Rotorua man got so drunk he sold his car to buy more booze

A man who had too much to drink and sold his car to get more alcohol woke the next day to find it gone and reported it stolen to police.

The man went to the Rotorua police station at the weekend to tell police his car was gone and someone must have stolen it while he was out.

The reality was, the man sold the vehicle for $800 to allow him to keep drinking, but given his intoxicated state, he couldn't remember when he woke in the morning, Senior Sergeant Dennis Murphy of the Rotorua police said.

"Thankfully the man who bought the car checked the registration the next day on the CarJam website as he was worried it might be stolen."

By then, the police had already received the report it had apparently been stolen and an alert came up on the Carjam website.

"The man came into the station with the car to let us know what had happened. We were able to get in touch with the original owner and told them to sort it out between them."

Mr Murphy said police often told members of the public it was dangerous to drink and drive, but now they had another warning too.

"The lesson here is don't drink and sell cars."