Time Was, We’d Take Your Car To A Chop Shop . . . No Longer!

What a letdown to realize that the beautiful car you just had stolen is worth more as scrap metal in Asia:

The NYPD yesterday capped “Operation Steal for Steel,” arresting a dozen car thieves who swiped more than 100 vehicles that were crushed and sold for scrap metal in Asia, authorities said.

“They were crushed and sold for their weight,” said inspector Howard Lawrence, commanding officer of the NYPD Auto Crime Division.

“Typically, they’d be stolen and crushed before the owners knew they were missing.”

. . .

The NYPD got wind of the scheme about six months ago and began focusing on a scrap yard in Brooklyn that was an outlet for stolen cars.

Brooklyn Resources, in Canarsie, was buying cars from thieves who used phony Department of Motor Vehicle documents to convince the scrap-yard bosses they were legitimate owners of cars they wanted to junk.

The firm would then pay the thieves $4.50 to $9 per pound for the stolen cars, meaning that a crook could pocket $270 for a 3,000-pound Toyota Camry, Lawrence said.