Peering out your front window in the morning, you discover your prized four-wheeled possession has disappeared. It can be a traumatic and costly experience. If you're lucky it's been taken by "joyriders" or bank robbers who may dump it a short distance away in one piece, writes Patrick Logue.
However, if you're not so lucky, your house has been ransacked for keys and your car is on a container ship destined for Britain or Africa - before you have even reported it missing to the Garda.
In one recent case 21 cars stolen in Dublin were recovered in a raid by British police in Bristol resulting in the arrest of several members of criminal gangs in Ireland and Britain.
Organised gangs based in Dublin are increasingly turning to car theft and are stealing thousands of cars each year for a variety of purposes. Most worrying is that many are stealing them to supply an international stolen car network.
Although an average of 11,000 stolen cars are recovered by the Garda each year, about 2,000 are never found. Some are cut up for parts and others sold under new identities in Ireland. Many, however, are "stolen to order" and shipped abroad where the likelihood of identification and recovery is remote.
Some are put in containers and shipped using false documentation, but more commonly cars are given new identities, or the identity of a crashed car of the same make. They are then simply driven on and off normal car ferries without suspicion.
It's believed up to three separate gangs operate in the stolen car "business" in Dublin as subsidiaries to other activities. It provides an easier source of income than armed robbery or drug smuggling, which result in more lengthy prison sentences in the event of getting caught.
"They are using this type of crime to fund terrorist activity or drugs," says Det Sergent Finbar Garland of the Garda Stolen Motor Vehicle Investigation Unit. Garland says they regularly act in conjunction with colleagues in the Garda National Drugs Unit and the Special Branch in combating organised car crime.
Incidents of house break-ins to steal car keys are "ever-more prominent" and "a great concern", he says. The number of such burglaries has risen since alarm systems on cars - particularly high-performance cars - are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
The typical scenario is a "foot soldier", given a small amount of money to steal the car, will drive it to an agreed location for collection, before it is "cloned" and shipped or sold using classified advertising here.
But cars sometimes remain parked for long periods of time before being sold on. According to Garland, carparks adjoining apartment blocks in Dublin are now a popular location for criminals to store stolen cars before they are sold. They go unnoticed for days and weeks at these locations, before being collected.
As for the prime target areas for theft, "nowhere in the country goes untouched", says Garland. "In particular "anywhere even within 150 miles of Dublin is at risk".
The problem of cars stolen to order is also evident on both sides of the Border. Acting Det Inspect Lorraine Lawson of Northern Ireland's Stolen Vehicle Squad says they are targeting a small number of criminal groups in the North which they believe are involved in this area. "We have had a number of cars stolen here that have turned up in the South and a number seized in England," says Lawson.
"Having such an easy border provides a very easy route for criminals."
According to Garland, during his time in the Stolen Vehicle Unit € 500,000 worth of cars were recovered separately in counties Limerick and Monaghan. "They are using country bases making it more difficult for them to be found."
And it isn't one-way traffic. Garland says that as many stolen cars enter the Irish market as leave the country.
"It used to be mainly cars stolen here and brought to Britain, but over the past couple of years it has evened out considerably," he says. "In one case last year we recovered nine stolen vehicles in containers in Dublin. They had been taken by a criminal gang in London. It was using Dublin as a back door to Europe and probably thought it was an easy option. But they were mistaken."
The investigation led to the recovery of four more cars in the Belgian port of Antwerp and the arrest of an Irishman who Garda believe was on his way to Spain and ultimately Africa. All the vehicles involved were high-powered Mercedes, Porches, Jaguars and Land Rovers.
Such vehicles are the target of an eastern European gang which has emerged in Ireland over the past year. On three occasions in the past 12 months, cars valued at more than € 100,000 each were stolen in London, Stockholm and Madrid, with the aid of a sophisticated scam in operation here.
High-powered car-owners on mainland Europe had their chassis numbers - often engraved on the windscreens of some models - recorded by thieves who then passed the information to colleagues in Dublin.
The Dublin side of the operation would then produce false documentation and identification to dealerships here and ask for a replacement set of keys. They then simply posted the new keys to their continental counterparts who drove the cars away from driveways and carparks across the Continent.
But, while top-of-the-range performance cars are targeted for the European "steal-to-order" market, the domestic second-hand car market sees more modest unremarkable models offered for sale.
Some of the most popular small hatchbacks, such as Micras, Polos and Yaris, are chosen for their relatively high re-sale value. They are given new identities and offered for sale, usually in small ads publications. Such publications are examined by the stolen vehicle unit and do yield some results.
"We go through the small ads and we do get some members of the public who contact us," says Garland. But prospective buyers are warned to be extremely cautious and not to be pressurised into making a purchase from a small ad, particularly if it's a cash deal.
If the vehicle you buy later turns out to be stolen, you will lose it and the money you paid for it.
At least 20 people have fallen victim to such a scenario over the past six months after thousands of blank British registration documents - sent for destruction by the British central licencing authority - were stolen in Wales.
Mostly four-wheel-drive jeeps and commercial vehicles were subsequently stolen and given new identities using the blank documents. They were then shipped to other European countries, including Ireland, for sale along with their convincing documentation. The true status of the vehicles is discovered only after cash has been handed over and the new "owners" try to re-register the vehicles.
The list of scams such as this is endless. A Garda source told Motors they are currently targeting one suspect who they believe has been buying four-wheel-drives which have been written off in England and "reshelling" them with stolen shells provided to him by British criminal contacts.
The fraud works like this: The man buys a complete write-off from his British contacts and imports it legitimately into Ireland. A jeep similar or identical to it is then stolen in Britain and imported into Ireland using the identity of the write-off to circumvent the prying eyes of Customs. The shell of the stolen vehicle is then placed onto the chassis of the write-off, thereby overcoming any problems with chassis numbers. The result is sold on at a large profit.
At least 60 jeeps have been sold in the Republic in this manner over the past two years. Meanwhile, the individual involved has bought premises in Wales and England and lives in a "very fine house", the source added.
Criminals are not choosy - they will take anything that can be resold including motorbikes, farm machinery or plant. In this context, Garland says his unit "has its hands full".
It comprises only one detective sergeant and six detective gardai who must investigate organised vehicle crime across the State.
"We do have the back-up of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is made up of about 100 people," Garland adds.
In the North there are 12 dedicated staff carrying out the same function with the back-up of the organised crime squad there.