In Mozambique, well certainly in Beira, they like to steal parts of your car and sell them back to you.
It’s a very efficient system, you can go to the market, enquire about a recently missing part and buy it back for top dollar.
The solution is to engrave (with some sort of identity number), as much as you can, and pop rivet things here and there.
As with most security, you really just want it to be easier that they steal from someone else.
In a panic, we realised my lovely man’s car was not adequately identified and secured. And, before it could be done, I had to use it to go to the parlour for a wee pedicure.
Unfortunately, at the very pleasant parlour, I have, for some years, been nominated the sadist to attend to my pedicure. Not only is there no sign of rough heels after a session, I am usually limping out on bloody stumps.
As it turns out, she is a very thoughtful sadist. She noticed me peering out the window continually to try and ensure nobody lifted a wing mirror off the car.
She indicated that she was in a better position to watch the car. Then she got everyone else in the salon who wasn’t busy, to watch the car in shifts.
Bless them! I managed to return home with the car intact. Not so much my heels.
My lovely man then had the car attended to. I had to get extra money from the company to pay the guy, he announced, I didn’t have enough. Come and look.
Everything is engraved people. And everything else is pop riveted. I think they only stopped pop riveting because they ran out he advised me.
I suspect the car is 50% heavier and the fuel efficiency halved. But hey, its safe.
