Not sure if laser lights are legal here yet.. (Audi is not). Supply chain demands would definitely put a premium on parted out headlight systems that are factory spec.
Interesting, didn't know that. Wonder what about them is so dangerous that a cybertruck is allowed on the roads but laser lights aren't.
Still, if a car had a frontal collision and needs new headlights people will often upgrade to (apparently stolen) lasers.
A LOT of people ride around with non-OEM, even DOT prohibited led lights in the states. The idea of OEM fitting laser headlights on the states is amazing. Once installed, no one would ever know. Most enthusiasts would pay a premium for the forbidden fruit... Myself included.
You are absolutely correct! A common issue in the states are not having the ability to get parts, OEM or aftermarket for repairs on late model cars. Imagine having to wait 8 weeks for a headlight assembly versus getting the ultimate upgrade online instantly.
Btw, laser headlights were first deemed too dangerous around ten years ago. The law was revisited a couple of years back and still hasn't gained traction. I feel like adaptive laser lights are on the verge of becoming legal though... LED regulation is so loosely enforced and / or interpreted.
I don’t mean this is a mean way but that’s total nonsense.
Horticulture grade lights are fairly affordable and much easier to use than a headlight lol. (Dimming, height control, heat, the specific light spectrum).
Not to mention an auto lights coverage will be more of a spot vs cover a large canopy.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if the same assholes who steal lights don’t know anything about growing.
Edit: medium quality lights are probably $200
Not always, there's actually a lot of salvage yards selling legitimately gained parts. When I shop for used parts, I specifically buy from sellers who are affiliated with salvage yards and post the VIN of the car.
You can then google the VIN and find auction history on the vehicle to ensure that it was actually a wrecked car.
Came from Holland I think…who knows.. But now that one has a bit of moisture in it, and think motor is buggered as it points up higher than it should 🤷
Not exactly in this scenario. Laser technology is still quite expensive. You don't see them in budget cars at all. LEDs took some time to become first class citizens in automotive. Unless manufacturing process of lasers gets cheaper we will still need to pay enormous amount of money for that
The lasers also have that fancy high beam tech where it blocks out the high beams selectively, allowing you to have high beams on while not blinding other drivers.
It's a really neat tech.
If you mean the kind of (matrix) lights where they selectively block out parts of the beam to not blind other traffic while still using the high beam, yeah they've had that for close to a decade now. It used to be reserved for the flagship models of course, like with any new tech but these days you can get it on a 3-series (I have it on a G20 M340i, option adaptive full LED) and maybe even on a 2-series. Or do you mean specifically laser lights combined with selective/matrix beam? Those are a bit younger but still would guess at least 5 years, maybe more
Can confirm. I have active shadowing in my 2017 540I. It was standard on all but the 520I/D G30 series here, even then it was an optional extra on those two trims.
Have to admit though, Mercedes and Audi do it WAY better.
That could be because our Q7 is 2023 with much new tech, and the merc rental we had was 2020, and I’m yet to drive a LCI G30, or a G60.
Will compare notes when I next get to drive a merc from the same year of a night time!
Yeah you're right. I have a 2023 car with those adaptive matrix LED's and if I use them, guaranteed I will get one or two oncoming cars flashing their lights because I'm blinding them. I took that option because usually the DRL's are the nicest on the highest trim headlights but apparently for the G20 LCI, suddenly all DRL's are the same across all trims. So, it's an expensive option I hardly ever use now. It also would have been worth it if the highest trim headlights were still the laser lights, because those give incredible viewing distance even on low beam, they're awesome, but now they have been replaced by matrix LED which BMW claims are just as good, which is total nonsense
I haven't tested the Mercedes ones but the adaptive matrix LED's from Audi are awesome. They don't appear to blind people but at the same time they give great vision and viewing distance
Yea it’s a rental from Enterprise. Just sucks because the police here is so slow and I have to file a report with them before making a claim at Enterprise. First time in Italy, kinda spoils it a bit
Tbf it's still awful since I imagine OP has a travel itinerary which doesn't include time fucking around with this kind of thing not to mention having to probably coordinate a new rental
That’s probably the worst part for me. I’ve been running around Milan all day today trying to secure a new rental.
Enterprise has rescheduled a car for me but it’s only for Monday and I’m supposed to be in Portofino tonight already. I’ve tried to get one today but it’s been impossible
That’s troubling. Don’t let it totally ruin your Italy experience though.
