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My worst nightmare came true last Monday… For years I had this habit every morning. I’d look out my bedroom window and check my driveway. Is my car still there? Yep, all good. You hear about car theft all the time. And when you’ve worked your whole life for something nice, you’re protective. I recently bought a 2024 BMW 5 series. Decided to treat myself seeing as I’m retiring in a few years. It was my dream car and thought why not. Last Monday night I'd just finished my night time routine. Car was locked. Checked the doors. Switched the lights off. Morning comes and I go to check the driveway. My car was gone. My stomach dropped and my heart started racing. I shouted to my wife who was in the bathroom. “Jane, my f**king cars GONE” She ran out. “What? How? Paul, call the police now!” My hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold my phone to call the police. It was like my worst nightmare had come true. I quickly remembered we have a doorbell camera. So I was certain we’d catch the dirty tramps in the act. I opened the app. And nearly fainted. Nothing. Absolutely nothing!! Just a couple of blurry black and white shadowy clips. It was there… then it was gone. No faces. No plates. Nothing that police would actually be able to use. It was like the car teleported. Later that morning the police came round. First thing he asked was: "Do you have any cameras? Ring doorbell? Anything like that?” I showed him the clips we had. He goes. "These doorbell cameras aren’t really security” “They’re good for showing you who’s delivered a parcel that’s about it.” “Thieves know exactly where your blind spots are when they see it” “Even if it does capture something, the black and white video doesn’t really help us identify suspects” I felt like a idiot. I’d spent over £100 for it last year after my wife’s best friend had some trouble at her house. Plus, I was also paying the stupid £8 monthly fee for the cloud storage. And it failed the only time I really needed it! But here's where it gets worse… I was on hold to my insurance for 47 minutes. When I finally got through, they started questioning me like I was the criminal: *"*Was the vehicle locked?" "Where were the keys stored?" "Do you have any evidence of the theft?" "Can you prove you didn't give anyone permission to take it?" Then came the blow: "We'll need 4-6 weeks to investigate before approving your claim." Six. Weeks. I'm 62 with a bad hip and I need to get to work. My wife has hospital appointments. And we live where buses don’t come regular. I paid cash for the car and this would wreck us financially if it didn’t go through. Not to mention my premiums were going to skyrocket. Later that day, one of our neighbours Dean from across the road knocked. He said police had asked if he’d heard or seen anything that night. He then goes. “I think I might have them on camera.” “I’ve already shown the police but take a look” I felt a wave of relief. He showed me the footage on his phone from the camera in his front window. I'm not exaggerating, my jaw actually dropped. Two men in Nike hoodies. Clear as day, IN FULL COLOUR! One was holding a relay device to my front door. 30 seconds later. My car unlocks. He jumps in. And off it went. But here's the part that made me angry… The second man got into a silver VW Golf. And Dean's camera caught the entire number plate. At 2:43am when it was pitch black! I was honestly amazed. So I asked: "Dean, what camera is this? It must've cost you a fortune." He laughed. "Nah, it was under £50, got it about 6 months ago mate." "It's called SafeView or something. You just stick inside your window." "No monthly subscription or any of those fees either." I made him send me the link right there on his doorstep. It sounded a bit too good to be true but thought at this point I’d try anything. I ordered 2 that evening. One for the front and back of the house. I’ll be honest, I'm not great with tech. But I had both cameras set up in 20 minutes when they arrived. No drilling, no tools either. It was simple as peel, stick and connect to the app. Even the Mrs could of done it! The difference between this and my doorbell is massive. Now when I check my phone, I can see the entire front and back of our house in crystal clear colour. Not just my doorstep. At night, I now have colour night vision instead of that useless grainy black & white video. I like that you can set it to alert for only human motion. So it records anyone who comes near the house and sends me a notification straight away. I was getting sick of alerts for passing cars, cats and other rubbish. Dean was telling the truth, there’s literally no monthly fees. It saves everything straight onto a little memory card that comes with the camera. I’ve just cancelled my Ring subscription that was costing me £96 a year just to see my own footage. The police came back yesterday with an update. They'd used Dean’s footage and arrested two men. Without that footage I dread to think what would’ve of happened. Bad news is my car still hasn't been found. It's probably in pieces by now. And the insurance company is still "investigating". But at least Dean’s footage has added solid proof to my claim. I sleep a bit better knowing I'll have crystal-clear proof in the future. Right now the same camera is 45% off (if you buy two you get a bigger discount). Here’s the link where I got mine: https://www.monremi.com/pages/camukv1 I've already told my son and several friends to get one. Apparently, over 110,000 cars get stolen every year in the UK. The government do nothing so it’s best to protect yourself! If you've got a decent car, you're a target to these thieving rats. Don't make the same mistake I did. Those doorbell cameras aren’t reliable at all. I learned that lesson the hard way. Get something that actually works when it counts, even if it’s just a back-up. You don’t want to be staring at an empty space where your car should be at 7am. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Stay safe out there!