Successes16

The owner of a 2003 Ford Focus ST170 reported his pride and joy as stolen, and informed his insurer. The insurer asked for both keys to be posted to them (with the intention of passing them to us for inspection), which the PH claimed to do, however when the perfectly sealed package arrived at the insurers head office, only one key, the remote key, was included. I have verified with Ford Motor Company that this is the correct key for the vehicle (it was an ex-Ford management lease car). The PH swears that he sealed both keys in the envelope...
The vehicle was said to have been taken "in about an hour" without a key and it was "left locked and secured". The ST170 had standard double locking, a Thatcham Category 1 alarm system, Ford PATS (Thatcham Category 2) immobiliser with Texas 4D crypto transponder keys and additionally a "Kiltech" steering column lockshield.
Interestingly, an HPI check on the car reveals that a few days before the car went "missing", the PH took it to Carland for a valuation for possible trade in / sale (HPI annotations show CAP which refers to the CAP guide - a price valuation guide). Even more interesting is that the PH had a vehicle disappear in the exact same circumstances in 2006.

The Focus ST170 was one of the most secure C segment vehicles of its day due to the additional security offered by the Kiltech steering column lock. This made the traditional "chipping" (breaking away with a hammer and screw driver to allow the lock barrel to be removed) of the steering lock housing or the use of a slide hammer to force the ingition lock out utterly useless as a form of attack. The Focus RS also was fitted with this type of shield.

"Woooooow wo woooooaaaah, my Passat's on fire..."

One "flaming" fibber of a PH submitted a claim for the loss of his 2001 Passat. He claims it was stolen, only to be found abandoned with minor interior fire damage. There were no signs of a break in.. because the PH drove the car to the burn locus himself, set fire to the interior, shut and locked the doors with his key and then "hot footed" it away. The fire quickly went out due to a lack of oxygen due to the doors and windows being shut. He should have spotted the CCTV camera... it spotted him!!

Ambersett is now working with a Spanish Insurance Claims Handler, with offices in mainland Spain and Gibraltar in partnership with Eurotecs. This new partnership brings a new technical angle to compliment the investigation service already offered by Kevin Street of Eurotecs.