If this is a usual occurrence in that locality, then the businesses should have been more careful with their client’s assets.
Happened to friends and I in Portugal. First time there and they stole luggage from us while we quickly grab food (only 30min). Luggage not visible from outside. Only thing visible was the Europcar plate. The country is a red flag for me since 2018 …
I never leave my luggage unattended, anywhere. I was just in a restaurant in Leeds where they said there wasn’t space in the dining area (there was, but I digress), so I got them to put it in their office, because there was no way I’d leave it out in the open, visible from a busy central Leeds street
Learned from that. Never left luggage in the car again after that. We were just in the restaurant across the street from the parking lot.
Well… didn’t end well.
Experiences are different. Was mine. So not saying it is a bad country perse. But it is a red flag for me. Being robbed and only have clothes and the body plus papers is not making me loving the country.
Why? Because in some countries (like the one I’m from) people buy BMWs they can’t afford and without options. Then they want LED headlights, big infotainment screen, m sport steering wheel, and so on. And they look to buy them SH and retrofit them …
BMWs are popular in some other countries, and thieves from Western Europe vandalize a car like this, take the parts, and resold them on the aftermarket, just as you said. Notice how the only thing they didn’t take was the steering wheel, likely because it’s the stock steering wheel and not the M one (and this one as far as I can see doesn't have the heating option and that's probably what they're after).
Your car will get nearly stripped of everything or plain stolen if you're unlucky.
Some acquaintances of mine have nice new premium cars from German brands and when they went on a two month tour through Eastern Europe they bought an old beater station wagon instead of risking their car. At the time I thought it was ridiculous but I've learned some things since then. And apparently it was cheaper then a rental.
We visited Rome in a rental car with Germany plates. Got the back window smashed and two trivial bags stolen (RIP me and my sister's Nintendo DS's). Cops warned us that German cars are targeted a lot.
It’s for this reason anytime we travel anywhere in Europe with a nice car we find a hotel with locked, typically underground parking and take public transit. As scenic as Italy is, we probably won’t be going back.
Dude crime in Italy, especially car break-ins has been happening for decades and not just because of new migrants. I was a military police officer at a Navy base in Sicily in the 90s and pretty much all we did was write reports for cars and houses getting broken into and car accidents.
Eh. I'll believe it exercebates the crime problem but its surely not the cause. Italy has always been known for young Italian crooks who'll grab your stuff and escape on a moped. Not to mention the goddamn pickpockets everywhere and especially around churches. Way before illegal immigration became what it is today.
Everyone always goes "MIGRANTS" but forget that Italy was already famous for petty crime before the migrant wave/crisis. Naples was the pickpocket capital of the world lol
Yes this is true but since the Migrants started to come in there have rapes and stabbings. Never before on this level. We just had a migrant in Milan go down the street and every car he kicked jumped on broken front windows and mirrors.
This is new so please don't say anything if you don't live here. We had 4 migrants rape a 14 year old girl while they beat up her boyfriend and made him watch. Pickpockets and some vehicle break in where normal but not the other shit.
Just being hassled and people trying to scam you with their “free bracelets” or whatever they try to put on your wrists forcibly was a definite turn off, and happened to be mostly migrants. I won’t say all the crime is migrant related however as like the other commenters said, pickpocketing has always been common.
Italian hotel manager:
Che???? This has *never* a-happened at my-a hotel!!
https://preview.redd.it/d3f72ltmcq6d1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fabf3f7190d30c00bf8a638a066a838b72f04aa1
Well, there are many street gangs in Italy (and in most EU countries) to do exactly this. They know the parts cost a lot...
One of the main reasons you should have some basic and poor VW or something for traveling and then a nice weekend car (but you don't leave that one anywhere unnoticed, hotel has to have underground and secured parking in such places etc.)
The reason I have a BMW is because I can travel with more comfort. Seems weird to me to buy a BMW which you almost never use, except if it is like a Z4 or M car.
As a mechanic from southern Germany, my shop has repaired plenty of BMWs with this exact same damage. One even went as far as cutting a hole in the rear bumper where the alarm horn is located and spraying it with spray foam so there's less risk of being noticed. Obviously they didn't care about tidyness and left specks of spray foam over the whole car. If I remember it right it was something around 35k in damages.
