Theft of Scrap Car?

Neyite

We owned an old car sitting outside that has been off the road for a few years - not driveable, no tax, Nct or insurance. I say owned, because today, I came home from work to find it gone.

Last week, or the week before, the doorbell went and it was a guy with a tow truck asking about it. I confirmed my partner owned it, and he said he was interested in giving us a few quid for it for scrappage. I told him I if he gave me his number I would pass it on to my fella, and he duly gave me his name and tel.

At the weekend, I noticed that the door on it was open slightly, and and then saw that the steering wheel was hanging off, since its been sitting up for ages, the battery would be totally dead, so no way was it remotely drivable. My partner said then that he would ring the guy to get it scrapped, but it did cross our minds that maybe it had been broken into to encourage it to be scrapped.

This evening I came home to see it gone, went into the house delighted and said to himself "so you rang yer man to take the car, he took it fairly quick, what did he give you for it". He hadnt a clue what I was on about. I genuinely thought he was messing until he rang the gardai about it. It seems he has to drop into the Garda station and make a report about it. It was definatly towed, as you can see the disturbance in the gravel clearly from the flatbed pushing it back.

He will report it to the gardai, and he just rang the guy who gave his number who denies all knowledge of it :rolleyes: I know that we would have got about 50 for it at the most, so its not the money but we are kind of bemused at this.

Has anyone heard of this going on?

Jesh1

There is alot of dodgy folks looking out for non-running motors, some lad called to my door asking to buy an old car i had. Offering me decent money but i had an other agenda.
A work colleague said his missus was hassled by some lad looking to take their old car. He was ready with the tow truck :eek:
He kept calling to the door aswell.

robtri

scrap metal is wort a lot of money... a lot....

many people will do a lot of underhand things to get it....

Guy:Incognito

robtri wrote: »

scrap metal is wort a lot of money... a lot....

many people will do a lot of underhand things to get it....

It really isnt worth that much. A couple of hundred a ton is all.

My uncle is a panel beater and has a skip outside all the time that he chucks the panels and doors etc in to . Myself and my cousin were thinking of loading up the van every couple of weeks to make a few quid till we enquired about what we'd make.

you'd need to be shifting massive amounts

YouTookMyName

Catalytic converters is where theres money to be made.

zapata

I've seen a few wrecks of tow trucks and Transits with A-frame car ambulances cruising the roads looking for the next easy target. Some people might take the view 'sure whats the harm - twas only scrap'. The thing is that a theft has taken place. These people enquire about taking a car and doing the owner a favour and when they don't get their way, they just take it anyway.
These theives are not welcome in civil society and it is only a matter of time before they move from old unused cars to the ones that are in use everyday. Rant over.

Delancey

YouTookMyName wrote: »

Catalytic converters is where theres money to be made.

What makes them so valuable ?

mickdw

Delancey wrote: »

What makes them so valuable ?

Precious metals that are used internally

MetzgerMeister

Delancey wrote: »

What makes them so valuable ?

A lot of catcons use platinum, palladium, and rhodium and these are precious metals.

shinikins

Happened to a guy I know only a few weeks back, he had a car parked up that he was using for spare parts, and when he went over to get some bits he needed the car was gone! He was able to find it in a scrap yard a short distance away, but had to call the Gardai as the scrap merchant wouldn't hand it over. He had robbed the car that morning,and had a buyer lined up for it, and wanted my friend to pay him for his own car back or "he would be out of pocket" :rolleyes::rolleyes: My friend has the logbook though, so the Gardai told the scrap guy to hand the car over, then they handed him the bill for the tow truck they had brought with them!

David09

shinikins wrote: »

Happened to a guy I know only a few weeks back, he had a car parked up that he was using for spare parts, and when he went over to get some bits he needed the car was gone! He was able to find it in a scrap yard a short distance away, but had to call the Gardai as the scrap merchant wouldn't hand it over. He had robbed the car that morning,and had a buyer lined up for it, and wanted my friend to pay him for his own car back or "he would be out of pocket" :rolleyes::rolleyes: My friend has the logbook though, so the Gardai told the scrap guy to hand the car over, then they handed him the bill for the tow truck they had brought with them!

