bought a stolen car, where do i stand?

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Wed 16 Jun 2010 23:26
bought a stolen car, where do i stand? - adamd

I bought a car from a private seller of autotrader, HPI checks came back clear and stupidly we gave cash for the car in a car park. when we got home our suspicions started, we found glass under the drivers seat, the key wasnt programmed to the central locking, and then found the VIN number on the window screen had a piece of plastic with another VIN number over it, also we found under the carpet the VIN number had been changed along with a sticker on the door. we immidiatly went to the police, who did checks on both VIN numbers, the fake ones matched the licence plate on the car, but that the car wasnt insured and didnt exist, we assume the VIN and reg plate were took from a car thats been sc***ped. then they checked the actual vin number, which showed the car actually was 2 years newer than we thought and virtually brand new, however the car hasnt been reported stolen... so the police basically said just to take it home, however now were in a 'limbo' situation, the police cant take the car, as its not reported stolen, but if we carry on usuing the car we risk being pulled over and arrested for driving a stolen car. we filled out the v5 for the car and left it with the seller to send off, however we dont know if wel recieve that back, or if hes sent it off. could anyone suggest how this situation could be resolved?

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Wed 16 Jun 2010 23:55
bought a stolen car, where do i stand? - Lee1

You may like to go here, this website was featured on a documentary some months ago.

http://www.mycartoolbox.com/stolen.php

(Other link deleted - see below)

Edited by Avant on 18/06/2010 at 01:44

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Fri 18 Jun 2010 01:43
bought a stolen car, where do i stand? - Avant

Sorry - because of HJ's work with the Telegraph we mustn't publish links to a News International title.

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Thu 17 Jun 2010 07:45
bought a stolen car, where do i stand? - LucyBC

You broke just about every common sense pre-requisite there is for buying a car and conducting an acceptable HPI check. Because the plate and VIN were not for the vehicle any vehicle checks you conducted would have been undertaken on another car - which is normally the way these people operate. - they just copy the registration plate and VIN off a similar model which is on the road quite legally so it gets through the HPI check without a problem.

So I would question why the HPI check would have come back clear if the false plates are for a vehicle is seemingly not on the road anymore: The thieves' assumption would be that you would conduct a vehicle check - in fact they like people to conduct vehicle checks as it gives the buyer more confidence to hand over the money - what they rely on is that most people don't conduct a vehicle check in accordance with HPI's and others' buying guidelines which if rigorously followed (and they rarely are), would eliminate virtually all similar problems.

What puzzles me (among other things) in this case is why a seemingly sophisticated operation ran it with plates made up for a car which wasn't 100% squeaky clean. Further that they left glass under the drivers seat and the key didn't work properly. In almost all the stolen car cases I deal with the vehicle is immaculate and seems 100% correct -- almost too immaculate and too correct for the price -- and that is what usually raises first suspicions.

As to the legal position you cannot insure the vehicle or use it on a public road as you know the vehicle is stolen and have informed the police that the plates and VIN are wrong. You would also have to disclose this to the insurer which means no-one will touch it.

All you can do legally is take the car off the road, store it and wait for the police to trace the owner off the VIN or for the owner to report it missing.

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Thu 17 Jun 2010 07:53
bought a stolen car, where do i stand? - Dwight Van Driver

So according to the Police it is not on their records as a stolen vehicle so they are no longer interested?.

From what stated Plod really hasn't gone into this asSDVLA have engine/chassis numbers for vehicles with a VRM which gives an owner.

Did Plod invoke their Stolen vehicles Branch for a full examination. If not ask them to do so.

dvd

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Thu 17 Jun 2010 09:48
bought a stolen car, where do i stand? - LucyBC
The other possibility as this was nearly new is that it was lifted from somewhere like a port-side storage facility and hasn't been missed yet or was stolen overseas - Cypurs or Ireland would be favourites. If that were the case then DVLA wouldn't pick up the VIN.

But I agree it is something of a fishy case.

Incidentally is there any particular reason why the VIN needs to be so easily visible from outside the vehicle without access to the body or engine compartment?

I suspect that most of the stolen clones we deal with have had their alter ego registration numbers and VINs copied down in the street or in a car park and if there was not such easy access to the VIN this would not be possible - or at least not on such a casual basis with the owner not knowing it had happened.
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Tue 22 Jun 2010 18:25
bought a stolen car, where do i stand? - adamd
i have a update on the car. the police eventually took the car, and are doing further testing on it, they have also found where it was stolen from, so i assume it had been reported stolen, it was stolen 3 months ago. we are still waiting to see if the hire company it was stole from have had the insurance paid out for it. ive heard that if the car becomes property of the insurance company we may be able to come to some sort of a deal with them, does anyone have any idea how much the insurance company would ask for? the car is a 2009 vauxhall corsa plate, under 7000 miles, has some scratches and dents, doesnt have servive history or orginial keys.
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Wed 2 Sep 2015 17:03
bought a stolen car, where do i stand? - Markforbes
Hi,
I'm so happy to see this forum on here. Just last week I was in the same exact situation. I paid £6500 in cash for a car which turned out t be stolen. I started having my suspicion when I went to the post office to tax the car and the barcode from my slip I got off the logbook wasn't scanning.
I immediately called the police to tell them of my suspicion and they told me it wasn't stolen at first but 30mins later they showed up at my house and seized the car.
This is really painful as we all know this is a lot of hard earned money.
The good part is someone was also caught selling another car from the same address I bought mine from the next day but the police haven't told me if it's the same person.
Just want to know if anyone has any advise on how to go about getting my money back or is there any chance I can claim ownership of the car as I paid for it already.
Hope to hear from someone soon.
What steps can I take?
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Wed 2 Sep 2015 17:24
bought a stolen car, where do i stand? - skidpan

The car will still belong to the previous owner or if the previous owner has been paid out by their insurance company it belongs to them. You cannot claim ownership on stolen goods that you bought however innocent you were.

If its an insurance company they sometimes offer to sell you the car at a slightly reduced price but you will still be paying twice.

As for getting your money back, very little chance.

From your first line its also clear that you took posession of the car and drove it before trying to pay the VED at a Post Office. For that you could be prosecuted since you must pay the VED before driving a car on the public highway. You can pay the VED on your mobile or over the phone so no get out there. Hopefully the police/DVLA will not persue that.

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Wed 2 Sep 2015 17:44
bought a stolen car, where do i stand? - FP

It's not good news for you, but you know that already.

£6500 is quite a lot of money if you bought privately, which I'm guessing you did. For that I'd be using a dealer and there would be some come-back.

"Just want to know if anyone has any advise on how to go about getting my money back ..."

Very little chance of getting your money back unless you can make a small claims case against the seller. My guess would be that, even if you were successful, actually obtaining any money might be next to impossible. Your cash will have disappeared by now.

"... or is there any chance I can claim ownership of the car as I paid for it already." As things stand now, you cannot claim ownership of something that did not belong to the seller in the first place.

As Skidpan says, it's possible that technically the car belongs to an insurance company, if they have paid out to the owner. They will want a reasonable price for the car, but what that is I don't know - and they may want to just dispose of it at auction.

This is a very expensive lesson for you, I'm afraid.

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