Been there, done that. Thought I had forgotten where I parked at the mall and wandered up and down the parking lot rows for 1/2 hour after the movie let out thinking what an idiot I was for not remembering. My buddies even laughed and drove off (although they felt bad afterwards).
Turns out whoever took it kept it as his own car. It took them 6 months to find it, and in that time the guy put major mileage on the car and crashed it and abandoned it somewhere. It took the police 6 months to id the car as mine (stellar stuff - they wouldn't let me even see the car until "they" made the determination). What was left of the car after rotting in their impound lot for so long wasn't pretty. The guy had changed the ground effects and swapped out the stereo and speakers too. Ballsy.
And don't get me started on what a pleasant experience the insurance process was.
In the end they asked me if I wanted to exercise the option to buy it back. Thinking I could maybe have a little project on my hands and restore the car, I said "sure". They said, Ok here's how it works. We'll send the car to auction. We let you know what the highest bid is. You get to place the last bid, if you want the car, outbid the highest bid. I said, no thank you.
Most people I know who have had their cars stolen have had them found sooner or later, most usually sooner. Mine and another friend of mine's stories are the most incredible that I know of (my one buddy had a 1980 Pontiac GTA of all things ripped off and it was found in Hwy1 east of here on blocks - well, what was left of it which was basically the frame, maybe the steering wheel and the windsheild. Not pretty. He was absolutely convinced it was a Pontiac dealership in town behind the theft. I kept saying, no way, BS, no way. It's a random crime dude, get over yourself. Anyhow fast forward a few years and the police inform him they caught the individual mastermind behind his and other thefts ... and it was indeed related to the dealership, well, an employee at the dealership anyhow. I couldn't believe it.)
My case was never resolved - never found the dude, no charges ever laid, etc. Just an insurance payout that didn't cover anything. That's the worst part. It's bad enough being stolen from but you get stolen from twice - once by the theif, once by your insurance company.
Best of luck to her. Sorry to hear this. I empathize with her pain/inconvenience..
