys
If it wasn't for the CobraTrak stolen vehicle tracking device hidden inside Rod Banner's pride and joy, he might never have seen his Audi A5 convertible ever again. Angel investor and technology marketer Banner had left the £45,000 Audi parked on the road outside his house in a leafy part of Wandsworth, London when it was stolen on a weekend at the end of March.
"We realised it was missing on a Sunday lunchtime when my wife was heading out to visit some friends in the country. Usually I am incredibly reticent to let her borrow my car as usually returns it knee-deep in Starbucks cups and chewing gum wrappers.
"She couldn't find the car where I told her I'd left it. We searched up and down the road but it had clearly disappeared and the horrific truth suddenly dawned. My first reaction was shock that my car had been stolen; the second was relief that my wife was not going to be able to borrow it!
"The first thing I did was ring Cobra Vehicle Security call centre to find out where the car was. I didn't have access to the web portal as I would usually do as I my password was in my office. The team at Cobra were unable to disclose the location of the car as the situation had now escalated into a crime and I needed to obtain a crime number.
"To cut a long story short, the whole process of reporting the car stolen, getting a crime number, Cobra locating the car and the police picking me up to go collect it and then me sitting in the driver's seat was under two hours.
"It was left in an open car park in Merton, just five miles away, and the spare wheel and my iPod had been taken. However, it was locked up and there was no damage. The thief must have used my spare key to take the car yet we had no break in or damage to the house, so it remains a mystery how they got hold of the key in the first place.
"It's a massive lesson learned for me - always keep an eye on your car keys. Without the CobraTrak stolen vehicle tracking product, which was installed in my car when I purchased it, I wouldn't have a car anymore. According to Cobra, of the cars stolen with one of their tracking products fitted, a massive 75% are taken by stealing the keys.
"I'm in the privileged position that my car was a very specific order and to have got the exact same specification on the exact same model, I would have been waiting about eight months for a replacement. This would have meant I would have missed the chance to drive around in the summer in a drop top - another reason why I'm so grateful to the CobtraTrak, the team at Cobra Vehicle Security and the Metropolitan Police."
Ends...
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