Stolen Classics - What can we do?

It wouldn't be a terrible web site to code - allow people to sign up and enter the details of their car(s) into a central database along with their contact details. A decent amount of storage would be required, because it's not use if we only have twenty cars in it. I'd expect I could knock that up in a decent day, then all we need is a domain name and some hosting. Code to send the email whenever something gets stolen is fairly simple, though we'd have to be certain that everyone who signs up also updates their details whenever they buy a new car, get rid of a car, or change their email address.

What concerns me (and it's probably trivial to someone with more experience) is the potential for data breaches that would allow someone to get in and download all those personal details. It may be that name, email address and (perhaps) phone number isn't that sensitive.

It seems very feasible, it's basically just an email address database. Actually I think the trouble with having commercial sponsorship is that the backer would probably want to be able to mailshot the database from time to time in return for their money. Only by making it entirely run by enthusiasts do you get away from that temptation.

There used to be a specific website for stolen classics. I can't recall it but it was something like "stolenclassics.co.uk"

Not sure if it still exists.

I think the problem is that people are unlikely to be generally looking at that list for any reason unless they had thier own car stolen. I have certainly never looked at it since I first found it existed. 15 years ago or something.

When these things work its because info about a stolen car gets into the general public domain which is what Facebook and Instagram are good for.

The problem with this is that at times we get slews of "this car was stolen, lets make it too hot to handle" and there are no details which would be in anyway useful - like owner content details, crime number, time/date of theft. Some of them result in a "this content not available" - some of these are like 2 years old and on social media one wonders if some of them get made up.

also also classic car thefts are depressing. A lot of people won't engage with it. A lot of people only want to engage with it as a way of ranting their anger at the world and chest-beating about what they'd do if someone tried to steal their car.

What we can do about it....

Sadly its about taking the responsibility to secure your own property. Its about not buying parts from people who are questionable. its about reporting things you see which are suspicious. Its sadly about being properly insured (not just always getting the lowest quote) etc etc.

it would be great if we could prevent people from stealing cars (and parts, and tools) but we can't. It would be great if we could have a police force and courts who can deal effectively with this, and that really varies based on where you live. it would be great if banger racers, historic rally and all the various groups where some stolen cars are headed would keep their house in order. Well, maybe they will, probably won't. Sadly I think with the economic downturn there may be a lot of increased temptation for a lot of dishonst folks.