Stolen car, advice appreciated

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Donzac

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#260040 7-Nov-2019 20:02

Hi,

my daughter's car was stolen 10 days ago at Westgate, Auckland. We just returned from the Henderson police station and were told it is still needs to be processed for fingerprints and there is no firm date when it will be returned

Is this normal?

he needs the car to get to work and is just lucky that she is able to borrow one. What happens to people who are less fortunate, do they just tell their employers, "I won't be in for a couple of weeks"

Her car, is an old Nissan Note, while it is insured, there was no alarm in the car. I didn't tell her to get one installed because I never imagined anyone wanting to steal it.

Thanks for any advice

Cheers Don

EDIT: The car was found almost immediately after being reported stolen. So the police have had it for 10 days

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#2349780 7-Nov-2019 20:58

I do not think there is much you can do. I think many car insurance companies offer rental car covers when you buy a policy. It does cost extra though.

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#2349793 7-Nov-2019 21:25

No insurance company will provide a rental for a car that has been recovered and in the possession of the police.

You'll just have to find a way to make do until it is released.

Fred99

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#2349848 7-Nov-2019 21:43

I don't think it's normal for there to be a 10 day delay to pick it up. Old Nissans are prime target for thieves, they're easy to steal for opportunistic use. That could be just to get home and save taxi fare, or for transport to commit some other crimes.
If they're holding it, maybe they're thinking it's evidence for something more sinister, or maybe they don't have enough resources to do the normal fingerprint thing in a reasonable time. Last time I had a vehicle stolen I picked it up from a yard the day after it was found. A couple of days later, after I'd cleaned it, the cops phoned me to ask if they could come and dust it. Cops work in mysterious ways.

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#2349854 7-Nov-2019 21:54

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#2349887 8-Nov-2019 02:24

Donzac:

he needs the car to get to work and is just lucky that she is able to borrow one. What happens to people who are less fortunate, do they just tell their employers, "I won't be in for a couple of weeks"

use public transport

the police are very busy with theft cases and this is likely not a priority

Handle9

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#2349888 8-Nov-2019 03:59

I would take a letter to the police station staying you require the car released within 24 hours or compensation to be paid paid.. The police have no reason outside their control to hold the vehicle.

If you make a fuss it will be released.

sidefx

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#2349964 8-Nov-2019 08:14

xpd:

Bus.

Yeah, public transport? Bicycle?

Any idea what the circumstances of the recovery? Was it involved in any crashes or police chase or anything beforehand? Cheap cars are sometimes stolen then used as getaway vehicles from robbery's because they're easy to steal and "low profile" (I know cause I had that happen with a cheap mazda familia I once had - stolen then almost immediately used in the robbery of a dairy then abandoned)

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surfisup1000

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#2349982 8-Nov-2019 08:27

Donzac:

Hi,

my daughter's car was stolen 10 days ago at Westgate, Auckland. We just returned from the Henderson police station and were told it is still needs to be processed for fingerprints and there is no firm date when it will be returned

Is this normal?

he needs the car to get to work and is just lucky that she is able to borrow one. What happens to people who are less fortunate, do they just tell their employers, "I won't be in for a couple of weeks"

Her car, is an old Nissan Note, while it is insured, there was no alarm in the car. I didn't tell her to get one installed because I never imagined anyone wanting to steal it.

Thanks for any advice

Cheers Don

EDIT: The car was found almost immediately after being reported stolen. So the police have had it for 10 days

Exactly same thing happened to me.

My car was stolen from a wilsons carpark in the CBD.

Insurance was just about to pay out and it turned up on a residential street in west auckland. (Homies stole it to get home on a friday night I guess).

The cops said to leave it until they'd fingerprinted but wouldn't say when. I didn't want my car sitting on some street where it could easily be stolen again while the police faffed around.

So I just took a screwdriver and picked up the car (ignition barrel was ripped out). Apart from minor door damage and the ignition barrel it was in good condition.

kobiak

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#2349997 8-Nov-2019 08:48

Handle9: I would take a letter to the police station staying you require the car released within 24 hours or compensation to be paid paid.. The police have no reason outside their control to hold the vehicle.

