It’s a steal

I had been looking for a car for sometime when I saw one advertised in the Auto Trader. I phoned the mobile number and asked the guy who was selling it if I could arrange to view the car. He told me that the car was a repossession and that he buys the cars direct from the finance company. The following morning I viewed the car and all appeared correct other than there was only one key. When I asked why I was told because the car was repossessed they cant always obtain both keys. I did a HPI report on the car and the VIN number was correct, the serial number on the log book was correct there was the DVLA watermark on the log book so I was satisfied that the car was good. I went into what I believed was his home to complete the deal. However when I went to the DVLA to put my cherished registration on the car I handed them the green part of the logbook (new keeper) and they told me that something wasn't right with the information. They asked me if they could inspect the car and did so straight away as I had driven it to the DVLA. Two men from the DVLA had a good look at the car but could not find anything wrong with it, the police were informed and I was allowed to drive it home that day. The following day the police came out to inspect the car and managed to get its true identity. I was and still am devastated that I had bought a stolen car that cost me £14,500 which I paid cash. The car has been left with me and the police told me that the insurance company would get in touch. The car was stolen on the 9th June I bought it on the 13th June and it was identified as a clone on the 26th June. Please could you give me some advise on this matter.

Asked on 5 September 2009 by

Answered by Honest John

There have been warnings for a while about a batch of stolen V5Cs. But you have been very cleverly and professionally duped here. You did an HPI check (worth checking with HPI whether they accept any liability). I suppose you could have contacted the previous keeper shown on the V5C and the finance company that was supposed to have repossessed the car, but you wouldn't have thought of that and I'm only thinking of it in hindsight. Make some checks on the address where you viewed the car. How did the vendor get access to it? Is the house for sale? Or is the owner of the house in on the fraud? Is the car security coded and on the International Security Register, tel 07000 111333? (All new FIATs are.) Has the visible VIN you can see through the windscreen been tampered with? (Maybe that's the key. The cloner logbook has different plates but the same VIN.) Your best chance of recovering your money is to find the vendor before the police do and before he gets sent down, but that isn't going to be easy.

Tags: buying scams v5c documents legal issues