The Assessor Winter 2026 PDF - Flipbook - Page 32
OPINION
© Thatcham Research
JOURNAL
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO
MY STOLEN CAR?
It’s a question that over three million victims of car theft in the UK have asked since the
millennium and even though 1.35 million of these vehicles were eventually recovered,
less than 20% of their owners knew it, writes Dr Ken German PhD (Law – International
Vehicle Crime) AFIAE, for The Assessors Journal.
ar theft is a diverse
subject and it’s one
that’s guaranteed to
animate anyone who
has been affected
by it, not just the victims. Most are
keen to relate their own experiences,
particularly when it comes to their
dealings with both the police and their
own insurance companies.
C
Some views are strong, derisory
and deep rooted in the failings of
the above dutifully reported by the
media. Indeed, some words like
useless, unsatisfactory, unhelpful
and underinformed are in common
parlance when describing the general
malaise and lack of interest in each
person’s own individual loss.
When it comes to the plight of these
stolen vehicles, no one is short of
a few friendly ‘experts’ proffering
their own opinion on who might be
responsible and its usually either local
opportunists working for the ubiquitous
32
‘chop-shops’ or the international car
traf昀椀cking gangs that roam the streets
of the UK looking for spoils.
A favourite speculation is that ‘most’
stolen vehicles will either be stripped
down and sold for spare parts or
maybe cloned onto the identity of
another similar car or they were simply
bundled into a shipping container and
sent to Africa where they will likely
never be seen again.
Whilst many victims with real
experience of this crime are eager
to point the guilty 昀椀nger at the
police, their insurance companies
and local government as being partly
responsible (and they may well be
right), my research for answers into
some of these theft cases found that
nothing is ever quite what it seems.
For example, Mr. A, the owner of a
cosseted classic Mercedes estate car,
discovered back in February 2020
that it had been stolen from his home
driveway overnight. He remembers
reporting the theft to the police
by telephone and that much to his
annoyance no one turned up to speak
to him or even look at the scene of the
crime.
They did, however, give him a crime
book reference number which he duly
forwarded to his insurance company
and from whom, some weeks later,
he received an agreed compensation
payment. Since then, over four years
ago, he has simply heard nothing from
the police or indeed anyone about the
incident.
Whilst this lack of communication
seemed to be a common thread with
several other victims of theft, there is in
this case more to the story.
I discovered that our victim’s car was
in fact recovered just 10 weeks after
it had been reported stolen. On
this occasion, it was found parked
unattended in the street and there had
been no police investigation nor were
there any suspects involved.
THE ASSESSORS JOURNAL | WINTER 2026 | www.iaea-online.org/news/the-assessor
