# thief almost got my wheels



## eurmail2001 (Jun 27, 2007)

In Caen, FR, a thief succeeded in taking all four wheels off my 550i, but a hotel clerk
interrupted him before he could get away with the goods. Check out the picture:


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## Asteroid (Aug 17, 2005)

Holy schlitz!!!!!!!!! 
Sorry to hear about your troubles.
Was your car in the hotel parking lot? Did it happen overnight?


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## Northcar (Sep 21, 2005)

eurmail2001 said:


> In Caen, FR, a thief succeeded in taking all four wheels off my 550i, but a hotel clerk
> interrupted him before he could get away with the goods. Check out the picture:


Ouch, I hope there was no damage done to the brake discs and underbody where the bricks were placed. You might want to have the alignment checked out at the nearest BMW Service facility. Having been robbed by highway robbers in France, I feel your pain. My take is law enforcement is much more lax in France than it is in Germany and Austria and the criminals are quite brazen.


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## Papillo (Feb 11, 2008)

OMG that is insane!!! thank goodness the bastard was caught. i hope you have a safe rest of your trip.


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## kjboyd (Apr 13, 2006)

hmm, looks too OLD and beat up to have been a euro delivery, and it clearly says he drives a Vette... but i'm trying to give more people the benefit of the doubt these days...


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## Gig103 (Sep 10, 2007)

kjboyd said:


> hmm, looks too OLD and beat up to have been a euro delivery, and it clearly says he drives a Vette...


Except the street signs are European, the sign behind the car is French, and the Zoll plate isn't a photoshop.

That really sucks, I did not enjoy France as much as Germany, or Italy in my trip, they just didn't seem to care about cars at all.


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## kjboyd (Apr 13, 2006)

wow, see there is this thing called the internet and you can find photos of all kinds of things and claim they are your own. =)

but who knows, maybe it really did happen.


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## Lanc3r (Sep 5, 2004)

kjboyd said:


> hmm, looks too OLD and beat up to have been a euro delivery, and it clearly says he drives a Vette...


You mean like the rust free rotors?


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## InsaneSkippy (Aug 28, 2007)

Lanc3r said:


> You mean like the rust free rotors?


Pfft, well clearly those were just put on before the so called "robbery" happened :rofl:

In all seriousness it really does suck. I'm glad I won't be going in to France at all on my ED.


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## Papillo (Feb 11, 2008)

kjboyd said:


> hmm, looks too OLD and beat up to have been a euro delivery, and it clearly says he drives a Vette... but i'm trying to give more people the benefit of the doubt these days...


What exactly looks old and beat up on that car? perhaphs he drives a vette becuase he is getting his first BMW? Besides he is listed on the April ED pickup calendar for Ed pick up on the 10th. why would anyone go through all that effort just to elicit sympathy from a bunch of strangers on the web? :dunno:

Anyway goodluck OP, hopefully there wasnt any major damage and any damage should be fixed once it gets back to the states.


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## itzeug (Feb 22, 2006)

holy crap at least they got cought. i hope you had a word with them before turning them over to the police..


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## Bikie (May 2, 2004)

Bummer! Please tell us the rest of the story. Did the police get the @#$%oles? How did you get repairs done? What hotel. Did they offer help or comps post theft?


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## eurmail2001 (Jun 27, 2007)

kjboyd said:


> hmm, looks too OLD and beat up to have been a euro delivery, and it clearly says he drives a Vette... but i'm trying to give more people the benefit of the doubt these days...


Funny, I'm a seasoned skeptic with 54 years under my belt, but it really never occurred to me that someone would doubt the authenticity of my story.

Nope, that's a real picture of my brand new, abused, 2008 550i. Picked it up in Munich on April 11th (one day late because of the American Airlines fiasco--but that story is for another thread), and enjoyed it immensely for a couple of weeks touring the Black Forest.

Then we went to Caen, FR, a mid-sized city in the Normandy region. That's where the real adventure in ED began. Arrived the evening of Fri 25 April, staying at a chain motel called Mercure. I parked in their private lot, fenced but not gated. Next morning I went to breakfast and noticed four wheels-and-tires propped up in the entry to the lobby and wondered whether a racing team had stayed the night, perhaps deciding to secure their gear in the lobby. Finished breakfast, decided to have a look at the wheels and saw they resembled those on my car.

Had a very bad feeling.

Went directly out to my car and found it in the state you see in the photo. No damage except for the aerodynamic panels under the doors. The thief first tried to jack the car under those panels and poked a square hole in each, then wised up and found the jack points in the frame. He also scratched the front right bumper in two places, probably while slinging the cinder blocks around.

We spent most of the rest of the day finding a mechanic to acquire new lug bolts, jack up the car, and reinstall the wheels. We also worked with a "technical investigator," a police officer who took photos and fingerprints. Then we found a police station that wrote up a report with which we are documenting our insurance claim. Neither my wife nor I speak a lick of French, but the hotel manager was with us every step of the way, probably because he was real eager to get that vandalized car off his property.

By mid-afternoon, the car was up and running and our insurance and police work was done. We took a drive, saw some sights, and confirmed the mech's assessment that the car was fine: no brake, alignment, or balance trouble. Just had to reset the computer's understanding of the tire pressure.

Now, to me, the most interesting thing about this thread is kjboyd's comment, "...he drives a Vette..." which apparently fuels his suspicion about my report. Do we, here at Bimmerfest, have a problem with Corvette drivers?


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## mondo21 (Dec 26, 2007)

Sorry to here this. Glad to see things worked out relatively well. Please update us if things change, ie insurance issues, problems at pickup, etc. Thanks.


