Monday, April 24, 2006

Car is Found

My wife's car, which was stolen from in front of our house ten days ago, was found yesterday (Sunday) morning. Tuuli saw the car as she was driving to the Petco pet store to do some shopping. It was neatly parked on the street in front of a non-descript white house, about ten blocks north of our own house, and just one block away from the street we drive every morning when taking the kids to school.

There was absolutely no damage. The car was locked and there was still some gas in the tank. The interior had been ransacked but nothing was missing. The license plates were still on the car, the tab still on the license plate and the ignition had not been punched. According to my wife, the vehicle had been driven about 200 miles, so we're wondering how long it had actually been at that location.

Needless to say, we're very grateful. We got the car home, cleaned it out real good and installed one of those Club steering wheel bars, as obviously someone out there has a key. Would it have been nice if the police had found it earlier or if they had taken more of an interest in the details of the recovery? Sure, but evidently stolen cars are a low priority for them. So low, in fact, that they basically take the approach that the car will turn up on its own parked sideways on somebody's planting strip, or be involved in a crash or be pulled over for a traffic infraction. Or the owners might recover it themselves, less than a mile from where it was stolen. In any event, the car usually finds the police--the police dont' find the car, and they can still brag that they have a near-90% recovery rate.

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