1969 Ford Mustang Driver Passenger Rear Side Marker Bezel C9ab-16a466a on 2040-parts.com

70% of premium brand cars stolen are taken with the car’s own keys

High-end SUVs – like the new Range Rover (pictured) are a prime target for car key thieves There was once a time when all it took to steal a car was a wire coathanger and the ability to hotwire the ignition. But as car makers have got better at securing the second most expensive asset most of us will ever own, car thieves have had to look for a different approach, and that approach is increasingly to relieve owners of the keys to their pride and joy. Cobra – the vehicle tracking firm – are reporting that a massive 70 per cent of all premium brand cars stolen in 2014 – with an average value of £40k, up £6k on 2012 – are being parted from their owners using that owners keys.

Greystone Concours: Batman's mansion hosts a car show

When the city of Beverly Hills puts on a concours, it picks a good location. The city owns the staid and stately Greystone Mansion, originally built in 1928 on a steep hillside above the city by oil tycoon Edward Doheney for his son, Ned. After the Doheneys left in 1955, it was used for any number of movie shoots--from Ghostbusters and the George Clooney Batman movie to Austin Powers Goldmember and the 1966 Zsa Zsa Gabor classic Picture Mommy Dead.

AA warns of automated penalties

DRIVERS are still suffering a year on from the time most wheelclampers were banned from operating in private car parks, according to the AA. Twelve months on, parking enforcement firms are reaping large sums from issuing automated "penalty" tickets. The AA said that while Communities Minister Eric Pickles is reining in local authorities who over-zealously use CCTV, private parking operators now rely heavily on this technology and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to watch drivers and issue tickets through the post when they put a foot wrong in parking areas.