By JEFF LIPTON
"We were told by our insurance adjuster that it was found," said the car's owner, who identified herself only as Sondra.
"I don't understand why they couldn't call me right after they found it," added Sondra, who lives near the Baldwin Harbor border in Oceanside. "It doesn't make any sense. This whole thing has been a terrible inconvenience and very upsetting."
Her car, a 1982 Oldsmobile Delta, was stolen from the parking lot at FPL Company, a mailing business at 3539 Hampton Road, on Oct. 23 at around 11 a.m. The vehicle was stolen exactly a week after a 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass disappeared from the same lot. That car has not yet been found.
Sondra's husband drove her car to work on Oct. 23, and discovered that it was stolen when he went to check on it. Hours later, Hempstead village police spotted the car, which appeared to be abandoned, parked at Grove and Greenwich streets, and Thrift-Way Auto Body in Hempstead was summoned to tow the vehicle away. Sondra said her husband was called at work by a Geico Insurance representative on Oct. 27, four days after it was found.
Sondra said her husband immediately claimed the car and paid the towing company a $150 fee. He had to pay cash because the company would not take any other form of payment, she said. The lock on the car door and the steering wheel and column were heavily damaged by the thief or thieves, but otherwise the vehicle was in good condition, she added.
John Albrecht, owner of Thrift-Way, said police called the company to tow the car because it appeared to be abandoned in the parking lot in front of a building in Hempstead. Albrecht said he was holding the car for the police, and that when he found out it was stolen, he charged the owner $150 instead of $245, which would include $100 for towing, a $45 "no-key" charge and $25 for storage per day.
"We waived the no-key charge because it wasn't fair to the person because the car was stolen," Albrecht said. "And because of that, we only charged for two-day storage instead of four-day storage.
"That's absolutely correct. I don't beat people up when their cars are stolen," he added. Albrecht said he assumed that the owners were not notified until four days later because it took a few days to track them down. But Sondra said the registration was in the car, and all authorities had to do was look at the name and phone number on the card and give her a call.
She said she is still not sure why the car was stolen -- whether it might have been stripped and used for parts or whether it was simply taken for a joy ride. The only thing missing was an ice scraper, Sondra said. "It was very strange," she added, saying she guessed the car was abandoned because the thief ran out of gas.
She said she will end up selling the Oldsmobile and get what she can for it. Her husband, she explained, now takes one of his other cars to work, and checks on it every 15 to 20 minutes. "He goes out there to make sure it's still there," Sondra said. "In fact, all the workers in the company do that, since there's no security in the parking lot."
Comments about this story? JLipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 269.
