Sorry to hear about your friend.
DH's aunt had her car stolen and it was found later and the only way they knew it was her car was because I had given her a bumper sticker and it was still on the car. They had taken the motor and the tires, etc. (It was in Detroit.)

Nobody'd want to steal my old '88 Mazda!

Probably couldn't drive a standard, even if they were to try!

ole joyful

I've had two cars stolen. One had the ignition punched out, but was found intact otherwise. I just used a screwdriver to start it from then on. The other was a company car which I left the keys in while I went inside for lunch. Naive or what? I've had a couple of other cars broken into. Nothing like life in the big city.

My cousin and one of my friends have had cars stolen, and in both cases they were found a day or two later. Joyriders.

Please give us an update if you hear from your friend.

My VW was stolen. Not a fun experience!

Never had a car stolen. But last December I took my daughter shopping for a winter coat. Parked in a disabled spot right near the door of the store. When I came out, I couldn't find my car. All the disabled spots were full. Ran inside and told a clerk my car was missing. She called the police, then my daughter said "We came in a different door." Sure enough, my car was outside another door. I felt like a moron calling the police and telling them "forget it".

LOL Jannie!

no, no stolen car. Someone DID steal the gate off the back of my husband's toyota truck a few years ago though.

oh, Susan, I forgot to ask. How is your friend doing?

Oh, thanks for asking, Kat and Petaloid. She came back the next day (Tuesday) in a rental car. She said she hasn't heard from the police since they took her statement.

I guess all her luggage was in the car because they were leaving to drive back right after supper. She said the whole experience was a nightmare. I feel for anyone who has been through it, and I hope it never happens to me.

My GD had her car stolen three times! Always recovered, always with something missing. She later found out that it was the easiest car to steal in this country, because only a few different makes of keys were issued, although thousands of the vehicles were sold. Needless to say, the car was sold, and she now drives a different make and model.

This happened a couple of years ago in my area. A person too drunk to legally drive went to the local WalMart to pick up some snacks. When he came out, he could not locate his car and he was sure that he knew which row he had parked in. He hauled out his cell phone and reported his car stolen. Just as the police arrived, he remembered that he had driven his OTHER car and was practically standing next to it. He hastily tried to explain the situation to the officer, but too late, the Officer caught a whiff of his breath. This was cause enough for the police to intensify their investigation. The driver could not pass the field soberity test, and a quick look through the window of the car revealed an open beer can (with beer in it) in the front cup holder plus several empties that had drained their last drops on the floor. A quick search by the fellow officer revealed a goodly size bag of marijuna in the glove box plus other drug paraphanelia. This guy did not make it home. He was hauled off to the police station and his car impounded.

Moral: Stay home when you don't know what you are doing.

Yes, I had my car stolen once. Apparently someone just needed a ride somewhere. It was found the next day about a mile from my house. No damage to the car, not even the loose change in the console was missing. Odd.

jemdandy, that's an interesting story, but are you SURE it happened? I find it hard to believe that one's breath constitutes probable cause to search a vehicle you're not occupying. Did they search his house too? How about his other vehicle(s), place of employment and such? Has all the makings of an urban legend but strange things do happen. If it's true, that is a classic unreasonable search and siezure in my humble opinion.

I have had vehicles burglarized and one was sort of stolen. I loaned my car to my brother and he let his GF drive it without my permission. She got into an accident and jumped out screaming it's all my fault, my BF's brother will pay for everything!!

I had my car "stolen" once by the police. I had parked my car overnight on a street by the hospital where I worked in a perfectly legal spot. There was no markings or bags covering a parking meter. We always parked on the street whenever we could on weekends so we wouldn't have to pay parking. After I came out from a 12 hour shift my car was gone. I called the police and was told that they towed my car and others on that street to another street because they wanted that area for a film crew that day. The police couldn't tell me what street that they towed it to, so there I was tramping the streets after a hard 12 hour nursing shift looking for my car along with a number of other nurses. We were not impressed!

My mom, my three little kids and I were shopping in a mall 50 miles from home. Mom, always forgetting where she parked the car, insisted on fetching it in the rain while I stayed with the kids. She came back twenty minutes later, soaking wet, upset because she couldn't find the car. By this time, I was mad, the kids were cranky. I went to get the car. Nothing there. Gone.

We called security. They were pretty sure we were two goofy women. They drove Mom around all the lots. Nothing. Stolen.

I called hub to come get us, as the thief had stolen Mom & Dad's only car. Hub had to finish working, drive 50 miles in the monsoon to get us. It was a long day.

The shell of the car was eventually recovered miles and miles from the mall.

Sherry

When I was in high school one of our neighbors car was stollen, a 1966 Chevy Chevelle. The insurance company paid him for the car. Fifteen years later he received a call that they located the car in perfect condition and with about the same mileage on it. Guess someone wanted it for their collection. The insurance company asked him if he wanted to buy it back. He opted not to.

Never had one of my cars stolen, but I did have the battery taken from my Mustang on more than one occasion. My niece however has had her car stolen twice this year alone. They found it the first time but they are not having such good luck this time around.

Trish

A few years ago, we were having a huge cookout,bonfire etc, and a storm came up and started blowing chairs into the fire etc, so everyone packed up in vehicles and went to our house. It poured all evening, and we stayed inside or on the porch. Around 1 am, I took my mother and sister home. I carried up sis's crockpot and shut a window for her. I had left my car running on the street. I was in there no more than 5 min, and went to leave. No car... just my footprints in the mud. We had to call the police who questioned if it could have been reposesed. (paid cash for several years before that). we had to call BIL home from work to drag soaked ticked off me back to the country. I couldn't call anyone from home, as DD had DH's car, out on weekend from college. My car was found 10 am in town, still running, windshield black from wipers running, half a tank of gas gone, and my stick on clock missing. Still had cooler of beer and pop in trunk, half watermelon in back window, and 2 crock pots in back floorboard, bag of chips and loaf of bread in trunk. guess they just wanted a ride across town in a dry car?
Funny thing was that I walked out to get mail Sunday morning, and got the info from JC Penneys charge card in mail. Had a benefit that if your car is stolen they offered a 1000 reward if it was found by anyone other than police or family. HaHa. The car was still missing at that point, and I called just for a laugh. The lady thought I was making it up when I told her that it had been stolen 8 hrs before. The police found the car, so there was no reward, and I was happy to get it back. I did attend a wedding shower that afternoon and we heard on scanner that they had "found the red bonneville stolen last night" I had driven it there!

To Cynic:

Yep. It really happened. T'was not an urban legend. It was an article in our local newspaper taken from the police blotter (Pewaukee, WI). The police did not search his car until they had established 'probably cause'. The sequence of events were as below:

Officer noticed the man could barely stand up and walk and smelled of liquor. His action of forgetting which car he had driven arroused suspicion.

First, the Officer performed a simple soberity test such as walking a straight line and touching a finger to your nose with eyes closed. The driver miserably failed the simple parts of the soberiety test which established probably cause plus in plain view was the open, partially consumed beer and other empties scattered about. Futhermore, by the driver's own admission, he had driven to WalMart in his current condition.

It is illegal ib this state to operate a vehicle with an open container of alcoholic beverage in the passenger compartment.

Beware that in this state, you do not have to be drivng to be arrested for suspicion of drunk driving. You can be arrested if an officer finds you very drunk and sitting behind the steering wheel of a parked car with the keys in hand or in the ignition.