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Stolen Car Recovered With 11,000 More Miles -- and Lyft Stickers (sfgate.com)
The San Francisco Bay Area has more car thefts than any region in America, according to SFGate.com. A National Insurance Crime Bureau report found that between 2012 and 2014, there were an average of 30,000 car thefts a year just in the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Hayward. But one theft took a strange turn. An anonymous reader quotes their report: Cierra and Josh Barton purchased a new Honda HR-V at the beginning of summer. It was stolen while parked in front of their Livermore apartment complex at the end of August. Four months later, Hayward police called the Bartons to say they had recovered the vehicle... What they found, to their surprise, was a car in relatively good shape -- a few dents, a rattling hood. But in the back and front windows were Lyft stickers, Cierra Barton said.
The odometer had spiked from 2,000 miles to more than 13,000. And in the back seat, Cierra said she found a pillow, a jacket and a stuffed animal. "It wasn't burned out, it wasn't gutted, but it appeared to be have been used as a Lyft," she said. That, Cierra added, was even worse than she imagined. "Not only did someone steal our car, they made money off it!"
Lyft says that "Given the information provided, we are unable to match this vehicle to any Lyft accounts in the area," adding they "stand ready to assist law enforcement in any investigation."
The odometer had spiked from 2,000 miles to more than 13,000. And in the back seat, Cierra said she found a pillow, a jacket and a stuffed animal. "It wasn't burned out, it wasn't gutted, but it appeared to be have been used as a Lyft," she said. That, Cierra added, was even worse than she imagined. "Not only did someone steal our car, they made money off it!"
Lyft says that "Given the information provided, we are unable to match this vehicle to any Lyft accounts in the area," adding they "stand ready to assist law enforcement in any investigation."
Nahh- they probably registered a different possibly identical car and then used this one to do the driving. The cops should probably look at other vehicles registered that are the same or similar as this model/color in the area. However it may not resolve the issue if the driver was smart and drove it in a different area and then ditched in another. This could seriously increase the number of people you have to investigate if there are lots of people with this mode/color car driving for Lyft. Of course you maybe able to narrow it down based on who has recently stopped driving for Lyft or whom has switched vehicles whom had this model/color car.
Close enough to Mexico.
You really need to take a good look at a map. Eight hours of driving south will only get you to LA, several hours north of the border. If you want to steal cars to sell in Mexico, do it in Beverly Hills, or Palm Springs.
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