Day in and day out, residents from across the city are waking up to a sad sight — their car sitting damaged after strangers tried to take off with it, or they wake up to no car in sight at all.
Police data showed the number of teenagers stealing cars had spiked between January and April this year, when there were 69 cases across the South of motor vehicle thefts, or related crimes, attributed to youths aged between 10 and 19.
That is more than double the 27 in the corresponding period last year.
Once recovered, the cars eventually find their way to various panel beaters, mechanics and auto electricians for repair.
South City Panel Beaters director Wayne Bennett said it had received multiple calls from insurance companies wanting it to repair previously stolen cars and cars damaged in theft attempts.
‘‘I guess there has been probably a wee burst because if everyone's getting those same calls then there's more than normal.’’
Stolen cars that had been recovered were not uncommon throughout the year and Mr Bennett usually had about three a week in for repairs.
Sometimes there were more, and the number usually peaked around the school holidays.
‘‘Usually Toyota Aquas. We had a Subaru Impreza the other week, and sometimes some Demios, but mainly it’s Toyota Aquas that we see.’’
He said it was clear the youths doing this level of damage had ‘‘no regard for the law’’.
‘‘They just seem to do it regardless of who's watching ... it's terrible.’’
On Monday at 10.30pm, three youths were arrested and two were taken home to their families after being caught fleeing police after allegedly stealing a car from Warwick St, Balaclava, police said in a statement.
The five were driving around in the stolen vehicle when police successfully deployed roadspikes bringing the vehicle to a stop in Three Mile Hill Rd.
They fled on foot, but were soon caught.
There was some cross-over between those five youths, and another group of four taken into police custody on Tuesday, Acting Senior Sergeant Iain Notman, of Dunedin, said.
The four were found near a crashed and stolen Toyota Mark X after they allegedly crashed the vehicle into a power pole in Ravenswood Rd, St Clair.
Dunedin police received more than a dozen reports of vehicle thefts and attempted thefts over the King's Birthday long weekend.
