Thread: My car has turned out to be a stolen/cloned vehicle

I have recently purchased a Seat car for £7,000 – the car was purchased in good faith. A HPI check was done on the car, which matched up to the chassis numbers etc. Also the insurance didn’t flag up any issues. It appeared to be a legitimate purchase. It was picked up at a service that it was infact stolen. The registration plate and chassis number had been changed to tie up with a legitimate car. The car was then seized by the police.

I have now lost my car, which I have been saving for the last few years and I am now stuck without a car. I am unable to travel to work and simply do not have the cash for another car – all my money has been spent on this car.

The insurers have declined the claim. I have seen case studies were insurers have paid out under these circumstances. I am now taking up a complaint with the Ombudsman.



I also believe that the DVLA hasn’t acted legally. I purchased the car with a log book and was sent one back from DVLA stating that I am the new registered owner.

I am currently seeking answers to the following. Had the DVLA done things properly, police interest should have been registered. I would have then picked up on this on the HPI check and not purchased the car.

V5 Log Book


How have they registered 2 of the same car?

Why have they issued a new V5 log book to the seller when the name on the logbook (his name) was different to the actual owner? Has this been illegally issued by the DVLA?

If this ‘illegal’ V5 log book had not been issued, I would not have purchased this car.

How have they accepted the signed name on the V5, it was signed for by the seller which was also stated as the registered keeper on the log book. However, when the new log book was sent back to me it stated the last previous owner which was a different name. How has this happened?

Why wasn’t the name checked against the current owner as it now appears to be a false name on the log book to actual owner?

Why wasn’t the signature checked against the previous owner?


Road Tax


The car has valid tax. How have you issued tax for this vehicle if the legitmate vehicle of the same registration also has tax. The TV adverts say that they know if people don’t have road tax. So why haven’t they picked up that this registration number has been taxed twice?


Has anyone been in similar situation? What was the outcome? Help is appreciated.

Thanks

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You need to know what happened to the genuine car. Some time back crooks used to buy written off cars and steal an identical model to match, really transfering the identity from one car to another, not "cloning" (a separate issue). However these days I thought HPI checks would show that up.

Where did you buy the car (and how?). Your claim is against the person who sold you the car and you should immediately write to them asking for a full refund.

Originally Posted by A.Richardson

I also believe that the DVLA hasn’t acted legally. I purchased the car with a log book and was sent one back from DVLA stating that I am the new registered owner.

I am currently seeking answers to the following. Had the DVLA done things properly, police interest should have been registered. I would have then picked up on this on the HPI check and not purchased the car.

V5 Log Book


How have they registered 2 of the same car?

Why have they issued a new V5 log book to the seller when the name on the logbook (his name) was different to the actual owner? Has this been illegally issued by the DVLA?

If this ‘illegal’ V5 log book had not been issued, I would not have purchased this car.

How have they accepted the signed name on the V5, it was signed for by the seller which was also stated as the registered keeper on the log book. However, when the new log book was sent back to me it stated the last previous owner which was a different name. How has this happened?

Why wasn’t the name checked against the current owner as it now appears to be a false name on the log book to actual owner?

Why wasn’t the signature checked against the previous owner?


Road Tax


The car has valid tax. How have you issued tax for this vehicle if the legitmate vehicle of the same registration also has tax. The TV adverts say that they know if people don’t have road tax. So why haven’t they picked up that this registration number has been taxed twice?


Has anyone been in similar situation? What was the outcome? Help is appreciated.

Thanks

The V5 has nothing whatsoever to do with the owner. It is in the name of the registered keeper.

1) I suspect that they have only issued 1 x V5 - the other car no longer exists.

2) Because the person you have accepted as the owner (seller) is registered at the DVLA as the registered keeper. The DVLA do not register ownership. The V5 categorically states that it does not provide any evidence as to ownership.

3) It was not an 'illegal' V5.

Road Tax.

VED is obtained against the V5 and is the responsibility of the registered keeper - not the owner.

What has happened is that you have taken the RK details as those of the vehicle owner (ie with title to sell). This is not the function of a V5, whose sole purpose is to provide of a record of the RK

Originally Posted by patdavies

The V5 has nothing whatsoever to do with the owner. It is in the name of the registered keeper.

1) I suspect that they have only issued 1 x V5 - the other car no longer exists.

2) Because the person you have accepted as the owner (seller) is registered at the DVLA as the registered keeper. The DVLA do not register ownership. The V5 categorically states that it does not provide any evidence as to ownership.

3) It was not an 'illegal' V5.

Road Tax.

VED is obtained against the V5 and is the responsibility of the registered keeper - not the owner.

What has happened is that you have taken the RK details as those of the vehicle owner (ie with title to sell). This is not the function of a V5, whose sole purpose is to provide of a record of the RK

The police have confirmed that the other car is in daily use by a man in Sheffield. This Name/address is shown on my log book as the previous owner.

However the log book I recieved/signed from the seller showed the current registered owner as a different name/address(his claimed name). No mention of the owner in Sheffiled. The previous owner was a SEAT dealership from new.

It was a private sale. The details of the seller have been passed to the police.

This is still ongoing with the financial Ombudsman. I spoke to them today and they do not seem hopeful that morethan will settle the claim. They are arguing the fact that in their policy wording it says 'losing money because you have been decieved'. Does this count as I have lost a car not money?

A manager at morethan told me originally that they would class it as stolen unrecovered which I think is correct but then they totally declined the claim.

Help appreciated.

Thanks

To be honest, it is highly unlikely that More Th>n will pay out on this claim. Unfortunately for you, the loss is as of a direct result of deception, which is a standard exclusion in most motor policies. You cannot blame the insurance company although i appreciate it is a very very upsetting situation to be in.

Obviously this is not what you want to here, & the only other route is the hope of catching the culprit who sold it to you, followed by a successful prosecution resulting in an order for him to pay you back your £7k + legal fee's - but this is a lengthy & often unsuccessful process tho i'm afraid.

Hi A.R,

How did this end up?

Thanks