CT Asks: Finders Keepers, Surely?

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever found in a car? Or, alternatively, have you ever sent a car to its new owner and suddenly experienced a jeez-I-shouldn’t-have-left-that-in-the-car moment?

It borders on incredulous the amount of stuff that customers leave behind in a car after they’ve traded it in. Even after repeated reminders about their need to clean out the car, take their personal effects, and transfer everything to their new wheels, items were invariably left behind.

Oz, one of the elder salesmen at the dealership, was famous for searching trade-ins and claiming anything even remotely of value. Picture a swarm of locusts in an awful B-movie buzzing through a forest, leaving only bare limbs in their wake. Oz was like that with used cars. The man had a collection of floor mats and spare wiper blades to rival any Halfords branch.

It didn’t take me long to catch on to his tricks. I made sure to park any cars I took on trade in a remote corner of the car park and have a look through them before Oz showed up. Personal stuff like jewellery, large amounts of cash, and private documents were always put in an envelope so I could call the customer later that day and try to return their belongings. Some were grateful; not all were receptive. One customer, a most excellent redhead with fabulous frontage was sadly going through a nasty breakup. In her car I had found an opulent diamond ring that had been jammed down in the defroster vents up by the windscreen. I called her immediately.

“Keep it. I threw the stupid thing there on purpose,” she said, sounding half surprised that I called. “You’re a good guy. Pawn it and go buy something nice.” Damn thing turned out to be worth more than the commission I made on the car itself. The jilted customer, well, I consider her to be an opportunity lost.

There are some constants: CDs are always – always – left in the player. If the back seat was inhabited by small children, broken toys and petrified Gummi Bears will be found. If the back seat was inhabited by young adults... your imagination can fill in the blanks here. Forensics specialists would have had a field day.

I’d like to say that all this has taught me to hoover out my own personal vehicles before selling them, lest I too inadvertently bestow the new owner with unintended fortunes. In one instance I left at least £20 worth of coins in an ashtray. Another time I somehow managed to forget about a pretty nice digital camera that I used to keep at hand in the days before we all had cameras on our phones (yes, I’m a geezer). The profits made on the sales more than made up for the loss of physical items but still...

How about you, readers? What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever found in a car? Or, alternatively, have you ever sent a car to its new owner and suddenly experienced a jeez-I-shouldn’t-have-left-that-in-the-car moment? Tell us your stories in the comments below.