Stolen Vehicle from Auto Trader

Manor

Hi Ya,
I have foolishly brought a stolen vehicle and need advice

Before buying the vehicle I did a Used Car Expert Check and DVLA Vehicle Enquiry, everything seemed ok.

I purchased the vehicle on 9th July 2009
From a person calling themselves a Trader and living at an address in
Aylstone Road
Leicester
LE2 7QI

The vehicle was advertised on Auto Trader web site. He explained he was a Car Trader and had purchased the vehicle from an auction in Manchester. He provided one key (explaining the other would follow) and a receipt.

He signed the Log Book and gave it to me complete. I parked the car on my drive while waiting till the end of the month before taxing it, and posted the Log Book to DVLA on 10th July.

On 28th July I did a simple web-site enquiry to check what the Tax would be when I put the vehicle on the road at the end of the month. Because the web-site said vehicle not found, I contacted DVLA by phone.

DVLA told me that someone had changed the vehicle registration number to a private plate within the last few weeks and I should contact the seller to establish what that number was. I explained that I was the new owner and have certainly not applied for a change of registration.

I went on to explain that I had tried to contact the seller on a number of occasions since the sale to ask some questions, however all the numbers simply go through to answer machine and he never replies.

They then asked me to write in so that they could investigate the matter.

I wrote to DVLA and enclosed copies of
· Log book (as it was sent to them)
· The original Auto Trader Advertisement
· My receipt

On 28th July I spoke to DVLA who said the paperwork V5 did not match their records and she was passing the enquiry to another department.

DVLA did not contact me or answer e-mails, so I reported my concerns to the police and spoke to Trading Standards.

The Police collected the vehicle on 6th August. I have now been informed that the vehicle is a stolen clone and belongs to the legal owner because the Insurance Company has not paid out.

The house I brought the vehicle from is empty.

My question is, do I have any legal claim (i.e. duty of care) against either Auto Trader or Used Car Expert (should they have have told be the vehicle number was beig changed to a private plate).

I paid £8550 cash and any advice would be appreciated

Thanks,
Manor

gordikin

If you brought it from the house to your own place how did you manage to miss that the house was empty?

Manor

Thanks for stating the obvious.

Manor

House was not empty at the time, its been emptied since.

trevormax

is there any way you can find out who was in the house at the time?

Check who owns it now. If it was rented to the person, the landlord might have some details you could use. If it is/was owned by the guy, then you might be able to track him down still.

From what I read, I'm assuming the numberplate did not belong to the car. If so, then I do not see how the websites you used to check it can be at fault as the details they gave you were correct for the numberplate you entered. In the same way, I would say Autotrader are not at fault either as even if they had checked the numberplate, they would have had the same result. However, they may have details of a bank card used to pay for the add if one was used.

verityboo

Sorry to hear your story

I have not used "Used Car Expert" but I have used similar services offered by other companies. With these companies they have offered a guarantee but only if they have comprehensive info on the vehicle including the chassis number off the car (not off the V5)

If it was a cloned car then just quoting the reg number would not be enough to identify the car as stolen. The plates were probably stolen off a similar car, the owner of that car probably did the sensible thing and purchased a private number plate to fit on their vehicle so that they would not be inundated with speeding and parking fines racked up by the cloned car

If you quoted them the chassis number off the car then you might have a case and it would be worth looking into whether they offered a guarantee

Lorian

I don't know who provides "used car expert check" but don't they have some insurance assoicated with the service? I wonder how it didn't spot the VIN was from a stolen vehicle (assume it asks for the VIN of course).

Manor

Thank you all for the kind replies. I can assure you all I did a thorough check on the VIN, both against the log book and the vehicle chassis. It turns out the vehicle had manufactured mitsubishi number plates, a genuine mitsubishi vin, engine and dashboard plate, and the chassis plate had been ground then re-stamped with the cloned cars vin, using an identicle machine mitsubishi use. The log book was genuine and stolen from DVLA. I really just want to warn as many people as possible to hopefully prevent more people becoming prey to these lovely people. Was a lot better in the old days when Auto Trader visited peoples houses to take the pictures themselves.

goldspanners

Manor wrote: »

Was a lot better in the old days when Auto Trader visited peoples houses to take the pictures themselves.

this still happened even in the old days, infact it was probably more common,its just now with modern technology its easier to find out you have ringer.

anewman

Isn't using an empty unowned property one of the tricks the scamsters use anyway? They'll be out in the garden trimming the hedge etc and you'll arrive. You don't actually think about the fact they never opened the front door until after you realise you've been had.

As Autotrader accept a fee for the advert by credit I would guess they should be able to provide details to the police or something?! Assuming the card details were those of the seller.

vaio

Sorry to hear of your trouble. This looks very sophisticated and I don’t really see how you (or anyone else) could protect against it without DVLC making their keeper information generally available.

Even auto-trader coming out and doing the photographs wouldn’t have helped, they would just have seen the same as you did when you bought it