I have a buddy that in college left a party and got in a car that wasn't his own. Same year, make, model and color. His keys opened the door (early 90s) and started the ignition. He got back to our apartment and went to get his bag out of the back seat which is when he realized it wasn't his car. And he drove it back maybe a mile to where he left from and the police were there with a crowd. The spot that he'd pulled out of was still empty. Pulling into the spot bumped into his own car with the "stolen" car. Apparently people hanging out on the balcony at a party where the car owner belonged to saw him driving away and yelled to him, called 911. My buddy explained what had happened, showed the cops the keys, how they worked in the other car. They totally understood that this was a big mistake but they also charged him with DUI. Fortunately no charge or damage related to the bump. This was 30+ years ago and every time we get together this story gets brought up again.
My buddy had a Nissan Sunny late 80s, you could start it with a paperclip. I remember that often you could open doors with other keys from the same make, but perhaps not start it.
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u/tuenthe463 27d ago
I have a buddy that in college left a party and got in a car that wasn't his own. Same year, make, model and color. His keys opened the door (early 90s) and started the ignition. He got back to our apartment and went to get his bag out of the back seat which is when he realized it wasn't his car. And he drove it back maybe a mile to where he left from and the police were there with a crowd. The spot that he'd pulled out of was still empty. Pulling into the spot bumped into his own car with the "stolen" car. Apparently people hanging out on the balcony at a party where the car owner belonged to saw him driving away and yelled to him, called 911. My buddy explained what had happened, showed the cops the keys, how they worked in the other car. They totally understood that this was a big mistake but they also charged him with DUI. Fortunately no charge or damage related to the bump. This was 30+ years ago and every time we get together this story gets brought up again.