I'd say the look on the scrapman's face when loaded with the bill was priceless.
Most scrap dealers are arrogant cnuts. He should have handed it back without digging himself into a bigger mess. Fair dues to your mate.

shinikins

David09 wrote: »

I'd say the look on the scrapman's face when loaded with the bill was priceless.
Most scrap dealers are arrogant cnuts. He should have handed it back without digging himself into a bigger mess. Fair dues to your mate.

Even better than that, all my friend wanted was the last few pieces to finish off his project car and told the scrap guy that if he took them out for him he could keep the rest of the car. He did all the labour, handed over the parts and was handed the bill!!

Tefral

Youll get about 300 quid for a box of 20 batterys also, that and the cat are worth good money. My brother is a mechanic and the knackers do be constantly calling for cats, they know the price of everything, some cats are worth 50 quid bmw ones they will 150 for (the knackers that is, they must be getting nearly twice that)

darragh o meara

cronin_j wrote: »

Youll get about 300 quid for a box of 20 batterys also, that and the cat are worth good money. My brother is a mechanic and the knackers do be constantly calling for cats, they know the price of everything, some cats are worth 50 quid bmw ones they will 150 for (the knackers that is, they must be getting nearly twice that)

I've heard from a local cop that the theft of catalytic convertors from road going cars is on the rise big time. There's big money to be made from them

E39MSport

^^ Thats a given sadly. 70 a pop for the scrappers selling on the market so you'd possibly get 30 for one if you rocked up to a scrappers with it. Scummers.

8er is safe though

biko

Unfortunately once people have showed up and shown interest in a car it's more likely to be stolen.
As soon as possible after they've shown up, get cameras and flood lights.

Mr. Presentable

Was it on the public road for years, untaxed, uninsured, un-NCTed?

Is it possible the Council removed it?

Mr. Presentable

There was an ex-Eircom van parked near me. One Sunday I was going by and some travellers pulled up in a van with a hitch on the back and proceeded to hook it up in a hurry. They were spotted by the owners and chased off.

The van was gone two days later........

dilallio

darragh o meara wrote: »

I've heard from a local cop that the theft of catalytic convertors from road going cars is on the rise big time. There's big money to be made from them

Very true.
I know of 3 cases in Galway over the past month and half where minibuses have had the catalytic converter cut out of them over a weekend.

langdang

biko wrote: »

Unfortunately once people have showed up and shown interest in a car it's more likely to be stolen.
As soon as possible after they've shown up, get cameras and flood lights.

I had one of limericks "characters" sniffing round an old yoke I had. Scrapped it myself the next day. Neighbour reckons one of his cars was interfered with after the same character came looking at it. Strangely, my new car was vandalised the night after...

Neyite

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

Was it on the public road for years, untaxed, uninsured, un-NCTed?

Is it possible the Council removed it?

Nope, private estate, but we will check with them just in case. It just seemed odd that a guy came enquiring, then within a week, the steering wheel ripped off, then it disappeared.


My concern is that these assholes can just delcare someone elses property is scrap and take it.

Cookie_Monster

shinikins wrote: »

Happened to a guy I know only a few weeks back, he had a car parked up that he was using for spare parts, and when he went over to get some bits he needed the car was gone! He was able to find it in a scrap yard a short distance away, but had to call the Gardai as the scrap merchant wouldn't hand it over. He had robbed the car that morning,and had a buyer lined up for it, and wanted my friend to pay him for his own car back or "he would be out of pocket" :rolleyes::rolleyes: My friend has the logbook though, so the Gardai told the scrap guy to hand the car over, then they handed him the bill for the tow truck they had brought with them!

So all he got was a bill? Where's the conviction for theft?
If all he has to face is the odd bill from being caught and no other punishment, why would ha stop taking the chance if can make a hundred + odd per car

shinikins

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

So all he got was a bill? Where's the conviction for theft?
If all he has to face is the odd bill from being caught and no other punishment, why would ha stop taking the chance if can make a hundred + odd per car

He ended up seriously out of pocket, he had already sold the car for a few hundred, so when he ended up having to remove the parts my friend needed he also ended up with a car he couldn't sell on and a buyer he had to refund. Then on top of that he got the bill for the tow truck. I doubt it would have been worth my friends or the Gardai's time to pursue the matter to court.