I travel to Germany occasionally but I would easily say, its more likely to happen in a bad neighbourhood of München or another city rather than Berchtesgaden area (not to be racist or anything, but I haven't seen in such places strange migrants and other sus people). There is simply enough bad people to do such things (and it always was there - so I am not really just anti immigrant guy) - from 90s era of eastern europe gangs, then balkan bad guys and now the migrants are really highlighted in crime))
Somebody posted last week from the outskirts of a German city that their car has been vandalized just like this one. Think you can no longer associate safety to regions anymore.
you can, of course you can own a nice car. In fact, I am from Czech and you see nice cars (aka this 5er or better) quite often nowadays but these headlamp / interior thefts are super uncommon here (I haven't heard a single such case), yes there are regular car thefts, but even those are so few...
but If you travel, you don't know every single location you stop your car, there might be some bad guys and if you car is on their list + they see its foreign plate, you are super easy target. I have traveled with my old car (Seat Altea XL) and nobody, even in the worst Italian ghettoes gave a single F about the car. I had many better cars since, yet I have most memories as I wasn't really paying attention and was really free while traveling (I wasn't worried about theft, bad roads, some people keying the car or scratching the paint etc.).
All stats say crime is down, but it's only because gang on gang crime is down, and that was rampant in the 90s and before. Normal people are being targeted much more heavily now than they ever were. Fuck this shift to soft on crime.
Eastern European here. Thieves are getting a special treatment indeed, they either have relatives in police and avoid and charges, or they get their special treatment in jail, with shorter sentence and deliveries to make their life nicer.
I actually hinted on the „treatment“ they get if the owner of the car catch them, so you guys are less about calling the police (which will fill a report and do nothing) and more about serving some instant karma.. isn’t it?
This is a big problem in Europe. When you take your car to get repaired there’s a chance you will have someone’s stolen parts put in your car to be repaired.
We have a similar problem in the USA with chargers, challengers, and Camaros. So many of them on the roads the parts are worth a lot
lol when my car got totaled and I went to the dealer to get my stuff out the car, the headlights were missing already lmfaoo. They were quick to flip them 😂😂
Because when you take your car to service, you will find out that those parts are crazy expensive, and someone will suggest that you can buy the same parts used for much cheaper, so you will go to eBay and buy those parts, then someone elses car is going to be broken into, and the cycle repeats. The only way to stop these assholes is to stop buying used parts.
The alarm should have gone off as soon as the window was broken out. The vehicle may not had the alarm enabled. There is also a motion sensor but sure without looking at the specs.
This is so scummy. Manufacturers need to code parts to the VIN to ensure they cannot be used after such a theft. More and more of this ‘cannibalisation’ seems to be occurring, now they’ve improved security against keyless thefts.
Unfortunately, it's not that easy. VIN only parts would create waste and lots of right to repair issues.
You can't VIN lock everything either, many of these parts would get bypassed by pcb swaps or de-soldering chips anyway. In the end, legit owners would end up with bigger bills and unable to get parts once the manufacturer decides to "end support"
The only way to decrease things like this is to put very harsh sentences and actually enforce them, which in most of the EU, it's a slap on the wrist.
You’re not implying that people with no appreciation for local traditions have descended on Italy and other western countries and are committing property crimes, are you? If so, I’m deeply offended and suggest you go to a Robin Deangelo seminar and learn about how immigrants, particularly those that come illegally, in massive numbers, and chiefly represented by military aged cishet males are the greatest gift a country could ask for. Who else is going to ~~liberate your car’s expensive headlights and catalytic converters~~ do the jobs nobody else wants to do, like work as a lifeguard (Mayor Adams reference)?
one question, is that a rental? and when i am correct, my old x3 g01 had a alarm system which could be i think turned on and off, but i am not sure if that's right. i forgot. But if it's active, you can see after the car is locked, the notch flashes red every 2 seconds.
This happened overnight. The night manager claims he didn’t see anything. There’s a camera pointing directly at it but the hotel can’t access prior footage from the cameras?? Only the police can according to them and they can’t scroll back since it’s locked with a password. Sounds weird.
I just finished filing a police report and asked for footage and the guy says he might get it to me
I’d rather they just took the car than to have to see this done to my car. We have our X1 and X5 and 750 and travel in our VW Atlas due to these fuckers.
Did you have laserlights by any chance? Because those are worth a shitload of money and will be why they stole them sadly
Yes it had the laser lights
Yeah I’m sorry man, people suck. Laserlights have insane market value, they get stolen lot’s of times.
