Car stolen during Auckland floods found with new rim on one wheel

Monday, 6 February 2023

Jon Turner has a slick new rim on his car, which was stolen on Auckland Anniversary weekend.

Local board member Jon Turner was delivering pizza to a shelter of evacuated flood victims when he heard his car was stolen.

He wasn’t optimistic about getting it back – in one year, almost 9500 cars were stolen in Auckland and 6900 were eventually recovered, according to recent police statistics.

But he got lucky. On January 31, just three days after his car disappeared, police called to say it had been found in Te Atatū. By the next morning, he’d managed to organise for a tow-truck to bring it home.

The licence plates may be gone, but he has a fresh new rim on one of the tyres.

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Jon Turner's car was stolen the day after the floods and found abandoned in Te Atatū nearly a week later.

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Turner, who sits on the Puketāpapa Local Board, said it looked like the people who took it “really enjoyed driving it”.

Why did this stolen car get a new rim? Perhaps the thieves “really enjoyed driving it,” Jon Turner said.

He’ll need to replace some glass and the ignition barrel where the thieves had damaged the car to start it.

The car would also need a deep clean, as it’s covered in dog hair, he said. But silver linings – there was a phone charger left inside.

Turner, of Mt Roskill, has been working on the flood response in his rohe since Auckland Anniversary weekend, when record rainfall caused mass flooding and devastation regionwide.

The car was a Toyota Aqua, which is often reported as one of the most commonly stolen cars in New Zealand.

He suspects the flood response is why he forgot to put his steering lock on.

Considering the scale of the damage in Auckland, getting his car stolen was “small fry,” Turner said – but he’s still relieved to have it back.

He was nervous it wouldn’t survive the second bout of heavy rains on Tuesday, January 31, but somehow on Wednesday morning it was fine.

“I rang up the tow truck company and the lady who took the call, her house had been flooded.

'But she was really happily able to get a tow truck sorted, and the guy actually drove it off the trailer using his screw driver.”

A police spokesperson confirmed the car had been located, but could add no further details.