It's absolutely normal in Mexico. Anyone who's ever driven there knows it. There's a simple reason: in their system everyone can be taken to jail immediately unless they have insurance or bribe the police. People who run have neither and simply abandon the car because it's cheaper. The cops in Mexico could care less who it is; they just take the car and sell it or use it.
and at the airport I am always asked by U.S Customs what exactly I was doing in Greece or Germany that prompted my trip
Yeah Victor: Duuh. Anyone who goes through U.S. Customs & Immigration now has to laugh their butt off: why bother? They don't ask those questions of the illegals. And if they aren't going to bother enforcing the laws against people fracturing them, why bother going through the motions with the people abiding by the law? Did we vote to have a country where the laws will only be enforced against those who agree to have them enforced against them, everyone else is exempted?
It always ticks me off when I come home and I get the where-were-you-and-what-were-you-doing drill at passport control.. Not to mention being herded like a damn cow to get to the officer. Meanwhile thousands just walk across the Southern border and the government DGAS.
A company I used to work for, had a production line in Mexico.
For those that went down there to troubleshoot, they were told in very explicit terms, that if they were to get into an accident, to haul ass home and let legal deal with it.