Crook in car, short limo, crashed (8)
I believe the answer is:
criminal
'crook' is the definition.
(I know that crook can be written as criminal)
'in car short limo crashed' is the wordplay.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'crashed' is an anagram indicator.
'limo' with its final letter taken away is 'lim'.
'in'+'car'+'lim'='incarlim'
'incarlim' is an anagram of 'CRIMINAL'.
(Other definitions for criminal that I've seen before include "Wrongdoer" , "Mafioso, possibly" , "Being sought by police" , "Crook" , "Felon, malefactor" .)