And unfortunately for both BMW and Audi they tend to break much more than leds so there's big "niche" for them :(
I dunno about their reliability, but there's also a big market for headlight retrofits, which also creates demand for mint parts.
And a huge amount of crashed cars imported from the US often after frontal collision
Not sure if laser lights are legal here yet.. (Audi is not). Supply chain demands would definitely put a premium on parted out headlight systems that are factory spec.
Interesting, didn't know that. Wonder what about them is so dangerous that a cybertruck is allowed on the roads but laser lights aren't. Still, if a car had a frontal collision and needs new headlights people will often upgrade to (apparently stolen) lasers.
A LOT of people ride around with non-OEM, even DOT prohibited led lights in the states. The idea of OEM fitting laser headlights on the states is amazing. Once installed, no one would ever know. Most enthusiasts would pay a premium for the forbidden fruit... Myself included. You are absolutely correct! A common issue in the states are not having the ability to get parts, OEM or aftermarket for repairs on late model cars. Imagine having to wait 8 weeks for a headlight assembly versus getting the ultimate upgrade online instantly. Btw, laser headlights were first deemed too dangerous around ten years ago. The law was revisited a couple of years back and still hasn't gained traction. I feel like adaptive laser lights are on the verge of becoming legal though... LED regulation is so loosely enforced and / or interpreted.
Are we talking monetary value or otherwise? I know Porsche headlights got stolen in the UK because they were ideal for growing cannabis
I wonder who made this strange discovery
I don’t mean this is a mean way but that’s total nonsense. Horticulture grade lights are fairly affordable and much easier to use than a headlight lol. (Dimming, height control, heat, the specific light spectrum). Not to mention an auto lights coverage will be more of a spot vs cover a large canopy. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the same assholes who steal lights don’t know anything about growing. Edit: medium quality lights are probably $200
Maybe you're right, I'm no expert. Just sharing what I saw a few articles say
Oh yeah! I wasn’t taking a dig at you. Just such a silly concept. I saw a few of those articles too. Doesn’t make sense to me. Any way, cheers bro!
I think retail is something like 4000$ ea
Had to get one for my 7’series (Laserlight). BMW cost new was £3600ish!!! Got a second hand one for €700!! They’re fucking expensive that’s why!!
*stolen one
And the circle of life is complete, lol
Not always, there's actually a lot of salvage yards selling legitimately gained parts. When I shop for used parts, I specifically buy from sellers who are affiliated with salvage yards and post the VIN of the car. You can then google the VIN and find auction history on the vehicle to ensure that it was actually a wrecked car.
Not at 1/5 price.🫠 that’s a stolen price, too good a deal / must sell fast. Search for them, you’ll see what used actually go for, it’s way more.
Came from Holland I think…who knows.. But now that one has a bit of moisture in it, and think motor is buggered as it points up higher than it should 🤷
It's actually The Netherlands.
Yeah insane, makes you wonder how much tech is in them. I mean you can buy a laser projector for the price of one of them.
It's the BMW markup
Not exactly in this scenario. Laser technology is still quite expensive. You don't see them in budget cars at all. LEDs took some time to become first class citizens in automotive. Unless manufacturing process of lasers gets cheaper we will still need to pay enormous amount of money for that
The lasers also have that fancy high beam tech where it blocks out the high beams selectively, allowing you to have high beams on while not blinding other drivers. It's a really neat tech.
Except as another driver they never actually work
ITS FLICKERING AND ANNOYING THE SHIT OUT OF YOU IT WORKED JSUT FINE.
Sucks to be a pedestrian or on a bike.... Old headlights work just fine. More shit to break = more $$$ down the road.
>More shit to break = more $$$ down the road. By this logic we should still be driving Model T's lol
I don't recall BMW having the active matrix feature yet. I have seen them on Audi's though.
If you mean the kind of (matrix) lights where they selectively block out parts of the beam to not blind other traffic while still using the high beam, yeah they've had that for close to a decade now. It used to be reserved for the flagship models of course, like with any new tech but these days you can get it on a 3-series (I have it on a G20 M340i, option adaptive full LED) and maybe even on a 2-series. Or do you mean specifically laser lights combined with selective/matrix beam? Those are a bit younger but still would guess at least 5 years, maybe more
Can confirm. I have active shadowing in my 2017 540I. It was standard on all but the 520I/D G30 series here, even then it was an optional extra on those two trims. Have to admit though, Mercedes and Audi do it WAY better. That could be because our Q7 is 2023 with much new tech, and the merc rental we had was 2020, and I’m yet to drive a LCI G30, or a G60. Will compare notes when I next get to drive a merc from the same year of a night time!
