Car theft in UAE

[Barry]

This is something I never hear about. Does it even happen? I regularly see people leave their keys in the car, engine running and go into the shop to buy stuff. You would have to be crazy to do this where I'm from. Leave the keys in your car, and chances are it won't be there when you come back. It'll either turn up somewhere with a different chassis number and registration or it will be taken into a shed and stripped overnight for parts and the shell will be on the scrap boat to China the next morning. 

[hAwX]

a simple google search shows that it still happens here in UAE.... but 99% of them wont go that far without getting caught which is a bonus

[Gaurav]

Well this is not seen by many of us in Dubai, for which I seriously respect Dubai Police and it's awesome law and order. Many years ago I forgot to lock my car overnight along with expensive laptop on backseat and both survived for 14+ hours.

[Rahimdad]

@Barry Sadly it happens here, but you don't see the papers shouting out about them, the less you know the better I guess. I have had one friend in Al Khan area in Sharjah who rushed into his house to get some urgent documents and left the car running, when he came back out it was missing. He reported it to the police and luckily one of our common friend found it 2 days later in the Sharjah Industrial Area, he notified the police that he had found the car and the car was in Police custody for around a month to check for finger prints and found out who did it. After about 2 months they found out that it was a bunch of kids playing a prank and got away with a warning and a call to their parents. My friend was cursing why he told the police when he could have just taken his car and report back in 2 days, rather than the police wasting his time for over a month. His only fault was he left the car running with his keys in it. False sense of security.

Another friend had his vehicle stolen in the middle of the night from Ajman, police found it after 1 month on the Ras Al Khaimah highway burnt to a crisp. third party insurance meant that it was a loss for him. Maybe the kids here just do it for a prank, but they are playing with someones savings and investment.

Last year I thought my car was stolen when I looked throughout the unpaved parking where I usually park my car. I went to the police station and they told me to check with the Sharjah Municipality, after checking with them, they were the thief's and I had to pay a fine and retrieve the car from the middle of the desert near Ras Al Khaimah as they thought it was an abandoned car. I could not say much but I did protest that the car was under loan, being paid for, was insured and registered for another 8 months, their excuse than changed to the car was dirty and thus gave an impression of being abandoned. Pulling my car the way they did ended up in the tires, engine mount and some suspension parts being destroyed which further cost me a small fortune that no one can afford after a vacation.

For more horror stories, stay tuned to the one and only....Hehehehehe

[Gaurav]

Sorry to hear about your story Rahimdad, but still it wasn't the case of theft and it has just been confiscated to preserve the beautification of the land.

Back to OP,  I haven't seen one person in last 17 years in Dubai whose car got stolen. Serious respect to police and their coordination as hawx mentioned that they can't go far without getting caught, this only discourage the future incidents. Keep it up guys, in keeping city so safe that we almost forget to lock our cars.

[Pete]

Don't know about car theft but never leave any valuables in the car.. including dashboard... talking from experience!

[Barry]

Dubai police are in a different league from any police I've encountered on my travels in different countries and deserve a lot of respect for what the job they do.