Modern Buddy

Have you or someone you know in Atlanta recently had the misfortune of being the victim of scooter theft?

See this ad

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/mcy/2879449706.html

Here's the story...
So, I'm in the market for a 50 and I see this ad with photos and a contact number. I'm thinking too cheap = to good to be true. I call the number and it's a young guy. Claims that mechanically everything is great. Only 1200 miles. Gives me his address, not a horrible part of town...

I go check it out and immediately I'm thinking something is sketchy. It's in his apartment & UPSTAIRS! But still, with all the theft I'm thinking no biggie. Although, I'm hoping not to get ambushed and robbed, me & my buddy follow the guy in.

There it is. 1 of only 3 items in the room. And guess what?? the ignition is something from a parts store. It takes a while but he gets it to turn on and then has to use the kickstart. Motor is strong, clutch is weak. And I'm thinking, does he know I know it has got to be stolen and am okay with it?

He insists on taking it outside for a test drive. So I play along. I get up to speed and the front wheel wobbles, looks straight but no way.

I chat for a second and tell him I'll pass. I just kept thinking of that poor person that bought it and lost it.

Am I wrong? Gotta be a theft. right?
So...If you think it might be yours and you want it back...

Call the cops and report it.

If it's legit, well, oops. However it should only take him a few to come up with the right paperwork. Title?

Plus if he is a thief, you may be preventing a lot of other people from losing their stuff.

Chances are he busted it up pretty bad stealing it, and he deserves to be caught. The owner probably wants it back!

I saw that ad the other day and thought it looked dodgy...

Can you report it stolen if it's not yours?

Uncle Groucho wrote:Can you report it stolen if it's not yours?

Certainly. No guarantee how seriously the cops will take it or what priority they'll give it, but "hey, this guy tried to sell me stolen merchandise" is a perfectly legitimate report to make.

Is it just me, or is it kinda' dumb to run an ad for a stolen vehicle?

~SM

Swordsman wrote:Is it just me, or is it kinda' dumb to run an ad for a stolen vehicle?

~SM

Scooter thieves have been known to do much dumber things.

There's nothing reported on Scooteralert.com and the Scoot.net registry is almost all spam. I'm posting to my networks to see if anyone knows of one.

Local dealers might also know if a customer's scoot was stolen.

Dear Modbuddyists,

Running on the premise that every little bit helps... we at lockandloud.com have set up a stolen bike registry here (see attached grab below) that will be monitored and spam-free:

http://www.lockandloud.com/stolen-bike-registry/.

Anyone who has the misfortune to lose a Buddy in North America is welcome to post details about their lost loved one at our site so we can help get the word out and hopefully reunite them.

Yours,
L&L staff

just made me go outside and check on MY scoot!

it's ok.

hmmm. ACTUALLY i do have a friend whose scoot got stolen a while ago here . . . let me hit her up!

black sunshine wrote:just made me go outside and check on MY scoot!

it's ok.

ditto!

I think we should have a stolen scooter thread here on MB, like the crash thread. I have to honest - I'm much more likely to see a post here than I am to go and look at a separate board every day to see what I need to look out for. If I knew there was a standard 'stolen' thread here, I'd certainly click in any time it bubbled to the top, like the crash thread.

As for this scooter, it would be particularly stupid to post a stolen scooter with that very distinctive decal on the front.

pdxrita wrote:I think we should have a stolen scooter thread here on MB, like the crash thread. I have to honest - I'm much more likely to see a post here than I am to go and look at a separate board every day to see what I need to look out for. If I knew there was a standard 'stolen' thread here, I'd certainly click in any time it bubbled to the top, like the crash thread.

As for this scooter, it would be particularly stupid to post a stolen scooter with that very distinctive decal on the front.

I agree about some kind of stolen scooter thread here.

But to the OP- CALL THE COPS. Seriously.

Swordsman wrote:Is it just me, or is it kinda' dumb to run an ad for a stolen vehicle?

~SM

Unfortunately, I think it happens quite often.

Are you certain it was a 50 cc and not a 150?. It will not take much to snip the zero off the buddy decal.

Stormswift wrote:Are you certain it was a 50 cc and not a 150?. It will not take much to snip the zero off the buddy decal.

Or the "1".

But that's a good point: a clever thief might try to sell a larger scoot as a 50cc to help discourage the buyer from trying to register it.

No all-black stock 150's.

Although the exhaust in the CL photo looks strangely 150-like as I can't see the chrome trim.

With gas getting more expensive (and people expecting it to, thus making gas price increases 'ok'), there will be an uptick in scooter theft. Especially as dealers get the idea and the less-reputable ones start pushing China-scoots for the same price as Buddys/Vespas and bikes become harder to get due to demand