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...