Melbourne's Motoring Underbelly

The Age

Saturday October 4, 2008

Ian Porter

Police are trying to crack car-theft rackets, reports Ian Porter.

MORE than 13,000 Victorians have their cars stolen each year and while most are taken for joy-rides and recovered soon after, there is still a persistent core that vanish.

"There are about 3000 vehicles in Victoria that just disappear into thin air every year," says Richard Read, head of Victoria Police's organised motor vehicle theft squad.

"That's where our work is focused."

In fact, improved security in modern cars, especially immobilisers, has produced a sharp drop in overall thefts in the past seven years, from 35,452 in 2000-01 to 13,558 by June this year.

But, while the number of unrecovered vehicles has also fallen - from 4301 in 2000-01 - it has not fallen as dramatically and is on the rise again.

Detective Senior Sergeant Read has launched Operation Venice to reduce that number and catch the criminals behind the trade in stolen cars. He has adopted some innovative tactics to tackle the problem.

While at first the task looked more like searching for a needle in a haystack, the squad has notched up some success since Operation Venice began in June.

"I went for a drive out in Campbellfield the other day and it was unbelievable just how many little shops there were - little factories out in the industrial estates, and they're just full of cars. Cars everywhere, engines just piled up to the roof," Senior Sergeant Read says.

Of course, a lot of these shops are legitimate, although he says many proprietors don't understand their legal obligations as licensed car traders about keeping records.

Some are just dismantlers working on wrecks and selling parts for spares, some are backyarders repairing cars for resale illicitly on the private sales market, and some are just crooks.

But already Senior Sergeant Read's approach of simply walking into a garage or scrapyard and asking to see receipts, invoices and paperwork has paid big dividends.

In the few months since June, 223 stolen cars have been recovered from dismantling operations.

The squad initially let its fingers do the walking and just checked the phone book for recyclers and scrapyards and then made random visits. The tactics have evolved since, to good effect.

"We went at it backwards," Senior Sergeant Read says. "We got some information from one of the major recyclers about the people they had been dealing with and, from that, we were able to compile lists of where we wanted to go.

"We visited 40 different businesses out west over the last two weeks, informing them of what they need to do to get licensed and at the same time we uncovered some thieves," he said, making it sound simple.

"So we're arresting and charging them and following up on stolen vehicles we locate.

"At one premises last week we found 14 stolen vehicles. We are just walking into businesses and finding this stuff."

However, Senior Sergeant Read says that cracking the whole problem won't be easy because car stealing has changed markedly since new rules and procedures were introduced in May 2002 to deal with the legal trade in written-off cars.

There are now two categories: statutory write-offs and repairable write-offs. Statutory write-offs are deemed unrepairable and they have their vehicle identification number and engine number removed. Those identifiers are added to a register and can never be used to reregister a car, although parts can be used as spares.

A repairable write-off has been damaged and is repairable, but it is sold by the insurance company because it would cost more to fix than it would be worth on the open market. So it is auctioned off, also for parts, but with its VIN and other identity codes in place.

The written-off register has largely dealt with the old problem of "rebirthing" stolen cars, but the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce says its members - who can be recyclers and repairers - are still reporting suspicious behaviour at auctions of repairable wrecks.

"Ten years ago they used to pay $2000 for a wreck and now it goes for $4000," says VACC's executive director David Purchase.

Mr Purchase says that while VACC members use the wrecks for parts to repair legitimate cars, the crooks repair the wrecks using stolen parts.

"Our members are saying it is increasingly uneconomic to source their raw materials because they are bidding against nefarious characters," Mr Purchase says.

Competition is also coming from unlicensed "backyarders" who inadequately repair the cars and then sell them as private sales, he says. These cars rarely meet manufacturers' specifications and can be deathtraps if they are crashed again.

The police would prefer that the repairable write-off category be eliminated and that all wrecks not repaired by their insurers be declared statutory write-offs and stripped of their identifiers.

However, the police and the VACC recognise this would reduce the value of the wrecks at auction, and that the insurers would be reluctant to go down that path.

Thieves also have an easier, less-detectable way of dealing with stolen cars. Instead of using stolen parts to resurrect a wreck, they simply dispose of a vehicle in bits.

Dealing in spare parts is now much more of a problem than rebirthing, Senior Sergeant Read says. "The criminals now make a lot of money from scrap metal, selling parts and exporting parts and engines."

Stolen cars are broken up, with bits going in several directions. Unidentifiable parts can be sold back into the repair trade, while identifiable bits such as engines, which have a separate part number, are increasingly being loaded into containers and shipped to Third World markets.

The stripped body shell is then sold for scrap and the catalytic converters are sold for their precious metals content.

"There is a huge market for engines and major components overseas," Senior Sergeant Read says. "Think about those Middle East countries. There are heaps of Toyotas driving around that are 20 or 30 years old. Any one of a number of engines will drop straight in and keep it going for another 10 years."

Of course, when a car is so thoroughly broken down, it can be difficult to find any evidence, but Senior Sergeant Read says Operation Venice is making it harder for thieves to operate this way.

"We are only scratching the surface of the export trade at the moment," he says, adding that Customs has been eager to help.

"They have been hungry for intelligence and liaison with us.

"From the moment we contacted them, they have been behind us all the way. We have had some pretty good results with them."

And, if you're reading this thinking thieves prefer to steal high-profile cars such as Porsches and BMWs, not your everyday drive, think again.

Late 1980s and early '90s vehicles are the most prevalent.

They are easy to break into and there is heavy demand for cheap parts, he says.

Senior Sergeant Read says Operation Venice will continue to target criminals and also unlicensed repairers and second-hand dealers who knowingly bought or sold stolen spare parts.

"Unlicensed motor car traders rarely see the police. They rarely see any other government organisations enforcing the law.

"But that's changing. We intend to get around to everybody in that business.

"Eventually, we will catch up with them and those dealing in stolen cars and parts will be prosecuted."

LINKS

- VicRoads Vehicles Security Register: 131 171

- National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council: carsafe.com.au

- Victoria Police: police.vic.gov.au

- VicRoads: vicroads.vic.gov.au

- VACC: vacc.com.au

- RACV: racv.com.au

HOW TO AVOID BUYING A RECYCLED WRECK

Locate and note engine numbers (usually found engraved on the lower part of the engine block) and chassis vehicle identification number on the metal plate riveted to the chassis rails.

Using these numbers, check with VicRoads' Written-off Vehicles Register (covers statutory write-offs and repairable write-offs)

Using these numbers, check with police that the car hasn't been reported stolen (beware - the car may have been painted a different colour or the serial numbers may not match the make, model or year).

Get the car inspected mechanically and structurally (RACV or VACC members offer this service for a fee) so that you don't buy a cut-and-shut deathtrap bodged-up from two wrecks.

© 2008 The Age

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