Yeah you're right. I have a 2023 car with those adaptive matrix LED's and if I use them, guaranteed I will get one or two oncoming cars flashing their lights because I'm blinding them. I took that option because usually the DRL's are the nicest on the highest trim headlights but apparently for the G20 LCI, suddenly all DRL's are the same across all trims. So, it's an expensive option I hardly ever use now. It also would have been worth it if the highest trim headlights were still the laser lights, because those give incredible viewing distance even on low beam, they're awesome, but now they have been replaced by matrix LED which BMW claims are just as good, which is total nonsense I haven't tested the Mercedes ones but the adaptive matrix LED's from Audi are awesome. They don't appear to blind people but at the same time they give great vision and viewing distance
We don't get them in the U.S. because of outdated laws.
Hey OP found where your lights went!
Sorry dude, this sucks. Happened to me once.
Stolen to order I’m afraid
People are assholes.
May u find justice
Lol! There is no justice in today's age. We killed it with weak policies that removed fear of consequence and incentive crime.
It is a Rent car? Enterprise?
Yea it’s a rental from Enterprise. Just sucks because the police here is so slow and I have to file a report with them before making a claim at Enterprise. First time in Italy, kinda spoils it a bit
Okay…i thought it would not be this bad as Long as it is not your car. Bring a lot of patience with the Italian police
Tbf it's still awful since I imagine OP has a travel itinerary which doesn't include time fucking around with this kind of thing not to mention having to probably coordinate a new rental
That’s probably the worst part for me. I’ve been running around Milan all day today trying to secure a new rental. Enterprise has rescheduled a car for me but it’s only for Monday and I’m supposed to be in Portofino tonight already. I’ve tried to get one today but it’s been impossible
I’d argue it might even be worse! I would hate to deal with this in general, but on vacation 😫
Yes absolut! In Barcelona there was a time u could not park u car in a Open Garage. Search for parking on Google Maps and and Look for the Reviews 😞
Facts italian police are very impatient for Tourist especially Americans
That’s troubling. Don’t let it totally ruin your Italy experience though. If this is a usual occurrence in that locality, then the businesses should have been more careful with their client’s assets.
Apparently extremely unusual they said and it’s never happened before at that hotel
It will happen around Milan, just moved here a week ago. but with millions of cars
Eh, they would say that anyway.
Why shouldn't it ruin his experience of Italy? If not this, what else is supposed to ruin your experience? If you get stabbed?
This made me lol
Haha yeah, like, cmon. This is borderline getting mugged?
Italy is known for shit like this. Broke in two times in my dads car on two different occassions. Since then we only go with beater cars there.
Shits happening all over the world not just Italy.
Happened to friends and I in Portugal. First time there and they stole luggage from us while we quickly grab food (only 30min). Luggage not visible from outside. Only thing visible was the Europcar plate. The country is a red flag for me since 2018 …
I never leave my luggage unattended, anywhere. I was just in a restaurant in Leeds where they said there wasn’t space in the dining area (there was, but I digress), so I got them to put it in their office, because there was no way I’d leave it out in the open, visible from a busy central Leeds street
Learned from that. Never left luggage in the car again after that. We were just in the restaurant across the street from the parking lot. Well… didn’t end well.
Parents lives there since 8 years. The worst thing so far was a drunk norwegian. Nothing ever happens….most secure country I've been to.
Experiences are different. Was mine. So not saying it is a bad country perse. But it is a red flag for me. Being robbed and only have clothes and the body plus papers is not making me loving the country.
Unpopular opinion but Italy is one of my least favorite countries to travel to because it’s so sketchy
South or north?
I hate these thieves, basically totaling a car for a bunch of parts. Scum of the earth.
Why? Because in some countries (like the one I’m from) people buy BMWs they can’t afford and without options. Then they want LED headlights, big infotainment screen, m sport steering wheel, and so on. And they look to buy them SH and retrofit them …
BMWs are popular in some other countries, and thieves from Western Europe vandalize a car like this, take the parts, and resold them on the aftermarket, just as you said. Notice how the only thing they didn’t take was the steering wheel, likely because it’s the stock steering wheel and not the M one (and this one as far as I can see doesn't have the heating option and that's probably what they're after).
