[charles.chip]

Well, I read the last few pages of the thread and observed that most of the people commenting here are from PUNE !! and trust me i am not surprised.
I have a Skoda Octavia vRS and my emblems got stolen from my campus' parking right under the nose of the watchmen ! My car is a straight view from the post where these watchmen sit at the main entry !!! not just this it was after giving them a warning !! You see, when my rear logo got stolen i went and complained to them and even shouted a little for this happening right under their noses, and the very next day the front one went missing !!! i was shocked ! extremely angry, and wanted to find out how this happend in the campus !
my sherlock brains started ticking, i did not touch the car and started to observe how this was done right under the view of the watchmen, what instruments could have been used etc and while doing all this i noticed a hand(palm) print right next to the missing logo spot. i cud then very well visualise in what position he did this. if i had to take the front logo out, even my left hand would have rested on the same spot ! and guess what ? It was a small hand ! some kid in my campus did this !!! 8-10yrs max ! this immediately reminded me of an article i had read in PUNE TIMES a month ago.
the article said that as emblem theft was becoming more and more disturbing and widespread in the city, the police conducted some raids, did some trails etc and discovered that most of the thefts were done by school going children from good families between the age 8-13 !! shocking right ?? now you would think why would these kids steal emblems ??? apparently some emblem mafia gives them game CDs in exchange for the emblems !!! so they dont really care for the emblems or money. They just want game cds(pirated) !!
and it also came screaming back to me that there are a lot of children of this age group in my campus ! and they run around and play in the parking every evening !!! i have even complained about them playing in the parking when we have a huge park within the campus !
so all the pieces fell right into place.
AND 2 days later i got a surprising news !! my friend living in the other biulding of the same campus caught a kid RED HANDED stealing d VW badge off his POLO !! he then found the kids flat, took him there to complain to his parents and u wont believe what happend next ! the father slapped my friend !!! he said "how dare u accuse my son of theft" !!! i dont know what happend after this, but i am sure nothing much, my friend was pretty helpless in this, and i am sure the kid continues to steal emblems. Each and every skoda and mercs in my campus are without emblems !!! And if the parents continue to be so arrogent this is never going to stop !
catching kids and acusing them of theft being a sensitive issue only God knows how this will be controlled !

[Raja]

A few days back, checked with Mercedes Benz dealer here in Pune:
Front Star - Rs.2300/-
Rear Star - Rs.700/-
Available over the counter, inc all taxes.

Today a saw a current shape Mercedes C-Class Avant-garde, the one with the huge star in grill and it was missing, the car looked lost and without an identity and like someone had knocked out your two front teeth.

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by anky

Companies must replace logos free of charge after all they make them easily removable . This will prevent stealing when logos are replaced for free .

If the logos are free, they would only be free for vehicles of that manufacturer i.e. a Mercedes dealer wouldn't put a Mercedes logo on a Hyundai.

A possible solution? Get a Maruti logo. I've never seen one of those stolen. Jai bajrang bali!

Dealing with stolen logos requires integrating them into the body of the vehicle. If they were moulded onto the body there would be no way to remove them.

BTW, there's a thread on how to de-badge your own car with a hair dryer. Some of the cars on this thread look better without the badges (Superb looks a class higher without its logo).

[GT500]

Originally Posted by Raja

A few days back, checked with Mercedes Benz dealer here in Pune:
Front Star - Rs.2300/-
Rear Star - Rs.700/-
Available over the counter, inc all taxes.

Today a saw a current shape Mercedes C-Class Avant-garde, the one with the huge star in grill and it was missing, the car looked lost and without an identity and like someone had knocked out your two front teeth.

I can relate to the frustration of logos being nicked, being a victim myself.

The mercs logos are competitevely priced vis a vis a BMW suvs' which cost about 13.5k (yep,13.5k)

[noopster]

^^ I should have bought a Merc. That's less than what VW charges (approx 4000 for the set:front and rear).

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by noopster

^^ I should have bought a Merc. That's less than what VW charges (approx 4000 for the set:front and rear).

Buy a Merc rear badge for Fraulein.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Merc logos seem to be cheaper than what the VW group charges for their cars. Even the Skoda logos are more expensive than Merc's.

[noopster]

Honda logos cost just 225/- each. My colleague had her City rear logo swiped and the dealer replaced it at that price. Wonder why dot doesn't change his Civic logo- at that price he can have it stolen about 7 times for every one that I replace!

[selfdrive]

I guess its a matter of principle for not letting someone enjoy at our cost. Amount be damned.
Oh I am not dot, just saying what I would do! No one seems to fancy a Tata logo though.

Edit: Does Skoda/ VW require something extra to manufature their logos? Or perhaps they are imported from EU while Merc makes them here and sends them in the other direction?

[anjan_c2007]

I was victim of a logo theft- the car my 1987 Maruti 800! I was told that even thieves do not touch an 800 these days as they are berated and mocked at in their "Thieves Club" with taunts like "Aur gaadi nahi mili thhi kya?" (meaning,could you not get any other car?).
My 800 was parked outside the house for the past three weeks. It had a lovely 21st century "S" logo on its front grille.One fine morning a few days ago, that was gone. A neighbour parks his brand new Hyundai Tucson, Verna another his Xylo, Indica and another his Swift quite nearby. None of these were touched.
And cars can look so moronic without the company logo!
I got a new one for Rs 70=00 and refitted this one. I am parking the car inside from now on.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Anjan, seriously? I would think that thieves wouldnt touch Maruti or the likes. Specially a charm like this. Luckily, they were at least able to to a good job while stealing the logos. No scratches or broken logos left behind.

Rs. 70 is such a steal. Wonder what planet VAG people live on!

[notorious_m]

How much will a flat mercedes benz bonnet badge cost?
I am considering this one as it would be a little difficult to flick than the hood ornament which again cant be stolen but breaks in the process rendering it useless for the thief.

I am also worried about the damage that the thief might cause the hood in order to rip the logo apart.

My rear badge and one hub cap are also stolen. The rear badge costs rs 700 in mumbai too and only some official sellers at opera house get to sell it not yet enquired at a dealership.

[tbppjpr]

Note from Mod: There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the board experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

[Maverick79]

Two new finds. Both were in the city in Aundh area.



Where is the end for this?



Is the grey market still there for these logos?

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by Maverick79

Is the grey market still there for these logos?

Yes, I believe that most of these end up somewhere in the supply chain again.
Most of the logo less cars I see though are Skoda, VW and Fiat. The other day I saw an auto rickshaw sporting what looked like a genuine BMW logo

On another related topic, someone flicked the LCLC sticker of my Nano a few days ago.