A Whangarei woman noticed a flash of brown in her rear vision mirror, but didn't think anything of it.
As Amy King rushed to get her daughters to soccer training on Wednesday afternoon, she didn't see her extra passenger on the roof - the family's dark brown burmese cat Lilli.
Ms King's neighbours, however, had spotted Lilli - clinging on as Ms King drove past their lounge window.
Too late - Lilli and co were gone by the time the neighbours could raise the alarm.
When Ms King arrived home an hour later, the neighbours informed her of her car-surfing cat which was nowhere to be seen.