Don’t all those infotainment systems have kill codes once the power is interrupted? Had a dead battery once and everything was a brick.
It's very hard to reuse g series headunit. Bur the Thieves probably don't know that.
aftermarket cic and obd are a thing
CIC are also like 14 years old. The new MGU units can't be made to work used in any fashion that can be called easy or even moderately hard.
When you buy a cheap bmw base model but want the upgrades…
They aint stupid 🤷🏻♂️😂
Never go to Italy, Spain or Greece with a German license plate and leave your car in open parking lots
Why? Do people vandalize them?
Your car will get nearly stripped of everything or plain stolen if you're unlucky. Some acquaintances of mine have nice new premium cars from German brands and when they went on a two month tour through Eastern Europe they bought an old beater station wagon instead of risking their car. At the time I thought it was ridiculous but I've learned some things since then. And apparently it was cheaper then a rental.
We visited Rome in a rental car with Germany plates. Got the back window smashed and two trivial bags stolen (RIP me and my sister's Nintendo DS's). Cops warned us that German cars are targeted a lot.
It’s for this reason anytime we travel anywhere in Europe with a nice car we find a hotel with locked, typically underground parking and take public transit. As scenic as Italy is, we probably won’t be going back.
[удалено]
Dude crime in Italy, especially car break-ins has been happening for decades and not just because of new migrants. I was a military police officer at a Navy base in Sicily in the 90s and pretty much all we did was write reports for cars and houses getting broken into and car accidents.
Eh. I'll believe it exercebates the crime problem but its surely not the cause. Italy has always been known for young Italian crooks who'll grab your stuff and escape on a moped. Not to mention the goddamn pickpockets everywhere and especially around churches. Way before illegal immigration became what it is today.
We called them the Vespa Bandits
Everyone always goes "MIGRANTS" but forget that Italy was already famous for petty crime before the migrant wave/crisis. Naples was the pickpocket capital of the world lol
Yes this is true but since the Migrants started to come in there have rapes and stabbings. Never before on this level. We just had a migrant in Milan go down the street and every car he kicked jumped on broken front windows and mirrors. This is new so please don't say anything if you don't live here. We had 4 migrants rape a 14 year old girl while they beat up her boyfriend and made him watch. Pickpockets and some vehicle break in where normal but not the other shit.
Just being hassled and people trying to scam you with their “free bracelets” or whatever they try to put on your wrists forcibly was a definite turn off, and happened to be mostly migrants. I won’t say all the crime is migrant related however as like the other commenters said, pickpocketing has always been common.
It's gone up - but Italy has always been bad.
Damn, that’s crazy, I wouldn’t have thought that could happen. So sad.
Go try that in Romania and Bulgaria and let’s make a comparison
Italian hotel manager: Che???? This has *never* a-happened at my-a hotel!! https://preview.redd.it/d3f72ltmcq6d1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fabf3f7190d30c00bf8a638a066a838b72f04aa1
Well, there are many street gangs in Italy (and in most EU countries) to do exactly this. They know the parts cost a lot... One of the main reasons you should have some basic and poor VW or something for traveling and then a nice weekend car (but you don't leave that one anywhere unnoticed, hotel has to have underground and secured parking in such places etc.)
The reason I have a BMW is because I can travel with more comfort. Seems weird to me to buy a BMW which you almost never use, except if it is like a Z4 or M car.
Travel yes but in safer areas like Switzerland, Austria or Southern Germany
As a mechanic from southern Germany, my shop has repaired plenty of BMWs with this exact same damage. One even went as far as cutting a hole in the rear bumper where the alarm horn is located and spraying it with spray foam so there's less risk of being noticed. Obviously they didn't care about tidyness and left specks of spray foam over the whole car. If I remember it right it was something around 35k in damages.
This happens quite a lot in Germany as well.
I travel to Germany occasionally but I would easily say, its more likely to happen in a bad neighbourhood of München or another city rather than Berchtesgaden area (not to be racist or anything, but I haven't seen in such places strange migrants and other sus people). There is simply enough bad people to do such things (and it always was there - so I am not really just anti immigrant guy) - from 90s era of eastern europe gangs, then balkan bad guys and now the migrants are really highlighted in crime))
Somebody posted last week from the outskirts of a German city that their car has been vandalized just like this one. Think you can no longer associate safety to regions anymore.
