How easy is it to steal a vehicle? For one criminal it was as easy as a phone call to a panel beater and a payment of R4 000. Mr Eric van Dyk had to take his 14-month-old Mercedes Benz ML 350, valued at R800 000, to Huson panel beaters in April to repair a small dent. According to Union Motors, this was the only panel beater in the city that works on Mercedes vehicles. A few days later Van Dyk received a call from a man, claiming to be from Huson, who asked when he would be collecting his vehicle.
Van Dyk was in Johannesburg at the time and replied that he would do so the following Monday. The same man, claiming to be Van Dyk, phoned Huson that same day and asked if they would deliver “his” Mercedes Benz ML to him at the Formula One hotel. Huson agreed and asked for the excess amount on the vehicle to be paid. The latter paid the amount and the vehicle was delivered to him together with a bottle of champagne. The following Monday Huson phoned Van Dyk to ask if he was satisfied.
“I said obviously not as I have not received my vehicle,” he explained. He immediately phoned Tracker who later found his vehicle’s tracking unit on the N4 outside the city. Van Dyk fortunately still had the number of the unknown man and confronted him to which the latter replied in an SMS that, although he had struggled with the car’s wiring he had finally figured it out.
The man contacted Van Dyk again and explained that he had a family to take care of. “I have opened a case with the police and gave them the cellphone number, but I’ve heard nothing,” he says. He also established that three other vehicles were stolen that same day from other panel beaters in the city. “I was without a vehicle for four months,” he says. Van Dyk’s insurance only paid out R200 000. The same modus operandi was allegedly used at two other panel beaters the same day.
“I do not want any trouble, I would just like to let people know of this syndicate,” said Van Dyk. Huson panel beaters responded by saying that it was an unfortunate incident. “I believe the syndicate operates throughout the country targeting high-end vehicles,” said Mr Callie Carlson of Huson panel beaters. “All necessary measures have been put in place to avoid a repeat of this incident.
“The person who called claiming to be the client knew that the excess amount in question was R4 000. He also gave proof of payment. When we arrived to deliver the vehicle, the person claimed he had to attend a meeting and said we had to give the vehicle to his driver. We were caught off guard,” Carlson said. According to him they would not be delivering vehicles anymore.
