Buying A Stolen Car

covlass

Cant the police find who placed the ad on Autotrader? Surley they must have paid to place the ad

mattymoo

How did you pay the £5k? If it was cheque could the police not ask your bank to see who cashed it?

As others have said, it is looking like you will be £5k down. I remember dealing with these cases a few years ago and it's always the innocent buyer who loses out. Title of the vehicle belongs to the insurer who paid out when it was originally stolen. It would not have been possible for you to gain title (ownership) of the vehicle since the person selling it did not have it.

Did you do any other checks other than the HPI check. I'm thinking RAC inspection in which case their inspector should have realised the vehicle was not legit.

ukjoel

Not much advice i can give at this point.
General advice though is.

Check VIN at both points.
Usually once under bonnett (this is often a stamp or metal disk and can be tampered with) so check carefully to see if its been moved or looks loose.

At the bottom of the front windscreen (you can see then through windscreen)

Drivers door sill - again check all are consistent.

Engine Number - again this should match the V5.

Previous points valid - May be worth a solicitor writing to autotrader as they have gained from stolen goods - its in their interest to clamp down on this but my guess is they have already passed on all they know to the police.

Only other thing you can do (which I have done is insist on paying cash - at the bank - into their bank account)

Anyone kosher will go for this but dodgy seller will run a mile.

goldspanners

wheres bianca? (in my best frank butcher accent).

i was wondering the same as premier, where did you buy the car? from a guy with a ski mask on in b&q car park?

Money_Grabber13579

If you paid the £5000 by credit card, try claiming off the credit card company.

harveybobbles

OK, you did a HPi check, which came back fine. But did you follow that check up by actually checking the VIN number yourself? If not, then the problem lies with you. As in the Laws eyes, the general public are well aware of the various checks that are out there.

Not sure why you think autotrader should cop the bill though...? Do you really think that someone sits there looking at each and every advert and checking reg numbers? I often use pictures on autotrader that aren't of the car I'm selling - it's called a "library image". These are used 'cos they car i'm selling is probably on the back of a transporter somehwhere, so i'm unable to photo it!

I'd agree with a poster above and ask the police to see who cashed the cheque (if you paid that way).

If you paid by Credit Card then you could contact your card company, perhaps...?

Contacting your insurance company could he handy, if you have Legal Cover? Not sure if that's a route to go down?