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Stolen - Lupo 3L- X100MPG - FOUND


Derv
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Hey guys and girls. I went to check on my Lupo 3L that was parked in a car park in Clevedon, North Somerset only to find it was gone.

I called the police, hoping it had been the result of some angry neighbour getting the council to tow it away, but no. It's not showing up on any databases, so it seems to have been stolen. I am hoping that a neighbour may have seen something, and I really hope that I can get it back in one piece. This is the second Lupo 3L that I have 'lost' in the last 2 years.

It's the Planet Silver(/blue) in the photo. X100MPG

Lupos_zpswxtpnkh8.jpg

Please could you keep you eyes out for it, or, I dread to say it, any 3L or 1.2TDI parts, as you know how rare these cars are in the UK.

Thanks. 

Edited by Derv
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That's absolutely ridiculous. How are they stealing them, surely on the back of a truck because 3L's have immo3's don't they? I can't see anyone blagging an immo3 immobilizer with a screwdriver. I assume you've called the police? Have you looked around the local area?

I'll keep an eye on eBay, also on Gumtree put regular searches in for 3L.

Really sorry to hear about this :( I hope it gets found.

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God that's annoying, bound to be some CCTV somewhere it's everywhere, difficult to understand why. not exactly going to be able to get rid of it down the pub, bits are the same even on Ebay don't come up often.

Not enough value to stick it in a container, cost more to ship it than to buy one.

Hope you get it back

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On 15/02/2016 at 10:24 AM, Skezza said:

That's absolutely ridiculous. How are they stealing them, surely on the back of a truck because 3L's have immo3's don't they? I can't see anyone blagging an immo3 immobilizer with a screwdriver. I assume you've called the police? Have you looked around the local area?

I'll keep an eye on eBay, also on Gumtree put regular searches in for 3L.

Really sorry to hear about this :( I hope it gets found.

Thanks guys. 

It must have been towed, trailered or trucked away, so somebody must have seen or heard something. I am out of the country for the next week, so I am unable to do any investigating myself. 

The car was well immobilised, as I still have the engine ecu and steering wheel, so I am extremely surprised that it's been taken, and I worry about the intentions of whoever has taken it. 

As pointed out, a 3L and it's parts won't be that easy to shift, and should show up on someone's radar. That's why I have a feeling that clublupo and the wider VW community could be very helpful. ? 

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Probably be used to ring a crashed one. If you keep your eyes out for any 3L for sale especially in the same colour then it might be worth going to see it.

I'd also make a list of all the garages and crash repair centres in the area and go and have a look around the yards, it's probably sat in a workshop within 10 miles of the car park.

Why did you leave it for weeks / months in that car park btw? Where was the other one taken from?

 

Edited by Sausage
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As Sausage recommends, I would do a scout of all the local scrapyards and garages. In the mean time, contact the police and ask for local CCTV in the area. There's no way it wasn't caught by at least one camera. I assume the car park has no CCTV of it's own, but the surrounding area will. 

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I will see what the police come up with until I get back to the UK, then I may ask some neighbours to see what they know, to see if I can establish when exactly it was taken, and go from there. I'm not sure what cctv is in the area, but getting a more precise time and date will narrow the search. 

As to why it was left there, well it's a long story, but I was unable to move it home myself as I had lost the keys to it in a move. It's about typical that I found the keys then lost the car. 

My old yellow Lupo is now with my ex-partner, which is also a long story. But at least I know that it's still going strong at 15 years old with over 350k km on it. 

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To find out CCTV locations, call your council, if you give a crime number and tell them you're serious they'll usually budge on providing footage. If you can narrow it down in your head, approximate date it might have been taken. You need to act fast though because this footage might disappear as some cameras work on loops. 

A 3L with no ECU is bordering on useless, and getting one to work might not be as easy they think because all 3L's were immo3 so they'll need all the matched pairs (matching immobilizer, matching barrel etc) even just to make it switch on and even then they might have further problems with the coding... and that's without considering all the shipping costs to get the parts in etc. I get the possibility that it was 'stolen to order' to repair another, but how likely is that? I mean these cars are rare as rocking horse **** in this country. There's less than 10 I believe. HowManyLeft doesn't even acknowledge they ever existed.

I assume it's taxed, insured etc?

