Update: Missing Fiesta Movement Car Found in NYC Impound Lot

A couple of weeks ago we brought you the sad story of Jake Bronstein, a New York City-based Fiesta Movement agent who had his Euro-spec Ford Fiesta stolen. Turns out, the car wasn’t stolen, per se, but rather, towed to a New York City impound lot. This is where the story gets a bit tricky. You see, Ford has been tracking the cars in the program with GPS. They were tracking a car, thinking it was Bronstein’s, when it turned out that the car belonged to another Fiesta Movement agent. Furthermore, for some reason, the GPS in Bronstein’s car wasn’t working. So Bronstein did some sleuthing. He and a friend went to where the car was last seen and chatted up a parking-meter agent who said that once in a while, cars get towed, and sometimes, the license plate number is put into the system incorrectly, so therefore, the city doesn’t know that it has the car.

Bronstein and his friend then staked out the lot that the meter agent told them the car might be taken to. On his first attempt to climb the fence to see if his car was there–he claims that the city will not let motorists walk the lot looking for their cars–Bronstein was chased away by security. Following that, he returned a little later and hoisted his friend over the wall, where she managed to get a picture of a car that matched the description of the missing Fiesta. The owners of the lot still claim that they don’t have the car.

I’m wondering how this will turn out–although I suspect that since these cars are Euro-spec and on temporary loan to the agents, Ford will get involved, and maybe their corporate muscle can pry the vehicle loose.

[Source: Zoomdoggle via Jalopnik]

2011 Ford Fiesta

A couple of weeks ago we brought you the sad story of Jake Bronstein, a New York City-based Fiesta Movement agent who had his Euro-spec Ford Fiesta stolen. Turns out, the car wasn’t stolen, per se, but rather, towed to a New York City impound lot. This is where the story gets a bit tricky. You see, Ford has been tracking the cars in the program with GPS. They were tracking a car, thinking it was Bronstein’s, when it turned out that the car belonged to another Fiesta Movement agent. Furthermore, for some reason, the GPS in Bronstein’s car wasn’t working. So Bronstein did some sleuthing. He and a friend went to where the car was last seen and chatted up a parking-meter agent who said that once in a while, cars get towed, and sometimes, the license plate number is put into the system incorrectly, so therefore, the city doesn’t know that it has the car.

Bronstein and his friend then staked out the lot that the meter agent told them the car might be taken to. On his first attempt to climb the fence to see if his car was there–he claims that the city will not let motorists walk the lot looking for their cars–Bronstein was chased away by security. Following that, he returned a little later and hoisted his friend over the wall, where she managed to get a picture of a car that matched the description of the missing Fiesta. The owners of the lot still claim that they don’t have the car.

I’m wondering how this will turn out–although I suspect that since these cars are Euro-spec and on temporary loan to the agents, Ford will get involved, and maybe their corporate muscle can pry the vehicle loose.

[Source: Zoomdoggle via Jalopnik]