My Cloned Car got taken away by the Police

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Wed 17 Oct 2012 16:38
My Cloned Car got taken away by the Police - SameGame101

Hi all,

I used this forum about 6 months ago for advice regarding a stolen (cloned) car that I bought. Long story cut short, the seller went AWOL pretty much straight after the transaction was made, the car was HPI clear (as it was checking the legitimate car) and alarm bells rang when I saw the same car up for sale elsewhere when I had a car of the same number plate on my doorstep. Anyway, police and DVLA were informed and neither wanted to know anything about it - dont ask why. After hassling the police, they came down and told me the car was fine and I had nothing to worry about. I then wrote to the DVLA - 6months later they responded and sent someone from the Police down to have a look - this time it was a specialist.

This happened today - my car was identified as a clone via the diagnostic computer and it turns out that Admiral insurance company made a pay out on this car a few months ago. They took the car to a storage facility and are holding it until an agreement is reached between myself and the insurers.

It just so happens that me and my family are all with Admiral and have been for a number of years - but I am not sure if this will work in my favour with regard to buying back the car. I managed to get the car for 9k which was very cheap on the basis that the person needed a quick sale, wanted cash, and there was some damage to the car which needed work doing. I have already spent 1.5k on fixing this damage before it came to light that there were issues.

Any advice on how to proceed with insurers and any shared experiences would be much appreciated. Thanks

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Wed 17 Oct 2012 16:46
My Cloned Car got taken away by the Police - skidpan

Remember this one, finally the DVLA woke up. Could not belive that they would allow 2 cars to stay on the road with the same reg for ever.

Not much you can do.

If a deal looks too good to be true there is usually a very good reason.

Best of luck, you always needed it but it eventually ran out.

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Thu 18 Oct 2012 08:26
My Cloned Car got taken away by the Police - Dwight Van Driver

A right ball-acher...

Seems you and the Insurance Company have a claim on ownership of the said vehicle. How it left the Insurance Co to another person God only knows at this stage.

I presume Plod (Stolen vehicle Branch) are now on the case as well. If so bear this in mind:

Police Property ACT 1897
Power to make orders with respect to property in possession of police.
(1)Where any property has come into the possession of the police in connexion with their investigation of a suspected offence a court of summary jurisdiction may, on application, either by an officer of police or by a claimant of the property, make an order for the delivery of the property to the person appearing to the magistrate or court to be the owner thereof, or, if the owner cannot be ascertained, make such order with respect to the property as to the magistrate or court may seem meet.
(2)An order under this section shall not affect the right of any person to take within six months from the date of the order legal proceedings against any person in possession of property delivered by virtue of the order for the recovery of the property, but on the expiration of those six months the right shall cease.

It's going to take time to resolve so in the meantime suggest you have a session with a CAB Solicitor to establish how you stand (other on two legs) legally.

dvd

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Mon 22 Oct 2012 19:39
My Cloned Car got taken away by the Police - julie page

Suggest you get n touch with the insurance company and make them a other.

It be in the interest of the insurers to settle

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Mon 22 Oct 2012 20:27
My Cloned Car got taken away by the Police - injection doc

when will people learn ?

If a deal looks too good to be true there is usually a very good reason.

Why do so many people get sucked in by what appears to be a deal !

If its too godd to be true theres normally a reason and all the more reason to investigate further.

pay a vehicle inspector to check it out and plug into the diagnostics to check the chassis number etc . You can even read the glass code on the windows to see if the date of manufacturer and number plate are even a close match

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Tue 23 Oct 2012 14:12
My Cloned Car got taken away by the Police - thunderbird

6 months ago you were moaning because the Police and DVLA would not listen to your claims that the car was cloned. Now you are moaning because the car has been impounded because just like you suspected it had been cloned.

Make your mind up what you want.

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Thu 27 Dec 2012 16:57
My Cloned Car got taken away by the Police - SameGame101

UPDATE.

My car was impounded and after negotiations with the insurers, I managed to buy the car back at a fair price.

Shortly after, I was informed by police that the illegal seller had been caught and identified via fingerprints on the log book I provided to the police.

I am in the process of providing further evidence by identifying the person on a video tape. After this they will proceed with a prosecution in a criminal court. They may decide that the seller will have to pay me back the money or if not I can go via a civil claims court.

To others facing similar situations of car cloning, please contact me on s.rahman279@gmail.com and I will try my best to assist.

In the meantime - if anyone else has any advice to offer, this would be much appreciated.

Thanks

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Thu 27 Dec 2012 17:00
My Cloned Car got taken away by the Police - SameGame101

when will people learn ?

If a deal looks too good to be true there is usually a very good reason.

Why do so many people get sucked in by what appears to be a deal !

If its too godd to be true theres normally a reason and all the more reason to investigate further.

pay a vehicle inspector to check it out and plug into the diagnostics to check the chassis number etc . You can even read the glass code on the windows to see if the date of manufacturer and number plate are even a close match

The seller made a legitimate reason to sell the car cheap which seemed plausible at the time.

I went with someone else who knew more about cars than me and had been selling/buying cars for a long time. Clearly he wasnt aware of the risks in this purchase but he believed it all to be legitimate.

The glass code matched the VIN on the log book. The log-book appeared legal and had a watermark. The VIN even agreed to the engine. Trust me, alot of checks were made - more than that would be expected of a reasonable buyer. I honestly feel whilst alot of cases may be due to lack of knowledge or ineptitude of the buyer, I dont feel this was one of those cases.

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