OK, except: There’s a federal law that prohibits car dealers and others from duplicating keys by using coded information unless they verify the registered owner’s id. My dealer alerted me to this law some time ago. I realize that only stops honest people, but it has to be considered. I think the prank/trophy concept is more plausible: Find a Ford Festiva, break in, and bring us the manual as proof.
I live in a lovely suburb north of Chicago, and always lock my car. I noticed my manual missing after a visit to a car dealer. The car dealer didn’t have it and I know they use the Lexus website to find out what $2000 worth of maintenance is appropriate for my 1999 Lexus ES300. When I googled to find out how I could purchase a replacement manual,I found many available on ‘less-then-authorized-type’ dealers. I think there is a secondary market created by all these thefts. I purchased a new one through the dealer.
Same thing happened just last night(Sun.Nov. 2) to our vehicles, my 97 Dakota,and my mothers 86 Cad.Cim.They took my manual out of the jacket leaving behind the other paper work.The Cads.manual was not in the car so they just left the glove box open and the other papers laying on the front seat.Both vehicles are always parked unlocked right outside our home in the country.We live in central Indiana.Never any problems before.I wonder if the vehicles had been locked would the thief have broken the glass to gain access.
I believe that people are either doing this as some kind of prank or more likely selling them on E-Bay or other sites.I looked up a few auto manuals and the bidding was vey active and the prices were high.
Amy–
I think it was Tom who said that he believed something else had been stolen, but you didn’t realize it yet. In my thinking, he’s right, and the clue lies with the fact that you had a credit card in the owner’s manual.
The card itself wasn’t stolen, you said. Well, think about what you would have done if it had been stolen: you would have immediately called the credit card company and reported it stolen, right? But the card wasn’t stolen. Instead, the manual was.
Well, what are car manuals made of? Paper. My guess is that one of the thieves found your credit card and wrote down the card number and information on the most obviously available piece of paper: the manual. They could also get your address from your registration, so they’ll have the billing information for your card as well (assuming the address in your car registration is the same as the billing address for your credit card). And they might actually have a chance to use it, because you probably wouldn’t think to change your credit card number if the card itself wasn’t stolen.
So if you haven’t changed that credit card number yet, I think I would do that quickly!
Michelle
It’s very clear - a treasure hunt, Ken Gilbert
Okay, someone may have already told you this, but I didn’t want to let it go without saying: NEVER leave the title of your car in your car.
Escort? Taurus? Never saw a '92 Focus…
I love when a question like this gets posted to the board so the amateur sleuths and conspiracy theorists can snap in to action. 
2 women w/ same thing @ same place? evil is afoot
I agree with the treasure hunt scenerio. However, if you want a new owners manual for your ford focus here is a link to where you can download one:
http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2280
People sell them on line, weird, but true.
Could the thieves have taken the AIRBAG from the car in a careful way that is not obvious? Should she have that checked?
I think the stolen owners manual may just be a souvenir so they can go off and show their punk friends that they are “bad”. Now that cars no longer have hood ornaments, that would make the owners manuals the next best thing.
Hi there - one bit of advice: Don’t keep your car’s deed/title and registration in the car! If they are there, and stolen, the thieves have all the info they need to sell your car!
Is it possible that the owners’ manual could be used to doctor up a sketchy used car (like a hurricane/flood damaged car)? It might be particularly effective if the manual had the routine maintenance certifications stamped in it…
This story took me instantly back to my teen years. On a few occasions my group of friends found ourselves with nothing to do. However, we were creative young folks and made up our own scavenger hunt lists. One such time we included a hubcap.
The team I was on went to the auto shop area of the local high school as we knew there were cars there that had been on blocks forever. Mind you, we were having harmless fun and we never broke anything. Just bored teens. After all we lived in Nowhere, Alaska! The stolen owners manual may have been on a scavenger hunt list?
A scavenger hunt. why not a manual for a 2007 ford. I see that others agree with me.
I would cancel that credit card. The person that broke into your car could have stolen the numbers off your card and left the card.
My guess is that people are selling them on ebay. Just search for owner’s manual and see what pops up.
Hi from Finland. You might be sick of replies by now, but this is my theory. They might have been after the service history of the car. In my car (not a Ford …) the service history is in the owners manual. It shows all the stamps showing oil changes etc. Should the thieves have got this, they could then pass a badly maintained Ford Focus they have perhaps legitimately acquired as a well maintained one by using a genuine service card from a different car.
I just this weekend (one day after hearing the show) discovered that this had happened. 2007 Infiniti G35. The cover was all nice and neatly rolled up - very bizarre. Recently had an oil change - might have happened then. Maybe it’s time to just lock up the glove boxes.