I got a call last night at around midnight from the Carrollton police saying they'd recovered my car.

The bad news:

They had to chase it from Carrollton to Farmers Branch. The guy driving it ran head-on into a guardrail and bashed the front end good.

I went to the impound lot today to see it, and it was a sad sight. The front bumper cap is destroyed and the right-front wheel ate the curb. The left-front tire had about 20 degrees of negative camber, so my LCA or knuckle is probably trashed. The headlamps are probably broken, and the radiator support is probably pushed in a bit. The fender gap on the passenger side where it meets the A pillar is off too, so the frame is probably a little tweaked. The passenger door droops about an inch on its hinge. It was sitting on steelies, the Tanabe muffler was gone. It had a crappy, faded carbonfibre bonnet on it. Also, they'd taken out my seats and replaced them with leather ones that were torn to crap. The inside was strewn with garbage and beer bottles, and smelled like a yak's ***.

The good news:

The police caught the motherfcuker who was driving it.

It's too bad the sonovabitch had to wreck it, but it's almost worth it knowing the guy driving it is in jail right now. And it's pretty likely that he's one of the people who was involved in stealing it. The ignition was just a hole in the steering column, and the guy took off as soon as the cops tried to pull him over, so at the very least he knew it was stolen. Hopefully he won't get off lightly on this.

I also consider it good news that the car is essentially repairable. Right now, just off the top of my head, I'm guessing it will cost about a couple grand just to get it back on the road, and probably a little more than double that to get it back in the condition it was in prior to the theft.

Oh, and it still had my Bilstein/GC suspension on it.

The weird:

First of all, this is the car I saw Wednesday evening. I am absolutely certain of it. It still had the temp tags on it. It's strange, and kinda cool, that I would see the car the day before it would be recovered.

Second, it was recovered almost exactly three weeks from the day it was stolen. It was taken sometime between 9:45 p.m., May 15, and 2 a.m. May 16. It was recovered sometime near midnight yesterday, so it very well could have been gone three weeks to the hour.

Third, the person driving it was modding it and driving it around like it was his own car. I mean, what was the point of putting on the carbonfibre bonnet? I suppose they could have sold the original steel one, but it wouldn't be too useful unless someone had a car the same color with paint in the same condition. If someone just needed a new bonnet, why not sell them the carbonfibre one? They also put on a GREX shift ****. The stock one was still in the center console. And they swapped out the stereo head unit too. The one I had in there was nothing fancy, just a $140 Sony. I don't think they could've gotten more for it than the one they'd put in it.

Fourth, both airbags had popped sometime before the police chased the car. There was black duct tape on the steering wheel and passenger airbag. The popped bag from the driver's side was in the spare-tire well. The spare was not. Makes the car lighter for mad street racing, yo.

What now?

Now I'm just waiting on the insurance company, trying to decide what to do next. It all comes down to money. How much are they going to give me to fix it, or will they total it out? If they total it out, how much to buy it back as salvage? If I don't want it back, how much will they give me toward something else? Basically it comes down to whether it will be cheaper to rebuild mine or get something else I like. I suspect I'll barely get enough to get it roadworthy again, keep it, and slowly put it back into the condition it was once in.


Modified by MK Ultra at 1:42 PM 6/6/2008


Modified by MK Ultra at 1:51 PM 6/6/2008

 

Good that it was recovered, so much better they caught one of the ********

Good luck with insurance!

 

I wanna hear more about the description of the guy who stole it. I'd like to know what kind of dumbass pieces of **** steal cars and then are retarded enough to drive them. What kidn of jail time is he gonna get?

 

Yes, very glad the sucker got caught. Now let's just hope something sticks to the bastard and he isn't already out there doing it again.

And as soon as I see the police report, I'll post his name and any other info I can get about him on H-T. Hey, they put sex offenders online. Why not thieves?

 

Send his cell mate $50 to give him a proper welcome.

 

Awesome I would have to say that they are going to total it out so make sure you fight for the right amount of money.

The only reason I could see for them to change the hood is to make it less recognizable by you since they were driving it, but who knows, he's obviously a moron.

 

im so glad they found it, i just read your other thread theives
good luck

 

If I were you I'd make sure you get to this guy in jail some how and make sure he gets a good beating man. Glad they found your car, Sounds like its not totalled though man so fix her up and get her backon the road!

 

crazy bro. sucks they had to wreck it. at least they got that D bag. did you notice if they tried to remove or change VINs on the car? why did it have a temp plate? was it actually re-registered to a different owner? if so Im just curious how the VIN got past DMV.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTW DC2R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">crazy bro. sucks they had to wreck it. at least they got that D bag. did you notice if they tried to remove or change VINs on the car? why did it have a temp plate? was it actually re-registered to a different owner? if so Im just curious how the VIN got past DMV. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Would like to know as well.

Also, since they caught the guy, is there a way to sue him and/or his people for damages? I'm just wondering. It wasn't your fault the car was stolen and since they caught the guy, someone else can pick up the bill for the damages.

 

^maybe the thief knew someone inside the dmv ... i have no idea how it could have happened. glad it was found. better found than not knowing what the heck happened to it.

 

he was probably running old/fake plates

 

That sucks. F*ck thieves. At least you got your car back and they caught that POS . GL with the insurance.

 

I love it when thieves get caught! At least you got your car back!

 

damn i dont know if id still fix her judging from the description you gave...considering the chassis integrity and the a-pillar tweak.

you never mentioned the motor and anything under the hood...everything still there undisturbed?

 

The tags were old, pulled off another car. Just enough to make it less conspicuous.

Then again, they were driving around drinking beer in a stolen car with no muffler, an inspection sticker that expired last month, and spraypainted steelies on it. This I think was not what you'd call a sophisticated operation.

 

glad to hear you got the car back. Sodomy in jail FTW!

 

glad they found your car and caught the guy driving it.

 

What a wild and crazy story. I hope the car doesn't have a frame damage. I really wish you the best with insurance. I hope they serve you well and you are able to to restore the car 100%. Goodluck.

 

^^ For real.

Glad this has an ending to it and some Justice will be served.

 

Wow!!!

Stupid thieves why didn't they just pull over and give up.

OH YEA, I forgot he can out run the police in the ultimate R

Dumfuger

 

At least its over with and you have the car. No more wondering. My car was gone for three months before it showed up and the whole time I was thinking about it. The waiting and wondering was terrible; I just wanted some closure.

 

what an idiot. Glad its almost resolved

 

I'm glad that your ca<FONT COLOR="red">R</FONT> got recovered.

I still can't believe that some f.cking idiot was driving stolen Type R. I hope he gets raped for stealing it!!!


Good luck on dealing with the insurance company.

 

Was this the area from your previous thread, where you spotted the car earlier?

Good luck with the insurance and the car.