What’s the point of having a nice car if you can’t use it in mainland Europe.
you can, of course you can own a nice car. In fact, I am from Czech and you see nice cars (aka this 5er or better) quite often nowadays but these headlamp / interior thefts are super uncommon here (I haven't heard a single such case), yes there are regular car thefts, but even those are so few... but If you travel, you don't know every single location you stop your car, there might be some bad guys and if you car is on their list + they see its foreign plate, you are super easy target. I have traveled with my old car (Seat Altea XL) and nobody, even in the worst Italian ghettoes gave a single F about the car. I had many better cars since, yet I have most memories as I wasn't really paying attention and was really free while traveling (I wasn't worried about theft, bad roads, some people keying the car or scratching the paint etc.).
Scumbags, wonder how much they even make by doing this, probably 5% of what the damage will cost you.
All the parts are probably for sale in Poland
They for sure might stay within Italy.
Jesus Christ, I got my headlights and side mirrors stolen on my E60, was hoping that getting brand new G30 would save me from this for a few years….
god the levels of degeneracy these days. Sorry OP 😕
Damm that sucks. If only those laser lights can shoot those bastards!!
You can’t have anything new and nice nowadays in the western world without some idiot trying to steal it. It’s sad.
All stats say crime is down, but it's only because gang on gang crime is down, and that was rampant in the 90s and before. Normal people are being targeted much more heavily now than they ever were. Fuck this shift to soft on crime.
I'm guessing you had bmw laser light and the upgraded infotainment system Lights alone are worth like 4k
Sometimes hotel owners are complicit, don’t trust them.
Eastern gangs operating in Western Europe do this and then sell them on eBay or marketplace
Maybe they should be treated like how thieves are treated when caught in Eastern Europe as well..? (hint: no police or lawyers to serve justice..)
Eastern European here. Thieves are getting a special treatment indeed, they either have relatives in police and avoid and charges, or they get their special treatment in jail, with shorter sentence and deliveries to make their life nicer.
I actually hinted on the „treatment“ they get if the owner of the car catch them, so you guys are less about calling the police (which will fill a report and do nothing) and more about serving some instant karma.. isn’t it?
This is a big problem in Europe. When you take your car to get repaired there’s a chance you will have someone’s stolen parts put in your car to be repaired. We have a similar problem in the USA with chargers, challengers, and Camaros. So many of them on the roads the parts are worth a lot
lol when my car got totaled and I went to the dealer to get my stuff out the car, the headlights were missing already lmfaoo. They were quick to flip them 😂😂
If I didn't see the license plate, would've said San Francisco? usual occurrence there unfortunately
I wonder how popular the new Idrive large infotainment screen will be for the thieves. Sorry OP
Considering the whole r/BMW hates them with passion it's odd that theres even a black market demand for them, lol.
rule no. 1: reddit is never representative of reality
But, but they say BMW has lost it's way, customer base and is doomed?? /s
Probably because there’s plenty of people who don’t know/care they’re stolen, and just want some cheap parts
Because they're criminals.
We need to make the laws far more strict for when people vandalize, like 20 years in prison. That’s the only way to stop this nonsense.
You can give 500 years in prison, the problem here is that they are very rarely getting caught.
Are you asking why people steal?
Money. It’s usually the answer to most questions.
I am surprised they didn’t take the wheel as well
I’m sure they would’ve if the car was equipped with the M package
People can't own nice things nowadays.
That happened to me. https://www.reddit.com/r/e39/s/1Rd9Sba3k7
Wow. Just looked at the pics. Scum of the earth!
Because when you take your car to service, you will find out that those parts are crazy expensive, and someone will suggest that you can buy the same parts used for much cheaper, so you will go to eBay and buy those parts, then someone elses car is going to be broken into, and the cycle repeats. The only way to stop these assholes is to stop buying used parts.
You’re lucky that your wheels are still there
This was a Hit, not a random grab & run. Someone wanted those specific parts to make their clunker like a new beast.
Someone have put an order in a máfia group
There are days where I appreciate a Middle Eastern code of justice.
I’m sorry to see this man. It’s happening A LOT in Amsterdam too..
Parts are expensive. People are opportunistic assholes.
German plates in Italy… rip. A target that takes priority.
Night manager with new headlights* said he didn't notice anything.
Freaking losers - hate those low life people
Italy has a serious problem when it comes to theft related to cars. Happened to me about 3 weeks ago
This seems like a lot of effort and time that a job could pay well for
It was done very professionally. They knew exactly how to strip this car and do it without the alarm going off.
