IT WAS his dream car - a collectible sports coupe that he had bought just four months earlier and spent $20,000 customising.

But when mechanics told Mr Nick Ho, 36, that they had no idea where his Nissan Silvia was after he dropped it off for servicing, he thought they were joking. It was no joke. The devastated estate agent had just become another victim of Singapore's vehicle thieves.

"I was left with half a life. That car was very precious to me," said Mr Ho.

One car goes missing every five days here. The number gets a turbo charge if you include commercial vehicles and motorcycles, which account for the bulk of the 543 vehicles stolen in the first half of this year.

This is a 26 per cent jump over the same period last year. Of the 543 vehicles, 31 were cars.

Malaysia's car theft numbers are far more startling: 4,907 cars have been stolen between January and May this year.

About 73 per cent of the vehicles stolen here were swiped from carparks at public housing estates. And many are eventually found.

Of the 900 vehicles stolen last year - 72 of which were cars - half were recovered; most had been taken for joyrides and abandoned.

But others may have long left these shores. Shipping agents, private investigators and mechanics told The Sunday Times that some stolen Singapore cars - coveted for being new and with low mileage - are driven across the Causeway and shipped farther afield.

"It's very easy to fake a car licence plate; no one asks for your documents and a set of plates costs only about $10 to $20," said one car exporter who declined to be named.

Some vehicles may even go straight into containers at the ports here bound for Batam and possibly other countries.

Others are knocked down and sold to spare part dealers. Freight forwarders say as long as customers ship a sealed, full container and declare it as something legitimate, that is good enough for them. They say inspecting every container is impractical.

Thieves typically forge papers, modify car engine numbers and even wind back the mileage clock.

Cars can also be shipped out directly instead of going through the usual channel - the Export Processing Zone. This is a Land Transport Authority-regulated compound where deregistered cars wait to be exported.

The illegal car racket is a lucrative one worldwide: Interpol figures show that three million cars are stolen every year in a business worth US$21 billion (S$31 billion).

NTUC Income, one of Singapore's largest auto insurers, received 180 reports of motor vehicle theft claims in the first six months of this year and 437 last year, of which 105 were for cars.

Insurers say most claims are for cars and motorcycles stolen in Malaysia. The payout is equivalent to the market value of the vehicle at the time it was stolen. This, in turn, is based on recent transactions for the same model and year, said Mr Freddy Neo, general manager of NTUC Income.

The General Insurance Association says there are three categories of motor insurance, which allow for different coverage.

A third-party policy does not cover vehicle theft, but most car owners here opt for the comprehensive plan, which indemnifies them for their loss of a car. If having your car stolen is not bad enough, you must also keep paying your car loan while waiting for the insurance cheque. Banks say the loan must be paid in full.

And while this is a bad year for vehicle theft, the numbers are down from the mid to late 1990s, when as many as 2,700 vehicles a year were nicked. Police attribute the drop to better cooperation with foreign counterparts.

Last year, they arrested 168 offenders here. Penalties can mean up to seven years in jail, fines and a driving disqualification of no less than three years.

Luckily for Mr Ho, his car turned up at a condominium last October, six months after it was stolen but minus its registration plate, road tax coupon, CashCard, stereo system and an $8,000 turbo charger.

The insurer replaced the missing parts, but, lamented Mr Ho: "It just wasn't as good as what I had."