[Delphinus]

My story doesn't touch yours but I was still incredulous about how the auto theft unit detective handled the case.

Detective: We think we may have found your car, can you identify it?
Me: Of course I can, where can I go see it?
Detective: No no, you have to tell me something about it I can use to identify it.
Me: Well what about the VIN? Did you check the VIN?
Detective: We don't check VIN's..
Me: (stunned silence) What? What do you mean?
Detective: You have to tell me something else about the car I can use to identify it as your car.
Me: Ummmm it's a black VW Rabbit GTI, it has a red interior .. there's a slight dent in the lower right corner of the hatch, .. um ..
Detective: Did you have ground effects on it?
Me: What? Er, .. no.. um ..
Detective: Was the car is really bad shape?
Me: What? Er, no .. um .. no it wasn't er, .. what do you mean in really bad shape?
Detective: This car is is really bad shape. It must not be yours. Thank you, we'll keep looking and let you know ...
Me: Well, couldn't I just come look at it? I mean I'll know right away if it's my car or not.
Detective: No, you can't come look at it until we make the determination that it's yours. You said your car wasn't banged up, this one is, it's therefore not your car. Thanks, have a nice day! <click>
Me: ... WTF? .......

I mean at this point I guess I didn't care anymore as I had my insurance claim settled and it wasn't technically my car .. but to think that in SIX MONTHS perhaps not some damage might have been done to the car that I didn't know about, MIGHT have been a possibility??? I mean wow. And to be told six months later "Yeah OK it must be yours. You may come take a look now." Uh, gee, thanks ...

EmilyB: Even if you find the keys, I would not be so quick to dismiss the possibility a copy may have been made. I would rekey the house and rekey the car just in case. One would LIKE to think that the odds of them coming back to victimize her a second time are pretty slim, but why play the odds. If I was not able to lock the car in a garage when I'm not in it, I would get a steering wheel lock in the meantime, or see if it can be disabled in the meantime (ie. disconnect the battery or something when not using the car). Heck, take a wheel off (Ok maybe that's pushing it.. I don't know). The fact that her keys are "out there" is something I would treat with great caution.

Best of luck and I hope this is resolved quickly.