If your car is stolen, you would think police would tell you when it was found.
A Calgary man did not find out his car was located until a month later.
Jody Oberhammer was down to one vehicle in the family after his other car was stolen last year.
On Dec. 7, 2014, Oberhammer’s ‘96 Jeep Cherokee was taken from his northwest apartment.
He thought it was gone forever, until he got a call from Airdrie RCMP on Jan. 10.
The jeep was recovered in Crossfield a few days after it was stolen in December, but no one contacted him.
Now he has to pay over $1,200 in storage fees to get the car back.
“It wasn’t something I did, and I wasn’t informed when it was found,” said Oberhammer.
Police are supposed to contact the registered owner of a recovered stolen vehicle immediately.
If it has to be towed, a form is filled out and a copy is sent to the owner by mail as a backup.
Airdrie RCMP say something broke down in this case.
“If the problem is on our end, basically we made a mistake. We will rectify that. We’re not going to let someone be penalized for a mistake we made,” said Jason Curtis with Airdrie RCMP.
Police and towing companies say this is an isolated incident.
A bigger problem is drivers who don’t update their licence and registry information, and cannot be located when their vehicle is found.
“They told me now I can pick it up, and they’ll cover the cost of storage fees and everything for me,” said Oberhammer.
“So that will help out a lot.”
That help is a big relief for Oberhammer since the jeep was not insured when it was stolen.
He was re-building it and about to get a new safety inspection.
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