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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:
LakieLady · 04/12/2023 07:32

They found mine when it was stolen.

Well, to be more accurate, the fire brigade found it because the fuckers that stole it set fire to it.

Lastqueenofscotland2 · 04/12/2023 07:34

Generally they have cloned plates on them within seconds.
I know 4 people who have had cars stolen

  1. very expensive car - no trace of. Assume stolen to order
  2. cheap runaround, turned up the next day stinking of weed but fine
  3. another cheap runaround, turned up a week later on cloned plates… was involved in a police chase and was crashed. The driver was convicted. (Though I think for drug offences rather than theft of the car)
  4. a van, turned up 2 days later burnt out in a field
BeautifulBirds · 04/12/2023 07:35

No, police are useless.
I've been the victim of a car jacking where the car was never found, despite being seen on cameras.
And the victim of a motorbike theft. The bike was seen several times and reported to police. As the numberplate had been removed the response was...how do you know its your bike!
The worst part was the photo on social media of the bike next to a police car at traffic lights, with 'catch me' covering the reg plate. It was later used in a drive by shooting.
I later found out the police had recorded my husbands bike as the stolen one, it was left in the lockup.
Totally useless, incompetent police force here.

LickleLamb · 04/12/2023 07:36

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

You can’t insure range rovers now as so many nicked and engines shipped out

BoobsOnTheChristmasTree · 04/12/2023 07:37

My mum's car was found after being stolen, about 20 years ago now. It had been used in a break in to a garden centre of all places and then dumped. The boot was full of things like Buddha statues and bird baths!

fuzzyduck1 · 04/12/2023 07:38

Had one motorbike found about 20 years after it was stolen when in was found in a junk yard in a sorry stare. Also had one returned after 3 years when some poor bloke had bought it without the documents then tried to tax it and it flagged up as being stolen. The police even suggested that I should let the new owner keep the bike as he had hade some work done on it.

so they do find them sometimes but more luck than judgement.

fuzzyduck1 · 04/12/2023 07:43

The police have got better things to do like
handing out speeding tickets,
fining people for littering
escorting bailiffs when they evict people
that sort of thing.
hope you never get burgled you will never see one.

lightelmqueen · 04/12/2023 07:49

Police found our stollen car within hours. Unfortunately it was found burnt out in local woodland though

NeedToChangeName · 04/12/2023 07:52

My uncle's stolen car was found undamaged, but that was a long time ago

Nowadays, I wouldn't very optimistic. Best not give your friend false hopes

JenniferAllisonPhillipaSue · 04/12/2023 07:59

Neighbour's car was found about 4 weeks after it was stolen. This was about a year ago; and he got it back and is still driving around in it today. So it can happen.

bitchillytonight · 04/12/2023 08:00

When a car is stolen generally its identity is changed within minutes (false plates stuck on) so it doesn't flag up on ANPR cameras and a majority of stolen cars literally don't exist within a week as they're chopped up for spare parts and sold on gumtree and Facebook market place.

Tulipsroses · 04/12/2023 08:14

Our Range Rover was stolen from the supermarket car park. The video form the cameras showed a white bmw driving behind. As soon I left the car a man jumped in and drove off. This was around 6pm. Around 11pm I had a call from police that the car which looks like yours was found not too far with a different number plates. The offerer checked the plate against the VIN and it didn't match. So we went to pick it up, it was left with a different number plates and the computer disconnected so the trucking system could not locate the car. My husband slept in the car and in the morning connected the computer and drove off.
My advice is to disconnect the easy access button when it unlocks itself without you pressing. That's how criminals can use your fob to send a signal to the car.

biter · 04/12/2023 08:30

Years back my friends car was stolen. Reported to police. I was walking home from work and spotted it. Told my friend who told the police. They said to leave it and they would send forensics to get fingerprints etc.

A week later he gets a call from the police "great news! We've found your car!" Left hand, meet right hand. 😂😬 his car was badly damaged and had been joy ridden. Stupid expression, where's the joy in it ?

Agree with PP re putting local appeal out there for the special car seat. Also worth talking to insurance Co re them funding an urgent replacement / hire car so your friend isn't stranded.

