Stolen Car Alert

Warren Coakley of Tyrrelstown in Dublin 15 had the misfortune of seeing his 2005 Audi A4 stolen right before his eyes on Wednesday morning.
His email to Motorcheck.ie serves as a timely reminder to us all about just how quickly something like this can occur.
The Car is an Audi A4 registered 05D88450 in the colour 'Dolphin Grey'. It has-line badges to front, rear passenger doors and back under TDi badge (added after the pictures shown). Any assistance in tracking down the car would be most appreciated.
Hi Motorcheck,
Can you help me please?
My Audi A4 was stolen from my driveway the morning of the 19th @ 7.55am in Tyrrelstown Dublin 15.
I was putting clothes and bags in the car for my 2 sons and went to get the baby from my wife to put him in the car. I came out to see a stranger in the car (it took about 10 seconds to realise that there was someone actually in my car). As far as I remembered I had the keys in my pocket but they must have fell out.

Stolen Car - 05D88450 Stolen Car - 05D88450
Stolen Car - 05D88450

I have a 12 year old son who has been traumatised from this and is currently staying with my mother and father and refuses to come home. I can't help thinking about what might have happened had the baby been in the car when this happened. I have been living trouble-free in Tyrrelstown for 7 years. There is a sense of a great community spirit here and I would like to thank all of the neighbours from the Tyrrelstown forum for all their help and kind gestures.
Not only did I lose my car but I've had to have my house locks changed as well as the locks in my wife's car (her spare key was on my keys). Baby's bags, car seat, my eldest sons school bag with all his books in it, baby's buggy, driving license, etc. all lost.
Would you mind adding my car to your stolen car database? It may be offered for sale to someone using Motorcheck.ie.

Stolen Car - 05D88450 Stolen Car - 05D88450
Stolen Car - 05D88450

The Chassis No is: WAUZZZ8EX6A######
It has 2 built in 10" DVD monitor headrests and an iPhone connect cable mounted in black.
If you'd like to read about how to get the current market value of any Irish or UK car see our Value My Car page

