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Original poster

Do police ever find a stolen car

59 replies

Ceci03 · 04/12/2023 01:47

So my friends car was stolen from outside her home. She reported it to the police on wed morning. She checked back on Fri and was told the case hadn't been assigned yet. She is devastated. It was an old car but was her independence. Her little girl has autism and is so upset , where is the car she wants to know. Where is her special car seat.

Does anyone have any experience. I don't know what to tell my friend

OP posts:
XelaM · 04/12/2023 01:59

Unfortunately only bad experience. Police didn't care one bit when my dad's brand new car was stolen form outside my house and my neighbour even had ring doorbell footage of the exact moment it was stolen (faces of perpetrators were unclear). There was also street CCTV that the police didn't even bother to obtain, despite us pleading with them to request it. They were utterly useless and it also took them days to assign an officer in the case, by which time they said the car was probably already abroad. The only positive was that insurance paid out in full.

MintJulia · 04/12/2023 02:15

If the car seat is special, she could issue a social media plea for it to be returned. Try to guilt the thief's family to do the right thing. Get the local paper involved. Season of goodwill and all that.

Achdinnae · 04/12/2023 02:20

Offer local taxi drivers, postmen and delivery drivers a reward for finding it. A bottle of whisky,malt if the car is still drivable.

Aquamarine1029 · 04/12/2023 02:20

The police don't have time to actively look for stolen cars. It's unfortunate, but it's the truth. When one is found, it is usually due to it's involvement in another crime or by happenstance.

I'm very sorry for your friend. She must be devastated.

XenoBitch · 04/12/2023 02:25

Not a car, but in my case it was a moped. It was found, but the thieves had caused damage to unlock it, and then rode it about until it was useless anyway.
It was a write off.

Original poster
Ceci03 · 04/12/2023 02:29

That's terrible @XelaM . She has been taking taxis to and from school. It's a nightmare. Her dd gets overwhelmed on the bus . I mean I thought with ANPR police could track a stolen car. How can someone be driving round in the car and not be the owner will they get caught for not having tax and insurance.

OP posts:
CurlsnSunshinetime4tea · 04/12/2023 03:06

we were travelling with food in the trunk when our car was stolen and taken for a joy ride (evident by mileage put on) abandoned in an underground car park and found 10-14 days later.
by this time the insurance had paid us out, but the police suggested against us taking back the car as you have no way of knowing the full damage, which would not be covered by further insurance.
when they called us they asked if we had food in the car (yes) or if they should be looking for a dead body hidden in the trunk...
they said the smell would never come out of the insulation.

TotalAbsenceOfImperialRaiment · 04/12/2023 03:33

Stolen cars are sometimes found, often burnt out or in a damaged condition. Sometimes they never turn up because they have left the country, or been stripped down for parts, or been sold on the black market with false index plates and no documents. I think your friend should assume the worst and claim on her insurance.

margotrose · 04/12/2023 05:25

Yes, my parents' car was found within three days - unfortunately it was found smashed into a wall several hundred miles away!

DifficultBloodyWoman · 04/12/2023 05:27

Yes. When they are burnt out and on the side of the road. It’s even quicker if it has been crashed into something that people will report.

WaltzingWaters · 04/12/2023 05:34

My dads stolen (very nice) motorbike was found and quickly returned (slightly damaged). That was 10ish years ago though.

LBFseBrom · 04/12/2023 05:37

The police found my husband's car which had been stolen. It was wrecked and things stolen from it but he claimed on insurance and got a new car. Couldn't replace the stolen stuff.

Just to add, the police don't go out looking for stolen cars but they are very often used just to get from A-B and then abandoned; when found, the owner is traced through the number plate.

greenacrylicpaint · 04/12/2023 05:50

it's either
stolen to order - you will never see it again
stolento order for parts - you will never see it again
stolen for joyride - you might be notified when the car is found crashed and burnt out

LemonLimeDivine · 04/12/2023 06:07

Police don’t actively go looking - there isn’t the time / resources.

A marker is added to it on the database when stolen and the control room get a notification if / when that vehicle passes through an ANPR camera. If Police get one of these notifications and there is a police crew free to search the immediate area then it is sometimes located that way.

Otherwise it usually turns up after being involved in an incident / found abandoned.

Poppysmom22 · 04/12/2023 06:31

Even if they do find it does she really want it back. I honestly wouldn't after someone else drove it, you don't know what they did in it.

InTheRainOnATrain · 04/12/2023 06:37

Yes but only because of the tracker and we got it back within the hour. They still managed to miss the thieves though!

QueenOfThorns · 04/12/2023 06:41

If it’s an older car rather than something flashy that has been stolen to be sold, it has likely been dumped somewhere. Has your friend tried using social media, e.g. local Facebook groups, to ask whether anyone has seen it?

Simonjt · 04/12/2023 06:45

They didn’t look for mine, but I happened to track it down about 12 weeks later as I received two fines for the same carpark, I went over and they had been parking there while at work. My insurance had already paid out, so I stole it back and then it took about four months to sort the insurance as they wouldn’t just let me send the money back, and in the mean time they wouldn’t let me drive my car, or insure another car with them, so I had to take out a new policy elsewhere.

RichPetunia · 04/12/2023 06:59

I've got a great story. A friend of mine had his car stolen. Reported this immediately to the police. Nothing. No news or anything until months later when the police turned up his house. For what? For non payment of fines accrued after the car had been stolen.
Obviously, he soon put them right on that one but was flabbergasted they hadn't picked up on the fact that the car was registered with them as stolen.

mummyh2016 · 04/12/2023 07:01

My friends was, it was involved in a police chase though so there must have been more to it.
She was gutted she got it back, she hated the car after it happened (the thieves broke into her house for the keys) and couldn't wait to get rid.

Wildernesstips · 04/12/2023 07:10

Mine was found after about a month as it had been reported as abandoned by someone. But by that time I had bought another car.

Panda89 · 04/12/2023 07:20

My mums car was stolen a few years ago, the thieves broke in to get the keys.
Police weren’t really interested, the car was found 6 months later in a random street in London but the insurance paid out way before that.

SusanKennedyshouldLTB · 04/12/2023 07:22

They dont even look.

a relative if mine tracked and found his own.

TodayInahurry · 04/12/2023 07:22

Expensive cars are stolen to order and are in a container and out of the country to places like Pakistan, parts of Africa etc within days. Others are stolen for parts.

Older cars are probably sold for cash with cloned plates and some are just stolen for joy riding and often then set on fire. I used to work with agents paid to try to recover them

CoffeeWithMyOxygen · 04/12/2023 07:28

They found ours, it was completely undamaged and we got it back from the impound lot a few days later. In our case it was a car stealing gang who pinch them then park them up for a few days to wait out any tracking devices - we got lucky that some police on the beat happened to spot it and the reg flagged up as stolen.

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