If you make a fuss it will be released.

why would you want to black mail police for the job they are doing? Aren't they trying to find criminals to keep them away from the public? just insane.

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#2350002 8-Nov-2019 09:10

kobiak:

Handle9: I would take a letter to the police station staying you require the car released within 24 hours or compensation to be paid paid.. The police have no reason outside their control to hold the vehicle.

If you make a fuss it will be released.

why would you want to black mail police for the job they are doing? Aren't they trying to find criminals to keep them away from the public? just insane.

If the car was important to an investigation I'd expect it would be processed promptly.

To me the inconvenience and cost to the owner far outweighs any benefit gained by the police hanging onto the car until they get around to checking for fingerprints etc.

I don't think it's unreasonable to put some pressure on for either the fingerprinting to be done or the car released.

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surfisup1000

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#2350014 8-Nov-2019 09:50

Technofreak:

kobiak:

Handle9: I would take a letter to the police station staying you require the car released within 24 hours or compensation to be paid paid.. The police have no reason outside their control to hold the vehicle.

If you make a fuss it will be released.

why would you want to black mail police for the job they are doing? Aren't they trying to find criminals to keep them away from the public? just insane.

If the car was important to an investigation I'd expect it would be processed promptly.

To me the inconvenience and cost to the owner far outweighs any benefit gained by the police hanging onto the car until they get around to checking for fingerprints etc.

I don't think it's unreasonable to put some pressure on for either the fingerprinting to be done or the car released.

Handle9's over the top aggressive approach will cause more problems than it solves. The letter is a laugh -- write it in uppercase and they will be even more intimidated haha.

Police are under-resourced. Ask nicely for your car, they might oblige.

tehgerbil

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#2350108 8-Nov-2019 11:32

If you need the vehicle back, advise you won't be pressing charges against those who stole it, and thus it's not a police matter.

I agree with some comments - but calling this blackmail is over the top! How on earth is telling the police: 'give us back the car please on the understanding this will not be fingerprinted' blackmail??

If OP is correct, they've had a week to fingerprint the vehicle, if it's not done by now then it's clearly a very low priority and as mentioned above the inconvenience of not having a vehicle is far outweighed (personally) by their staff being able to fingerprint the vehicle.

The sad state of affairs (from a quick google indicates less than 1 in 6 car thefts are ever resolved in some areas 2016, so the truth is even fingerprinted the chances anything will happen is rather low and for a basic run-about taken on a seemingly random joy ride has an even lower chance of being taken if the offender is not known to police and never does anything stupid again and thus their fingerprints are never entered into the database.

So in short, in this case I'd personally be more than happy to tell police, you're happy to not press charges should someone get found, and the car not to the fingerprinted in return for your vehicle.

dt

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#2350113 8-Nov-2019 11:59

things have changed, I was car jacked when I was 18 while driving through Henderson one evening and the car was recovered the same night. I got to take it home and they sent the forensics team to my house on the shore..

It sounds unreasonable to me since they have the car but hey I guess the other way to look at it is that they car might not have been recovered and would be without for a while anyways

BlueShift

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#2350114 8-Nov-2019 12:06

dt:

It sounds unreasonable to me since they have the car but hey I guess the other way to look at it is that they car might not have been recovered and would be without for a while anyways

I dunno, insurance companies pay out pretty quickly. When my car was written off a few months back, within a day of it being declared dead, there was money in my bank account to go car shopping. If OP's car had been stolen and not recovered, they could easily have a new one by now.

dt

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#2350116 8-Nov-2019 12:10

BlueShift:

dt:

It sounds unreasonable to me since they have the car but hey I guess the other way to look at it is that they car might not have been recovered and would be without for a while anyways

I dunno, insurance companies pay out pretty quickly. When my car was written off a few months back, within a day of it being declared dead, there was money in my bank account to go car shopping. If OP's car had been stolen and not recovered, they could easily have a new one by now.

I could appreciate a written off car it could happen pretty quickly, but my cousins car was stolen, police report and filed with his insurance company.. might have been a his insurer but he had a cool off period in case it was recovered.. it wasn't until they found it burnt out in Huapai 4 days later they sorted it out his payment quick.

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