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## BillLumberg (Mar 30, 2006)

Sorry to hear about your poor car. Has anyone installed wheel locks during ED? You've got me worried now...


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## Daytona550 (Mar 4, 2008)

You know, I have seen this sort of thing happen in the past, but never have I seen a thief cut corners and only use TWO cinder blocks. Any seasoned crook knows that SOP is to use FOUR cinder blocks. What is this world coming to??

To eurmail2001, sorry to hear about your troubles. I can only imagine your heart sinking when first seeing your brand new car. I hope your beauty comes home in good shape and gets a warm spot next to the Vette. Nice car combo in my book.


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## valeram (Oct 18, 2006)

Man that sucks plus you lost one day of touring around the place. Is France really that bad? So far, the only posting that I read that regards to thef happened in France. I just hope that it is just an isolated case. Hang in there man and just enjoy your trip.


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## bagbklyn (Apr 28, 2006)

*I would be pissed*

You handled this well under the circumstances. I wish you all the best on the rest of your trip and don't let what happened spoil the rest of your trip...


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## bmwfanwashdc (Feb 28, 2007)

I think Kjboyd needs some "risperdal".... def a freaking paranoid .... and that is being nice.


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## chaz58 (Sep 11, 2007)

Holy crap. I have seen some pretty wierd things in france, and that is sure up there on the list. I bet the Hotel Manager couldn't wait to get that out of his lot - certainly not good for business!!!


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## Adi (Jun 3, 2006)

mondo21 said:


> Good question.
> 
> Maybe BMW is selling cars in the US at a loss but making it up on volume.


Nope. 
They're shafting their European customers in order to stay in business in the US (ie Euro customers are unwittingly subsidizing US customers).


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## beewang (Dec 18, 2001)

Adi said:


> Nope.
> They're shafting their European customers in order to stay in business in the US (ie Euro customers are unwittingly subsidizing US customers).


And if the same thing was done by the Asia countries (i.e Silicon Chips back in the 80's) its called "DUMPING"


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## Lanc3r (Sep 5, 2004)

beewang said:


> And if the same thing was done by the Asia countries (i.e Silicon Chips back in the 80's) its called "DUMPING"


Cashflow drives development.


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## mondo21 (Dec 26, 2007)

Adi said:


> Nope.
> They're shafting their European customers in order to stay in business in the US (ie Euro customers are unwittingly subsidizing US customers).


I was being facetious. You can't sell at a loss then make it up on volume.

That being said, I think you're right about the subsidy issue. What can you do?:dunno:


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## b-y (Sep 14, 2004)

Gran Turismo said:


> Yes, we get them by default.
> But that still doesn't fully explain why we're paying about 50% more for the same cars...


First, to *eurmail2001*: Glad to read you are safely back on the road. I greatly admire your (now?) calm approach to ths.

Now, to the pricing questions: International pricing disparities are the norm--just look at all the debate over the pricing of pharmaceuticals in the US vs. the rest of the world. The pricing differences *may*, but do not always, indicate dumping. If you want a detailed explanation of the underlying economics, let me know and we can start another thread.

--Your friendly economist.


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## CarSwami (Oct 2, 2005)

Eurmail2001

What a dreadful experience to go through. I'm glad that everything worked out well for you in the end. Be sure to provide all the details when you drop the car off so that VPC/VDC can take a good look at the matter prior to redelivery. And hats off to you for the way you handled the entire event. I'd probably have gone nuts and used French cuss words that I didn't even know I knew!


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## mondo21 (Dec 26, 2007)

b-y said:


> First, to *eurmail2001*: Glad to read you are safely back on the road. I greatly admire your (now?) calm approach to ths.
> 
> Now, to the pricing questions: International pricing disparities are the norm--just look at all the debate over the pricing of pharmaceuticals in the US vs. the rest of the world. The pricing differences *may*, but do not always, indicate dumping. If you want a detailed explanation of the underlying economics, let me know and we can start another thread.
> 
> --Your friendly economist.


Is the general concept: You charge what the market will bear? If not, start another thread please.:thumbup:

--Your friendly MBA graduate


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## JanV (Mar 31, 2008)

*Wheel locks*

I'm dropping my car off immediately. I spoke with Thomas who estimates that the car will be on the ship within 8 days after drop-off. Do you think locks are a good idea? Should I take some from here?


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## Calvette (Oct 4, 2007)

eurmail2001 said:


> <snip>Do we, here at Bimmerfest, have a problem with Corvette drivers?


I hope not.


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## b-y (Sep 14, 2004)

mondo21 said:


> Is the general concept: You charge what the market will bear? If not, start another thread please.:thumbup:
> 
> --Your friendly MBA graduate


See post at: http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3252662#post3252662


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## chaz58 (Sep 11, 2007)

It couldn't hurt, but I wouldn't worry about it.

It does seem to make a difference where you go. Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, Austria are relatively safe. Other countries (France, Italy, Eastern block) are going to see $$$ when they see some furiner driving a nice new expensive BMW. If you are in a high crime area (many tourist areas), its an easy target. I know Europeaners who won't leave a pair of tennis shoes in a car parked at a touristy area in another country.



JanV said:


> I'm dropping my car off immediately. I spoke with Thomas who estimates that the car will be on the ship within 8 days after drop-off. Do you think locks are a good idea? Should I take some from here?


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## ed2008 (Jun 17, 2007)

BillLumberg said:


> Sorry to hear about your poor car. Has anyone installed wheel locks during ED? You've got me worried now...


I thought about that already. Called Irv to see if they came on the car. They do not. It is a dealer prep/add-on in the states. Irv is sending a set to me to take to Munchen. He said they would be glad to put them on at my pick-up. :thumbup:


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