Scirocco Central

Arrived back from a great honeymoon in California, two weeks of driving a naff Chrysler Sebring looking forward to driving the Roc back from Heathrow.

Went to pick up the car and this is what i found, gutted.
Some low life decided to break in and steal my head unit and log book. Armrest was open so obviously they were looking for an iPod which i don't use.

Directline are sorting everything out, so far they have been very good. Within a couple of hours the car had been recovered by Green Flag and an courtesy car arranged through enterprise without too much hassle. I hope the repairs are good quality, we shall see.

The hotel at which the car was parked had a park mark, CCTV and barriers but obviously this wasn't enough. They kindly (sarcasm) left a note on my windscreen to say the car had been broken into and i should report it to the Police on my return so my car was sitting like this for two weeks. Fortunately for them i was too tired yesterday to rip them a new arsehole as this could have all been sorted whilst i was away and avoided a lot of hassle. They made no attempt to contact the police to inform them of the incident or indeed me. Rest assured i will be venting my anger on them shortly. They hadn't even reviewed the CCTV for evidence!

Needless to say if you are travelling to Heathrow and leaving your car for any period don't leave it in the Sheraton Hotel car park. In any case the hotel is a s**t hole apart from the foyer / restaurant area, spend your cash elsewhere. Thankfully i paid over the internet and didn't pay £215 / night that they charge walk in customers.

I will let you know how things go with the repairs, new glass, headunit, log books / manuals and probably a host of interior trim. Will be taking a very close look at the instrument panel / glovebox and leather seats.

I really hope this doesn't happen to others, VW have assured me that the unit it useless without the code but i am sure people are finding a way around this otherwise there wouldn't be a market for these units.

thats really sad to hear jon. I was thinking it won't be much use without the code, have to be slightly worried about why they've nicked the logbook/manual.

& definitely make sure you give the hotel a piece of your mind as the very least they should have reported to the police.

Hope the wedding & honeymoon were enjoyable anyway

S

Don't wish to be alarmist but there have been known instances of car thieves using stolen log books to obtain duplicate keys in Europe and then come back for the car at a later date. I do hope that when you referred to the log book you simply meant the manual - if it was the V5 then I would contact the insurers and see if they will have the locks, ignition and alarm fob changed.

It's relatively easy for someone to get around the radio codes if they have the right software but I can't see there being a massive market for these head units, unlike some years ago when Ford Focus and Fiesta's were being broken into for fun.

If you're not already registered with Trip Advisor why not get registered and leave a review of the hotel for everyone to see

Usually Dealers write the radio code in the service book thing, probably why they took it.

Surely its a bit of a VW only fit, its not like the old days of banging a 300 quid stereo in your old cortina!
Very strange, maybe young kids who dont know any better.
Something else to worry about ...great!

RCD 510 can be retrofitted into most recent VW's and it is not standard on Golf GTI's etc so there is a big market for these if they can be recoded. The dealers don't write the code in the books apparently, it can only be accessed by VW if they have access to the serial number on the actual unit or VIN number.

When i say log book it was a copy of the Service Manual and vehicle manuals etc not the V5.

My stereo code is written on a card in my manual folder, which until I read this post was in the car!

john sorry to hear the news, just what you dont need on your return, after a long flight when you are shattered and just want to go home, these are a popular retrofit on vw's so desirable, thanks for the heads up on the location for future reference that's just bang out of order

congrats on the wedding though

wigit wrote: congrats on the wedding though

and to you too!

I think it's a very poor show that the hotel didn't even contact the police! I don't blame for being angry with them. I hope they catch the b*****ds and tear off their limbs.

John,

Sorry to hear the news, chop the gob-shites hands off, it's the only way.

Which Sheraton was it? I normally use the Sheraton Skyline although there is another Sheraton Somat-or-another.

I just got back from the US but my car arrived at the dealers while I was away. So I only left their loaner there, which was quite pleasing two weeks ago even more so now........

Steve

stevieboy wrote:John,

Sorry to hear the news, chop the gob-shites hands off, it's the only way.

Which Sheraton was it? I normally use the Sheraton Skyline although there is another Sheraton Somat-or-another.

I just got back from the US but my car arrived at the dealers while I was away. So I only left their loaner there, which was quite pleasing two weeks ago even more so now........

Steve

No it wasn't the skyline but the other sheraton on colnbrook by-pass.

The Hotel said they didn't have my car reg x-referenced with the room booking which they don't normally do anyway so couldn't contact me. I find it strange that they allow cars to park in there car park just yards from the runways at heathrow for long periods of time and have no idea who has parked them there. Surely this is a potential security risk to the airport? I have passed this info onto the Police.

Car is now at a local garage, going to spend a couple of hours with the insurance assesor inspecting for damage tommorrow before he puts his quote into the insurance company.

that really is shocking, and the roc has a loud alarm aswell.

at least your window was covered though to stop anymore rain getting in.

SCOTT wrote:that really is shocking, and the roc has a loud alarm aswell.

at least your window was covered though to stop anymore rain getting in.

Yeah they get some credit for at least doing that.

I'm so sorry to hear this, what a pain to come back to it. Hope the wedding and honeymoon were lovely, regardless, and that you get the car quickly sorted. I don't blame you for wanting to rip into the hotel, its standards seem lax to me.

Thanks, latest news is that i may not get my car back before Christmas. Boooooo!

how is it taking so long mate?? do you have some sort of courtsey vehicle?

SCOTT wrote:how is it taking so long mate?? do you have some sort of courtsey vehicle?

I have a 1.2 Corsa courtesy of my insurance company, just to rub it in i found out today that i only get to keep it for two weeks max. Really missing the roc now, driving has become a real chore.

That's not good news. Usually I leave my car on long stay parking. Is it safer? I would be really gutted to find my car in similar state after coming back from holiday.

Out of interested how did they remove it? Did they remove the screws or just rip it out of the dash?