Some people are such bastards.

scrunch22 · 04/12/2023 08:34

Changed plates are the norm for stolen cars unless it's stolen for a joy ride laugh and it will have been dumped somewhere! Unfortunately police don't have the resources to drive round the streets of the UK searching for cars. If they're found from the latter example it's normally because they're reported abandoned somewhere.

If police had the resources to track every stolen car the service might not have as many complaints as it has but unfortunately it doesn't.

Is your friend going through her insurance?

Bobtheamazinggingerdog · 04/12/2023 08:36

Police found ours when I was a kid but it was total coincidence because the number plate contained the number 999 and the officer who took the report spotted it and checked because the reg stuck in their mind

Dibdabble · 04/12/2023 08:38

Mine was found around 6 months later by which time the insurance had paid out so I was no longer the registered owner of the car so all I had was a letter from the police informing me they had found it which I had to then pass on to the insurers. I had no details about how the car was found or its condition.

When it was stolen the police didn’t do much just registered it and gave me a crime reference number. The thieves had driven it to a petrol station so good cctv would have been available but the police never bothered to investigate it. Bigger issues to deal with than stolen cars unfortunately.

Iheartmysmart · 04/12/2023 08:40

I reported a Range Rover which had been left for several months in the car park at my block of flats. The registration was showing as no tax or MOT. The police weren’t in the slightest bit interested. Not even when the car’s registration number suddenly changed a few days later and it miraculously had a new MOT despite not moving from its parking space for nigh on 5 months!

Original poster
Ceci03 · 04/12/2023 11:59

The worst part is my friend thinks it must be one of her neighbours who took it as she left her keys in her front door by mistake and without being too 'outing' only her neighbours can access the floor the flat is on. She had to get her front door lock replaced too. How can people be so mean. If I saw someone had left their keys in the door I would just knock and say look your keys are here - or put them through the letterbox. She's so lost without the car.

OP posts:
MatildaTheCat · 04/12/2023 12:07

I twice had old but necessary cars stolen many years ago. The first one was found burnt out which was bloody annoying as it was a decent car even if old.

The second time the car had car seats, my glasses and various children’s Christmas presents in the boot. The car was found parked not far away in perfect ( well no worse!) condition and they had even folded my glasses and put them into their case. So there can be decent endings even if not that often.

Seas164 · 04/12/2023 12:07

If they've taken the car with the keys, then there will be a different set of circumstances than if it's been stolen by force.

Original poster
Ceci03 · 04/12/2023 12:33

Seas164 · 04/12/2023 12:07

If they've taken the car with the keys, then there will be a different set of circumstances than if it's been stolen by force.

How do you mean @Seas164

OP posts:
SingingSands · 04/12/2023 13:45

We've had 3 cars stolen. Only one was recovered, and I think that was because the whole thing was bungled and they messed up.

My friend's car was stolen and parked up in another part of the city (waiting to see if a tracker is fitted). A resident became suspicious and reported it to the police - obviously it was reported stolen so she was lucky and got it back.

As476 · 04/12/2023 13:49

My dad had a fairly unique car stolen (not many of them around anymore) and we found it using a social media appeal, 48 hours after it was stolen, outside someone’s house with an identical car on the drive. They obviously wanted parts. The police did nothing, other than turn up to recover it when we told them where it was - they wouldn’t let us steal it back with the keys 😂😂😂.

Deliaskis · 04/12/2023 13:53

Mine was discovered after about a month, as it was used in an armed robbery! Insurance had already paid out and I'd bought a new one by then. Couldn't have faulted the police really, they were very thorough and kept calling me to update me on the court case months after the event (which was very good of them, although I'd sort of lost interest by then!).

SisterMichaelsHabit · 04/12/2023 13:55

Ceci03 · 04/12/2023 12:33

How do you mean @Seas164

Show quote history

Well for starters it could mean that the insurance is invalid.

As soon as the keys were gone she should have informed the police of stolen car keys. If she found her keys in the door without her car key on that was a big clue someone was planning to steal her car. It's like writing your PIN down and then someone steals your card, it's often classed that you didn't take reasonable precautions to secure your stuff.

If only a certain number of people can access the place where the keys were left, that massively narrows down the suspects though.

Has she informed the police of this information?

Also, my mum's car was stolen and they recovered it safe and sound so it can happen but at that point it was an insurance write-off so we were still without a car. If your friend is insured, it might pay out some money unless they decide the key situation invalidates the claim.