THE director of a vehicle rental firm is so keen to recover three stolen cars that he promises $1,000 in cash if you spot one of them.

On Mr Jeremy Chong's wanted list are a Nissan Sunny and Toyota Wish - both stolen from multi-storey carparks - and a Honda Odyssey, which vanished after it was let by his firm, Eazi Car Lease.

The cars were stolen between April and June.

The 36-year-old now spends weekends patrolling busy carparks here and in Johor Baru, searching for the missing cars. He has handed out descriptions of the cars to almost 400 taxi and tow-truck drivers and workshops.

Mr Chong's conundrum is not unusual as thieves see rental cars as easy pickings.

Almost half of the 20 car rental companies contacted by The Sunday Times have had vehicles nicked by hirers. Only seven of the 15 vehicles stolen were later found.

The scam is simple: The thief provides rental firms with fake driving licences and identity cards, complete with superimposed photos, picks up the car and disappears without a trace.

Bolder thieves even produce genuine identification and get their families to say they have been away when rental firms come knocking.

"They are ready to go to jail or simply flee the country after they steal the cars," said Mr Vincent Phang, whose firm lost three cars in February and March.

There have been cases of thieves renting up to five cars from different agencies before fleeing, the police told some rental firms.

Police statistics show that seven of the 72 cars stolen last year belonged to rental companies. Though not a large number, firms say they have suffered huge losses as a result.

ATS Rent-a-Car could not claim a cent from its insurer when a hirer fled with a 1.6L Nissan Sunny last May.

Mr Freddy Neo, general manager of NTUC Income, said that the theft of a car by its hirer is considered a criminal breach of trust and hence not covered under the theft section of motor policy.

Rental companies also have to continue servicing bank loans for the stolen vehicles.

ATS Rent-a-Car paid $35,000 in outstanding loans to the bank before it could deregister the car and get $33,000 back in paper value, a sum which could then be used to offset a new car purchase.

A1 Car Rental was luckier. A repossession firm found its Toyota Altis abandoned near a cemetery in Mandai a month after the hirer disappeared.

But the brand new car had been stripped of its headlights, leather seats and steering wheel and refitted with old parts.

"A professional must have done the job and the car was probably scheduled to be shipped overseas for sale after they sold the new parts," said A1's operations manager, Mr Ken Low.

Firms have tightened checks on hirers. Measures range from accepting only clients with credit cards, asking for utility bills for address verification and checking driving licences on a traffic police website.

Mr Phang, like some others, has even spent $15,000 installing Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking devices in his fleet of 35 cars.

But Mr Chong, who cannot afford GPS in all his 120 cars, hopes the cash reward will reap the same result.

"If I still can't find my cars by this month, I'll increase the cash reward to $3,000," he said.