"I told them I thought some lady had accidentally stolen my car.
"They had a bloody good laugh and said it was the funniest thing that had happened all day," he told Fairfax.
Meanwhile the unsuspecting woman had driven to her Upper Hutt home, stopping on the way to fill up with $30 worth of fuel at a petrol station.
Hinchliffe told Fairfax it wasn't until police contacted her that she realised it wasn't her car.
He was reunited with his car an hour later, his coach letting him off his late arrival saying it was one of the few acceptable reasons to be late to training.