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by Shane Teskey
All author posts
Shane Teskey - January 21, 2011 at 6:49 pm
We've added the registration number of Warren's car to our stolen car database but if anyone has any information on the cars whereabouts please let us know and we will pass it on.
Warren Coakley - January 25, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Well folks the car was recovered and I would like to take the time to thank Shane Teskey and everyone else who helped with recovering my car. Believe it or not it was Facebook that found my car in the end. I used every single resource possible to make myself heard in locating my car, blogs, email, newspapers, radio, car websites, eflow tag, forums, social networks, flyers, phone calls, texting, skype etc. The Garda were very helpful with their investigation but I just didn't want to sit there and do nothing. I have been calling and emailing everyone for 6 days even working through the night just so I could be heard. To be honest I didn't think I would get the level of attention as I did. It's a sad fact that there is a large number of cars stolen everyday of the week. I was sitting down watching a movie with my wife and eldest son who came home for the first time since the incident when I received a call around 10:20 from a guy I know explaining he knew where my car was. I was shocked at first and thought he may be messing. He explained that a friend on his facebook page had seen it and it went back around 8 people to a girl who had seen the car outside her front window. She said she hadn't been on facebook in 3 days and when she logged in she noticed 2 of her friends had my plea in their status updates which I didn't even know. She decided to try and trace to see who I was which took hours but thankfully I was finally found. I then had to trace the calls through so many people to eventually find her and talk to her myself. She had told me the car was sitting there since last Friday and when she saw the post herself she asked her dad to make sure that this was indeed my car. So the hunt was on to contact me in case the thief would come back to move it. I rang the Garda who were shocked to believe I had found the car myself and especially through a social networking site. The car has now been recovered with remarkably not a scratch on it. As to the contents I still don't know yet as it had to be taken for finger prints to be lifted from it. It will still cost me close to a €1000 in order to get the locks changed and new keys from Audi themselves. So there you have it people, if anything happens to you like this, don't just sit there! Be pro-active and make yourself heard. Use the resources that are available to you, I did and look what I achieved from it. In closing I have 2 things to say, Never under estimate the power of Facebook and if you make enough noise somebody out there will hear you. Thanks again to everyone who has helped me with this. I am so glad that it has been recovered and my family now can put this horrific incident behind us and move on with our lives. Regards Warren Coakley & Family
Shane Teskey - January 26, 2011 at 12:26 pm
That's great news Warren. We're all delighted that the car was returned to you and wish you all the best in the future. I guess you have quite a few friends on facebook now!
Tweets that mention Motorcheck Blog· stolen-car-05D88450 -- Topsy.com - January 26, 2011 at 12:48 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tiernan and J. T., Motorcheck. Motorcheck said: How @facebook found my stolen car http://bit.ly/i1ddoq [...]
Paddy Comyn - January 26, 2011 at 9:43 pm
That is a super story!
Tweets that mention Motorcheck Blog· stolen-car-05D88450 -- Topsy.com - January 26, 2011 at 10:17 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Brand Ireland, Paddy Comyn. Paddy Comyn said: Great story - car stolen in Dublin recovered using Facebook http://bit.ly/dHHqjY [...]
Tom - January 27, 2011 at 8:35 pm
What an idiot. Obviously he has more money than sense. In this day and age, it is imperative to be careful with children. i will be reporting Mr Cokely to the RSPCC.
Shane Teskey - January 31, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Hi Tom, How exactly do you think Warren was not being careful with his children? He says in his letter that he "was putting clothes and bags in the car for my 2 sons and went to get the baby from my wife to put him in the car". It's probably worth remembering that making a report to the RSPCC (an English organisation by the way with no jurisdiction in Ireland) is not a trivial matter and should be made after careful consideration of the facts. Perhaps you'd like to reread the letter before wasting anyone's time? All the best, Shane
Dublin Man Retrieves Stolen Car Via Facebook - January 28, 2011 at 4:59 pm
[...] popular Internet forum outlet in Ireland, where he asked for help. He also wrote a long letter to Motorcheck, an Irish website that helps consumers make informed decisions when buying used cars. “Not [...]
Dublin Man Retrieves Stolen Car Via Facebook | כל העידכונים - January 28, 2011 at 5:28 pm
[...] popular Internet forum outlet in Ireland, where he asked for help. He also wrote a long letter to Motorcheck, an Irish website that helps consumers make informed decisions when buying used cars. "Not only did [...]
Dublin Man Retrieves Stolen Car Via Facebook – Facebook Is Down - January 28, 2011 at 6:25 pm
[...] popular Internet forum outlet in Ireland, where he asked for help. He also wrote a long letter to Motorcheck, an Irish website that helps consumers make informed decisions when buying used cars. “Not [...]
Facebook Friends Help Dublin Man Find His Stolen Audi A4 | Tech News Daily - January 29, 2011 at 7:14 pm
[...] his contact information on several message boards. Coakley also wrote a letter to Motorcheck.ie, which was published on their blog, that described his shock at walking out his front door with his two sons and seeing a stranger [...]
Tom - January 30, 2011 at 2:18 pm
Hi there, perhaps it is unwise to post the entire chassis number. I would suggest that you should perhaps block some digits in a similar way to how credit cards have a number of the digits obscured. I'm aware that a lot of chassis numbers use a predefined code, so the majority of the digits will be the same for all similar cars so it would be important that the correct digits be obscured. Please let me know your feelings on this, as I would be concerned that his ordeal may not be over if a car cloning gang get a hold of these details.
Shane Teskey - January 30, 2011 at 10:28 pm
Hi Tom, Thanks for the comment. Since the car was found last week I'm happy to obscure the VIN number. Thanks for the heads up. Regards, Shane.
Stolen Audi A4 and The Power of Facebook | TECH RECTO - January 30, 2011 at 3:17 pm
[...] away. Coakley quickly posted pictures and info of the car in several active platforms, a letter to Motorcheck.Ie plus set his Facebook status update appealing for any help regarding his stolen [...]
Irish man finds stolen Audi with help of Facebook | Tech on the Go – News and Reviews covering iPhone, Android and Mobile Computing - January 30, 2011 at 5:59 pm
[...] Coakley immediately informed the Police, local radio and sent a message to MotorCheck.ie to keep an eye out for the car in case the thieves attempted to re-sell it. Finally Mr Coakley [...]
Warren Coakley - February 05, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Tom, How dare you call me an idiot. Coming on here and not reading the full extent if the horrific incident myself and my family had to go through. I hate small minded insensitive people like yourself. You may report me to whoever you want. See if I care you stupid person.
David Doran - February 09, 2011 at 1:55 am
A lecturer of mine actually told the class about this story a few days ago. Quite the win for Warren and the law-abiding community in general. Bravo for social networking and concerned friends-of-friends.
Shane Teskey - February 09, 2011 at 9:18 am
Thanks David. Maybe you're already developing an 'is it stolen' app for facebook?
Les - February 09, 2011 at 6:56 pm
Might not be a bad idea a stolen car app, even for iphone or android tied in with some type of tracker, maybe there's one out there already. Glad to see you got your car back m8, nice to see a good news story for a change.
Richard - February 11, 2011 at 9:05 pm
It´s nice to hear some positive social networking stories. Glad you got it back, it certainly seemed you deserved it.