stolen Ferrari 512 M

it must be a horrible feeling.

I wonder what the heck the thieves can do with them other than selling it part by part. Ferraris and especially 512M, are way too traceable to be left in one piece, don't you think?

 

Maybe post this in the Ferraris for sale and parts section. It will get more eyes and awareness...

 

one would think rarity would affect the theft of a Ferrari as a deterrent... actually rarity matters little... there are many unsolved / un recovered thefts of Ferrari... including where only less than a handful of cars were produced, one would think the Ferrari community would be self policing and quick to report ownership of cars with questionable histories of acquisition... the reality is that the Ferrari community is like society in general and has a segment that is slow or unwilling to report stolen property... there are those in the upper echelon of the F car community that wear faux halos in their public image, all the while hiding their dark side...

 

My heart goes out to you and I hope a speedy recovery. I was once told that uber high end cars rarely get parted out because there is a small market for 'hot' parts. Most Ferrari owners dont buy stolen parts for their cars or cruise Craigs List looking for a water pump. Honda Accords, different story.

I would suspect it is heading for a country that has lax registration laws.

 

True. But the last 6 digits would show up at some point somewhere. A Ferrari dealership told me once that there are a series of "hidden" numbers here and there in the engine compartment that allows them to know what chassis they're dealing with, without having to read the VIN number.

 

Interesting, good info.

I think the end user wont care about the VIN or engine out services hahah. They will probably either drive it into the ground or pay for a private mechanic.

Eastern Europe, Albania and Russia......

Europe's Car Thieves Go Upscale | Security Management

A friend who is in Law Enforcement gave me some theft deterrent ideas:

-Always use a different address than actual storage address for registration and dealership purposes. This will foil thieves looking 'steal for order' cars. Get rid of anything inside the car with your storage address.
-Lojack. It works if the thief cant easily find the box.
-Micro GPS tracker with GSM. Small and could be hidden behind the dash or inside airbox, behind speaker foot well carpet or?
-Disable the car by pulling fuel pump fuses when sitting for long periods un attended and put the keys in a safe (assuming you arent driving regularly). Obviously this will not stop a thief who can cut keys to code or has a flat bed.

Anybody got any more?

 

I put The Club on the steering wheel. All my cars have The Club. If a thief is thinking about your car as a sudden opportunity, The Club makes it harder to get away with the car. Low tech, but I think it works.

 

I have a locking plate for the shift lever.
It covers the shift gate and locks the lever into reverse.
I use it when parked in public.
Pretty hard to make a get-away going backwards but easy enough to drag up on a flatbed..

 

I feel sorry for the owner.

 

trust me, I exactly know the feeling !

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/vintage-thru-365-gtc4-sponsored-vintage-driving-machines/457587-stolen-250gte.html

feeling very sorry with the owner and hoping to get her back.

 

I've posted it in our NL FB !

 

Amazing to hear that such a car could be stolen, although a number of such stolen cars continue to circulate throughout the region where I reside. From what I understand, so long as they are not exported, the local registrations can be renewed annually; even some innocent owers have bought such cars, to their chagrin when they tried to move home with them.

While Carfax can help in the US, is there a central registry (Interpol?) where serial numbers of all stolen cars from the EU can be checked? When I bought my TR and Countaches I ended up contacting the factory and paying dearly for a form of PPI which included some documentation.

Sadly, even that can be iffy. There is a market for completely wrecked / burned exotics just for their various ID badges.

A good idea to store at an address other than your residence of record.

 

I've seen videos of people cutting through the steering wheel in seconds rendering the "club" ineffective. If a thief wants your car they will get it.

 

There is also a known weak link with traditional roll up garage doors. Just Google 'garage door coat hangar'. On my old garage, I had the emergency quick release secured with a zip tie. A thief would have to use other force methods to get the door open.

 

But then the steering wheels is trash and costs more than the few hours of drive time before being pulled over via helicopter intercept.

 

Not suggesting this is the case of course but I have heard of insurance fraud cases where the car is at the bottom of a lake and the insured gets paid. This might answer the question of why some cars are never discovered again.

 

I would not take that statement to the bank. Many many owners are more then willing to pay for a "good deal" on parts.

Would you rather pay 50k for a gearbox or 25?

 

Yes. Many times over..

 

Strange that many cars are getting stolen from France

 

i thought te same when resding this. I think only a week ago a dino was stolen, also in France.....

Anyway me heart gooes out to the owner, must be really driving you nuts!

 

Unfortunately, not strange at all: this country has become the happiest of all european hunting grounds for most eastern Europe crime organisations. As an example, a wide network of burglars of georgian origin was dismantled by the Police just a few months ago.

Rgds