[gambiting]

>>Sadly true (including "find my iPhone" reports

I'll give you one better. I know someone who had their nearly new Range Rover stolen in Manchester - reported to the police etc. Few days later, they found it parked at a car park near a big supermarket. Rang the police, they said well, if you still have the keys...just take it? And he was like hang on, you don't want to look at it, check for drugs, take fingerprints, you know, do any actual police stuff stuff around stolen property? And they were like nope, don't have the time or the people to come out, if you have the keys just take the car back and make sure you tell your insurer you got it, that's all we can do.

[masfuerte]

I've heard that this is quite common. The criminals drive the car a short distance and leave it for a few days to check if it has a hidden tracker. If the vehicle isn't recovered they assume it is clean.

[deltoidmaximus]

The story I heard is the car is stolen and used briefly to commit other crimes like robberies or general mischief. Then the car is discarded leaving the surveillance trail largely dead or at least difficult to follow.

[gambiting]

Depends on the vehicle. Range Rovers are commonly stolen to be exported for countries where registering them is not a problem and where buyers are likely to pay cash. Some cars are stolen to be broken up for parts, some are used for other crimes, and some are exported and re-sold as-is. LR products are very frequently in that last group.