purple_corsa_gls
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Registered: 25th May 04
Location: Near Sunderland
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My brother bought a 2008 BMW 320D edition (or what he thought was) for £12000 2 weeks ago. For what seemed a great price (too good to be true), explained itself today when the police turned up at his work to take the car back, as it had been stolen, plates changed etc.
He bought the car on autotrader (£2000 cash and £10k bank transfer) through a private sale (or what was listed as a trade seller on there). Anything that could be wrong was thinking back (getting picked up from the train station, no receipt, no garage seen etc - but that isn't what I'm asking)
Does he have any legal rights - I guess the car is property of the owner/insurance co', but is there anything he can do, as he now stands with a loan and no car to show for it???
Thanks in advance for help
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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can only claim his money back by taking the bloke who sold it to him to court, that's if they've caught him.
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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I'm of no help, but just can't help but feel sorry for your brother  Such a shit situation to find yourself in.
I presume he has no details, if he has a mobile number that must be an easy lead for the Police? Also he's on autotrader so must be registered, they must be able to give details? That's 2 possible traces straight away
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taylorboosh
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Registered: 3rd Apr 07
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What a shit situation, proves if it seems to good it usually is..
Hopefully the seller can be traced and the cash recovered through court. Shit for your bro who could probs do without the stress. Good luck
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ck1234_2010
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Registered: 19th Dec 09
Location: cannock
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legally, no you dont have a leg to stand on. as ben said, the ony way your brother wont lose out completely is if the police can track him down and prosecute him, in which when the offender appears in court the judge can order him to pay compensation. theres alot of scammers out there and im sure your brother has learnt a valuable lesson and in future he will dig deeper into the cars background.
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ck1234_2010
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Registered: 19th Dec 09
Location: cannock
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and if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. also im assuming your brother didnt do an hpi check?
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richc
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Registered: 24th Mar 07
Location: Ilkeston
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I would be gutted. I know its ok being wise after the event, saying you should of done X,y,z, but it doesnt help get the money back.
Im sure a lad on here had the problem with an s3? I only bought it from someone fairly local.
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Fad
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Registered: 1st Feb 01
Location: Dartford Kent Drives: 330cd
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No leg to stand on, did he not do a hpi on a car which is clearly about 5k under trade!
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AndyCorsaSport
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Registered: 12th Feb 06
Location: Horsforth, West Yorkshire
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HPI wouldnt show if it was still freshly stolen.
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nick_sri
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Registered: 5th May 09
Location: Crewe , Cheshire
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presume he did do a hpi , would it not come up clear if the plates were off a legit car?
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Don't need an HPI if it's at least 5k under book tbh, that's just being thick.
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AlexW
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Registered: 25th Oct 08
Location: Essex
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Some of those police programs on TV have had stolen car buyers buy the car from the insurance company cheap.
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taylorboosh
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Registered: 3rd Apr 07
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Plates off a diff car so hpi doesnt matter. How did they get a logbook
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Fad
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Registered: 1st Feb 01
Location: Dartford Kent Drives: 330cd
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quote:
Originally posted by nick_sri
presume he did do a hpi , would it not come up clear if the plates were off a legit car?
A proper hpi will require
Reg
Vin number
Document reference number
Document issue number
Mileage
Now something above surely would have been flagged up as a discrepancy?
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ck1234_2010
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Registered: 19th Dec 09
Location: cannock
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Fad
quote:
Originally posted by nick_sri
presume he did do a hpi , would it not come up clear if the plates were off a legit car?
A proper hpi will require
Reg
Vin number
Document reference number
Document issue number
Mileage
Now something above surely would have been flagged up as a discrepancy?
this.
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ash_corsa
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Registered: 15th Apr 04
Location: Shrewsbury
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Had it done to me aswell, you have no rights to the car as it wasnt theirs to sell. If you find the bloke it was purchased from you could take them to court but most probably will just say they bought it from someone else who is unable to be found!
Police couldnt give two fucks, you get passed from one asshole to another and just end up going round in circles, insurance company who own the car dont want to know you.
Sorry for the downer of a story but thats how i found it!
I was lucky and managed to get the car delivered back to my for me to remove my wheels and modded bits, the insurance company got a bare shell delivered back to them.
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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quote:
Originally posted by AlexW
Some of those police programs on TV have had stolen car buyers buy the car from the insurance company cheap.
thats probably the case only if the insurance company have paid out the people who had their car stolen.
had a bloke knock on my door about a month ago asking for the previous owner who's audi got stolen and he had bought it, wanted to know if he has service book.
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johnhara1
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Registered: 19th Oct 06
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
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That's sickening. Losing that amount of cash is something I'd get over (albeit, not very quickly), but a loan with interest and absolutely nothing to show is heartbreaking. I'm gutted for him just reading it.
This is the main reason I'd never buy a car of considerable value from anywhere else but a registered dealer.
I hope the police find the bloke who sold it. Can the bank not get his address from the bank account 10k went into?
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johnhara1
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Registered: 19th Oct 06
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
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How good was the log book?
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purple_corsa_gls
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Registered: 25th May 04
Location: Near Sunderland
User status: Offline
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John.....fantastic help.......I'll be sure to pass it on...
The reg was a cloned reg so the HPI showed up fine.....as it wasn't the car. The VINs had been replaced on the windscreen and he didn't know to check the one under the bonnet.
The log book was as good as a genuine (if not a stolen genuine one?) from what he said. Again - he's not a car dealer and has had company cars for the last 6 years so had nothing to do with buying and selling cars for some time.
I've read about buying the car back when googling so it's a possibility but think he's looking to get a lease car now to save hassle.
It is absolutely sickening to think there are some people scummy enough to even try this, never mind actually do it. Thanks for all the helpful comments.
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NovaGTE2
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Registered: 26th Sep 06
Location: Peasedown St John, Bristol Avon
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I very nearly got stung with similar a few years back on a TT; Its very clever how they do it; all stickers on the vehicle were all genuine, service book was stamped to the schedule of the car i thought i was buying; the log book was applied for in a stolen ID so was a genuine log book as the car was for sale on a forecourt in Kent; so when the log book was a applied for the previous owner wouldnt have questioned it as they had sold the car.
Its all very clever stuff the only thing they didn't do for mine was to re-set the service light so i was a little suspect; went to Audi and got it plugged in to find a different chassis number on the ECU. I handed it into the police and luckily i part ex'd the car and the BMW had a tracker so i set that off and they were nicked! Although police released them for further enquires and they were never to be seen or found again!!!
As for the position as people have said; the stolen car is the property of the insurance company if not returned to the owner. They did offer me it at trade price but i didn't want the car after all that.
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Darrell16v
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Registered: 5th Feb 11
Location: Newry_Northern Ireland
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My dad had a similar expirence, bought an E class Mercedes, done a Hpi check and all was clear. Two weeks later police landed at the house and took the car as they said finance was owed on it and the company owns it.
He will be out of pocket unfortunately!
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Dave
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Registered: 26th Feb 01
Location: Lancs
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Do HPI not offer compensation in those sort of cases though? I thought they came with a guarantee.
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taylorboosh
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
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they do, but they can only cover you if you give them the correct reg
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Brett
Premium Member
Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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Ouch  That's harsh
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