Van turned out to be stolen?

panchis

I bought it with a bank transfer and partly cash

panchis

Thank you all for your responses, i think i forgot to mention that the dealer is now out of business.

That makes things even messier in terms of recovering my money back

LandyAndy

Can I ask how much you paid for the van.

It won't change the legal position, whatever that may be, but it might colour how much effort you are going to put into the fight.

maninthestreet

If the police were involved, why haven't they turned up at the OP's address to seize the vehicle and/or arrest the OP for handling stolen goods? At the moment, it looks like it's a just a civil claim.

Chippy_Minton_2

maninthestreet wrote: »

If the police were involved, why haven't they turned up at the OP's address to seize the vehicle and/or arrest the OP for handling stolen goods? At the moment, it looks like it's a just a civil claim.

Bit harsh to arrest him for handling.

Did he know or believe it to be stolen?

spiro

Not much different to the woman on TV at the weekend who bought a car that had one to the 'missing' (stolen) log books, she was arrested for handling stolen goods. Now she has no car and no money.

panchis

Sorry for the absence, let me answer some of the questions.

-The van is about 2 years old and big, sorry can't be specific about the price but wouldn't like the other parties to hijack my thread

-The police has been involved and the letter received from them reads as:

The vehicle is currently under dispute between yourself the new owner and the original looser Mr XXXX. Both parties have issued rival claims to the vehicle above.


-Apparently the dealer did the HPI checks when the bought it and they showed it to us. at the time of purchase everything seemed fine.

panchis

No i didn't... it was provided by the dealer.

I understand that when the dealer did the checks, the van wasn't yet reported as stolen.

standupguy

You say the claimant was paid by credit card?

Who was the claimant? What was their business?

This is a bit different to the claimant being a private person?

Anihilator

I think you need to seek legal advice however my gut is the van will be yours to keep and the dealers dispute is between him, the buyer, seller and banks.

If he had followed proper banking procedures he wouldnt have lost out.

My gut is that due to the dealer being out of business and the suspect not likely to be caught he has went for an easy target. A solicitor could confirm exactly what can happen though.