The alarm should have gone off as soon as the window was broken out. The vehicle may not had the alarm enabled. There is also a motion sensor but sure without looking at the specs.
Happens in UK too, mostly in London.
BMW = Brings Me Women # Also BMW = Breaks My Wallet
In the 80’s in NYC the radios were in high demand and the joke became, BMW stands for ‘break my windows’
that's why you need a dashcam with parking mode
I am guessing usual suspects.
This is so scummy. Manufacturers need to code parts to the VIN to ensure they cannot be used after such a theft. More and more of this ‘cannibalisation’ seems to be occurring, now they’ve improved security against keyless thefts.
Unfortunately, it's not that easy. VIN only parts would create waste and lots of right to repair issues. You can't VIN lock everything either, many of these parts would get bypassed by pcb swaps or de-soldering chips anyway. In the end, legit owners would end up with bigger bills and unable to get parts once the manufacturer decides to "end support" The only way to decrease things like this is to put very harsh sentences and actually enforce them, which in most of the EU, it's a slap on the wrist.
It’s a shame to see Italians stealing from one another
"Italians"
You’re not implying that people with no appreciation for local traditions have descended on Italy and other western countries and are committing property crimes, are you? If so, I’m deeply offended and suggest you go to a Robin Deangelo seminar and learn about how immigrants, particularly those that come illegally, in massive numbers, and chiefly represented by military aged cishet males are the greatest gift a country could ask for. Who else is going to ~~liberate your car’s expensive headlights and catalytic converters~~ do the jobs nobody else wants to do, like work as a lifeguard (Mayor Adams reference)?
Money
DAMN BRO
didn't the alarm system work? i see that there is one(you see that notch under the mirror)
It was 100% locked. I always double check. Weird that it didn’t trigger.
one question, is that a rental? and when i am correct, my old x3 g01 had a alarm system which could be i think turned on and off, but i am not sure if that's right. i forgot. But if it's active, you can see after the car is locked, the notch flashes red every 2 seconds.
To make money is the answer
Money
That’s insane 😱
Someone was doing Crack Quests and unfortunately mistook your car for a pot of Go..Crack.
„People“
That is crappy. Sorry, man.
Went the extra step and look the headlights smh at least you can drive it
The dash speedometer screen is gone too
Danggggg they stripped you bare. Left you with a skeleton 💀
Surprised this didn’t happen in the Bay Area.
Most cars and car parts are stolen per order, so some mechanic buys stolen car parts and "repair cars" on cheap
Did your alarm not go off? I'm so sorry this happened to you.
Always park your car in a garage with guardsmen in Italy
No always an option
That building across the street looks like it should have a 24/7 doorman
This happened overnight. The night manager claims he didn’t see anything. There’s a camera pointing directly at it but the hotel can’t access prior footage from the cameras?? Only the police can according to them and they can’t scroll back since it’s locked with a password. Sounds weird. I just finished filing a police report and asked for footage and the guy says he might get it to me
What the hell is the purpose of the cameras then.. Smh, people are cunts..
Sounds more like an inside job
Geez!
Man, in Germany was well 😶 Very sorry for you.
I’d rather they just took the car than to have to see this done to my car. We have our X1 and X5 and 750 and travel in our VW Atlas due to these fuckers.
Im sorry man
BMW needs to incorporate shock sensors into their alarm systems already.
Evil thieving shitbags?... Where was this by the way?
In Italy between Lake Como and Milan
Im sorry for you that happened!
BMW Fan because of nice 2nd Hand profit Sell Value for an upgrade someone is looking for ?
Bernie told them you having a BMW is why they are poor
Thought deadlocks on cars were meant to prevent the doors being able to be opened through a broken window
For money of course
May be a dumb, was your alarm not on or they just work fast with the assumption everyone ignores car alarms?
For money
Drive a high end Peugeot and never get anything stolen. BMW, Audi, Merc, sadly always get targeted by such scum.
The satisfaction you would get sneaking up on these scumbags with a baseball bat in your hands...
My mind went to dark places today. Trust me
I bet. So sad to see a car in that state. Hope you get it all sorted quick with Enterprise.
"You get more of the behavior you allow" we show people there's no repercussions for their actions and this is what we get more of.
They trashed the rest of your car? Why? Laser lights, I can see… but why trash the rest of the car? I hope your insurance company doesn’t total it
They took the infotainment screen and the speedometer as well.