Resolute thieves target hot cars

Auckland car dealers are wondering what more they can do to protect their yards against thieves targeting high-performance vehicles.

One owner said he had invested heavily in security but no insurance company would touch him after a spate of thefts.

In the past three months more than $100,000 worth of vehicles have been stolen from yards and workshops in the suburbs of Grey Lynn, Ponsonby and Mt Eden alone.

One inner-city dealership lost a Holden Commodore HSV worth $25,000 and a Mitsubishi Legnum VR4 valued at $18,000 in two separate raids in the past week.

The owner, who did not want to be identified, said in the first theft his truck was used to ram through the galvanised steel gates secured with two padlocks worth $150 each.

The second time, boltcutters were used to penetrate the 1.8m-high steel fence.

The owner said he would not claim insurance because of the risk that he would lose coverage.

"I'm not bothering with the insurance because it's gone on too long and the insurance company will blacklist you. It's better not to make a claim."

In other raids, a Mazda RX7 just imported from Japan and on sale for $38,000 was stolen from Sports Car World in Grey Lynn last Wednesday.

"They physically pulled the whole gate out. It will be worth a few thousand dollars to replace," said owner Avi Salvi.

A Subaru WRX worth $12,000 was stolen from Cooper Cars and a Mitsubishi Evo I valued at around $20,000 was driven away from Grey Lynn Cars by a person pretending he was going for a test drive.

Grey Lynn Cars co-owner Adam Bsisou said he knew of the tactic being used on three dealerships in one day.

The tactic involved someone pretending to be interested in buying a car for cash - even ringing their partner to discuss the purchase - and then asking for a test drive.

"As a salesman is swapping over he jumps in the driver's side and takes off at a million miles an hour. It has happened [to us] twice."

Mr Bsisou said his business had been plagued with thefts from vehicles before putting an electric fence and razor wire on top of its fence and employing a security guard.

He said his excess had reached $5000 before his insurance company refused coverage.

Last month, a high performance Mitsubishi Legnum VR4 worth $18,000 from Auckland Motors was used to ram the yard's gates and was driven away.

Fuel Conversions in Mt Eden said two V8s - a Holden Club Sport and a Toyota ute - belonging to customers and with a combined approximate value of $40,000 were taken from its workshop.

A spokeswoman for the business said there had been a spate of thefts from workshops and tyre companies around the same time as their raid two months ago.

Car thieves went to extraordinary lengths to steal two vehicles from a North Shore yard last weekend.

They ripped a hose from a wall outside Milford Wholesale Cars in Glenfield and used it to climb from the roof into a storage garage.

They damaged more than a dozen cars to make a path and remove the owner's rally car, which was later recovered, and a Mitsubishi Evo IV.