 

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If that was there for ages with no tax and mot I would imagine the council left a notice on the window for a week or two then removed it. Possibly at the request of the car park management / owners.

If you havent physically seen it in the last few weeks and you already have had agro about it being there then it's highly likely the council have it in their pound.

If the address on the V5 isnt current you will have missed any of the notices arriving about it.

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The address on the V5 is correct, so I pretty sure I have not had any notices about it. I never had any problems with the neighbours in the past, only two of the neighbours that I was in contact with moved out, and up until then they were keeping an eye on the Lupo.

I can't make enquiries at the moment, but I will do so when I get a chance, if the police haven't done so by then. 

I figured the Lupo was well immobilised, and someone couldn't simply break in and drive off, so I am sure somebody must know something.

I figured a 3L or it's parts will be hard to shift without someone on Clublupo knowing about it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Damn. I thought I had already updated this thread.

Basically the local council towed the car, and it seems procedures were not followed correctly. I was told by the council that the car had been scrapped, but after making more enquiries, the good news is despite the council instructing the car to be scrapped, it wasn't, and instead it's sat in a yard somewhere. 

I am currently negotiations to try get the car back, but the council members involved are not exactly sympathetic. 

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Do you have the keys and the ECU? Go plug it in and drive it away. If council didn't follow their own procedure, why should you?

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The police should know where that pound is if the council arent forthcoming with the address. You could ring round the local recovery firms and see if they know where it is.

I'm pretty sure they should have made efforts to contact you at the address held by dvla too, if they didnt then I'd think about reporting it as theft.

 

Edited by Sausage
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23 hours ago, Derv said:

I am currently negotiations to try get the car back, but the council members involved are not exactly sympathetic. 

They do not need to be sympathetic; they need to follow procedure. Given they've already failed to do that, If I were them I'd be taking your money (presumably there will be a fee for release) and getting the case closed before I got my knuckles rapped.

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Yes , I'd say to them they haven't followed procedure, so any fine is void as you thought it was stolen and reported the car as such.. failing that..Find out where it is , get in it and drive it away.

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As said, find out where it is (ring around local yards) turn up and drive it away. Let's see them accuse you of stealing a car they took without warning and tried to dispose of.

Call me a cynic, but isn't it strange that without warning, a very rare and desirable car is towed away, kept in a lockup for weeks and NOT crushed.

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I know where it's being held, and I called the yard directly, and the guys there were initially helpful. But they obviously checked with the council about letting me have it back, and now won't tell me anything, not even what condition the car is now in.

I've questioned all aspects of the towing and disposal with the council, and I still think the right thing for them to do is to just apologise for the mistake, and to let me collect my Lupo. But they know how keen I am too have the car back, and they can see a way of making money out of the situation.

I'm just not sure how I would stand, going into a private yard, and reclaiming my own car, or what obstacles I would find.

Thanks for all of your support. 

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42 minutes ago, Derv said:

I know where it's being held, and I called the yard directly, and the guys there were initially helpful. But they obviously checked with the council about letting me have it back, and now won't tell me anything, not even what condition the car is now in.

I've questioned all aspects of the towing and disposal with the council, and I still think the right thing for them to do is to just apologise for the mistake, and to let me collect my Lupo. But they know how keen I am too have the car back, and they can see a way of making money out of the situation.

I'm just not sure how I would stand, going into a private yard, and reclaiming my own car, or what obstacles I would find.

Thanks for all of your support. 

Have you got any friends you can take along? I'm not condoning violence, but sometimes a bit of persuasion is required and a few lads there might just help out.

If it was me, I'd be down there, plug the ECU in, drive away. It's the council in the wrong. I would act fast though. The garage know how much it's worth, trust me.

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Police won't be interested it's a civil matter, worth talking to the Balifs, you can instruct them to recover your property from the council for a fee, then you can sue the council to recover the costs.

The yard won't argue with the balifs if they turn up to recover the car.

Also you can hit them with fredom of information request for all email and corespondance regarding the matter that should show what they did or did not do.

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go back to yard with paperwork to prove your the owner, then when no joy call the police quoting your crime number and say you have found the location of your car, im sure they will have to attend as the case is still open, this then might put pressure on to find out why they wont give you back the car as they will have to pass the information over to the police

Edited by Mobieus_uk
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