It was always a matter of time

[NJS25]

7 and half years of ownership and today, to mark the new year,......... I locked the keys in the boot of the S2.

Roof off, put my jacket in the boot and pressed the boot lid closed with my 3 year old daughter sat in the car looking forward to trip in the Lotus.

1 hour later and several kind offers to use mobile phones and blankets to keep my daughter warm, the breakdown man arrived.

'Hmmmmm....not going to be easy!' was the immediate response, assessed the job for a couple of minutes, a trip to the van, he returned with the appropriate tool.

We managed to retrieve the key from my jacket in the boot.

Very clever. However, I think I might try to get a plain, flat key cut to keep in my wallet just in case I'm ever that stupid again!!

Happy New Year all.

Regards, Neil
Daughter gave me a hug when got home, I think she's forgiven me now she's warmed up!

Edited to remove sensitive information.

Edited by jeremyc on Friday 1st January 19:19

[Stephanie Plum]

What a good idea - telling everyone how to break into an Elise

[MadProf]

(Re Edited to remove sensitive infomation).............Yeah,there's plenty of those sensitive types on here mate,more like paranoiac,glad you got in and got you're key,and you're daughter was ok,here's to you,happy new year.

[LOT US]

MadProf said:

Yeah,there's plenty of those sensitive types on here mate,more like paranoiac,

Yeah + 1 know what you mean.
So, tell me OP, how did you do it? Note pad and swag bag at the ready!

[NJS25]

Ah well. Never mind.

Breaking into an Elise? It's made from plastic and glass FFS, and was designed without a roof!!

It does amaze me that people react in this way. If someone wishes to break into a car, they tend to 'break-in', the material damage is immaterial to them.

What I had actually done was tell everyone how to get the key for the car if they've locked it in the boot, without damaging the car. Personally I do not normally lock my keys in the boot of my car and I suspect most other owners are the same, so I doubt this information was going to result in a glut of elise break-ins or thefts.

Apologies to anyone who has anything stolen from their cars (upto 1.5 inches deep and a couple of inches wide) as a result of this post prior to the rather pathetic and over zealous 'removal of sensitive information'?!.

The extent to which this method allowed access to the boot was, to say the least, extremely limited and the reaction demonstrates a lack of understanding and thought which is, to say the least, extremely disappointing.

It is however quite likely that one day, someone on this forum will do the same and rather than trashing the lock/ breaking the boot lid they might have found this information useful.

The world has gone mad!

Regards, Neil

Edited by NJS25 on Saturday 2nd January 00:12

[Francelise]

To NJS25

That's what it is like on here. I never post, just look at a few posts but mainly to buy the odd car.

After seeing lots of rubbish on forums in gerneral and there is alway someone who wants to shoot you down.

[Stephanie Plum]

We get this enquiry a lot on seloc - it is always dealt with via a U2U - seems sensible to me.

Yes of course they are easy to break into - but we don't really need to spell it out do we?

[junks]

Stephanie Plum said:

We get this enquiry a lot on seloc - it is always dealt with via a U2U - seems sensible to me.

Yes of course they are easy to break into - but we don't really need to spell it out do we?

I don't think it was an enquiry though Jo & I think if you re read your reply it could have been put in a nicer way if you did not want to cause offence

[NJS25]

junks said:

Stephanie Plum said:

We get this enquiry a lot on seloc - it is always dealt with via a U2U - seems sensible to me.

Yes of course they are easy to break into - but we don't really need to spell it out do we?

I don't think it was an enquiry though Jo & I think if you re read your reply it could have been put in a nicer way if you did not want to cause offence

I think we need to agree to disagree on this - our definition of 'breaking in' are clearly very different. The method described gave extremely compromised access and took minutes, but did not damage the car. A monkey could get uncompromised access in seconds - though this would damage the car.

Obviously, Jo's point of view is the only one that counts (is this some sort of Pistonheads Top Trumps? is there anyone who owns more Lotus' or with longer/ more influential membership able to reinstate the post?) but I didn't think we needed the condescending tone now did we?

I just hope anyone that does lock their keys in the boot has internet access and a Seloc account when it happens!

Regrads, Neil

[madmatt1985]

any chances of a PM saying how this is done? as iv had my car for a month now and worry every time i go in the boot that i mite lock the keys in. im shore if i ever do it i can just call the AA but would be nice to know.

[Russ H]

Piss funny responce. You should lurk on Seloc, it can get very precious.

Russ.

[Stephanie Plum]

junks said:

Stephanie Plum said:

We get this enquiry a lot on seloc - it is always dealt with via a U2U - seems sensible to me.

Yes of course they are easy to break into - but we don't really need to spell it out do we?

I don't think it was an enquiry though Jo & I think if you re read your reply it could have been put in a nicer way if you did not want to cause offence

Fair do's. Used the wrong smiley probably

[cyberface]

Can you use the same method (not that I know what it is, since it was deleted / 'moderated' before I got to read it) to open the boot of an Exige S2?

Obviously a thief who wants something in the boot of an Elise will just slash the roof / prise the roof seal off and open the boot with the boot release handle - soft-top cars are very quick to get into with a knife. That's why I don't like convertibles and all my Elises / VXs / Exiges have had hard tops.

But you can't do this with a hard roofed car and assuming you're not going to smash the windows, should I simply assume that my boot is not secure under any circumstances - even to opportunists who wouldn't consider more obvious-theft methods?

The danger here is purely uninsurable loss - if a thief can open the boot of the car and remove an item, then close the boot again, whilst not looking at all suspicious and not damaging the car, then you can't prove theft and can't claim on insurance. If your roof is slashed then you can claim a theft.

[NJS25]

Apology accepted.

Sorry Matt can't PM without proof of ownership (V5 - originals only, strictly no photocopies) and a CRB check for any criminal past. (This geezer sounds dodgy to me, he's got a picture of a TVR on his profile and wants to know how to gain access to an Elise - probably just updated his profile to say he's got a 111R as part of the ruse)

Regards, Neil

PS Cyberface, please be reassured - you cannot open the boot and remove anything of substance and close it again. The likelyhood of anyone using the method I originally described to gain illegal access to the boot is utterly pointless and hence my dismay with the over zealous reaction. As I have previously posted, this method give VERY limited access which would be time consuming, awkward and give little or no result to any prospective thief, it was however a useful thing to know if you do lock your keys in the boot. Your boot is at least as secure as any other make of car, meaning if someone wants to get in they will.

Edited by NJS25 on Saturday 2nd January 15:39

[madmatt1985]

NJS25 said:

Apology accepted.

Sorry Matt can't PM without proof of ownership (V5 - originals only, strictly no photocopies) and a CRB check for any criminal past. (This geezer sounds dodgy to me, he's got a picture of a TVR on his profile and wants to know how to gain access to an Elise - probably just updated his profile to say he's got a 111R as part of the ruse)

Regards, Neil

Edited by NJS25 on Saturday 2nd January 15:39

Dodge, me ? nooooooo.

goes of to make a elise V5 and change profile picture thing