$2,000 reward

That is why one rental car company is offering a $2,000 reward for information on one of its cars, a Toyota Axio. It placed a newspaper notice on Friday.

Mr Jeffrey Ee, 54, the general manager of Alpine Car Rental, said the car had been stolen while it was rented to a customer on a long-term contract basis.

He added: "The car was only 15 months old and the customer had rented it for about six months.

"He lives in Woodlands but travels regularly and would pass the car to his brother, who lives in Sengkang, when he goes overseas."

The New Paper contacted the customer but he declined to comment.

However, an online search on the car plate number revealed several posts on popular forums like MyCarForum and GreenCultureSG.

The posts were made by a netizen who identified himself as the customer's brother.

According to the forum posts, the car was stolen from the multi-storey carpark at Block 441, Fernvale Drive, between 8pm on March 25 and 9am the next day.

But what puzzles Mr Ee is that they have not received any fines or summons since the car was stolen.

He said: "The police told me the car didn't even go under any ERP gantries.

"Usually, if hirers don't return the car to us, we can try to track them down from the summons. But this time there's been nothing."

Mr Ee claims his loss is about $30,000.

"The customer would have to take some responsibility, but it's unlikely we're going to recover the full cost," he said.

Both Mr Ee and his customer have lodged police reports.

A police spokesman confirmed the reports and said investigations are on.

Mr Ee said nobody has come forward with information so far.

"If there's no news I'll put up another notice this week. I'll gladly pay the $2,000 to get my car back."

This article was first published in The New Paper.