Strange car situation, stolen or a big con?

winslo

Hi I bought a car a few months ago from a guy in Ireland. I did all my relevant checks on the vehicle using Ireland’s motorcheck the HPI equivalent over there and car came back clear on all registers, no finance, not written off not stolen etc...

I am now selling the car as it’s too small for what I need really. I have a buyer lined up who enquired with the garages in Ireland that serviced the car, and they both came back and said everything was in order and they knew the car.

Then on Friday my buyer had an email from one of the garages giving him a phone number and asking him to call it ref the car

He then calls the number and has a conversation about the car. He then calls me to say that the car is on finance, to which I said it’s not as I did a check and its all clear. He said it was a cash deal so wouldn’t be on the report? My response was that just doesn’t make sense.....

APPARENTLY.....this has happened

A guy went into a dealer and bought this car, he paid with a cheque (50,000 Euros) and the check bounced after he had taken the car. First off it just doesn’t sound right, who in their right mind takes a cheque for a car of any value let alone 50,000 Euros and lets the car go before the cheque clears? So on this phone call they have told my buyer that they are coming to repossess the vehicle etc...

My Buyer must have given them my landline number as they then called me, it was very weird. The line was funny and it kept going beep....beep every minute or so. After talking for a few mins, another guy then joined in the conversation. It must have been a 3 way conversation or something, I don’t know who any of them were they did not introduce themselves and didn’t sound very professional. They asked for an address and contact number for the seller I bought it from, I didn’t have the address to hand but number was in my phone, so gave them that. They then wanted me to call him while on this call somehow, which I declined. They then went ahead and tried to call it anyway and then said that number is not in service any more. They then told me that the car belonged to them etc...Stupidly taken back by all this they asked for my email address which I gave them. I think I gave them too much info, really I shouldn’t have said anything to them as they could be anyone.

So the next day I received an email, from yet another name/person and the email address when I checked was from an international money changing service
Basically the jist of the email was you are handling stolen goods, it has been passed to the police etc...It also mentioned that they had ‘liaised’ with this guy and they would make sure he paid for what he has done. The email did not read very well, and had no sort of signature at the bottom that you would expect to see from a company.

All sounds very suspicious to me, as if the guy I bought it from is trying to get it back maybe as a con/theft?

Some facts about it

The Irish log book was in the name of the guy I bought it from, and the name that I have been told is the guy that bought the car with no funds. The last change of keeper date was Feb 2012, which is how long the guy told me he owned the car.

Car is clear on motorcheck report, you would think if this did happen then police would be informed straight away and car would show as stolen?

I have since re registered the vehicle in the UK, so is now on UK plates, tax, and mot etc in my name at my address. I also have a receipt signed by me and the seller as proof of purchase

The condition I got the vehicle in, there is no way a garage would sell it in, I’ve spent over £2000 on it to bring it up to a good standard

I had the car advertised for sale on a well know car selling website for 4 weeks and not one call/email telling me any of this info. You would think if someone had taken your car and cheque bounced you would be looking on every car selling website every day to find it? It wasn’t as if my advert was a one liner, it was a full description about where the car had come from, all passed services, nothing to hide etc...

I have not rang police or anyone else about this yet as I’m 90% sure it’s a con but at the same time if it is true I don’t want them to come and take my car away!

I did briefly speak to a police officer who is a friend of a friend about this and his opinion is that the car is not stolen, so the police would not take it off me. The crime that has been committed is a fraud by the person who issued the cheque with no funds in account to pay for the car. The company who has allegedly taken the cheque would have to sue the issuer of the cheque to get their money back. He also thinks that it is a civil matter and not a police matter, and that they should not have to go around cleaning up there mess for being so stupid to hand over a car without waiting for the cheque to clear. He also thinks that I’m at more of an advantage as I’m in a different country?

Any advice/help would be very much appreciated

Regards

concerned43

All seems a bit fishy to me. first of all I would not worry about it as you are protected under the The Consumer Credit Act 1974
This gives ‘good title’ to the innocent private purchaser of a car which later turns out to be subject to a claim by a finance company because of a previous, unpaid hire-purchase agreement. This means that the finance company is not entitled to repossess the car from you. Remember, this does not apply to cars which have been stolen, or cars that were subject to a lease or hire agreement.
Therefore my advice is to ignore these people - do not take their calls and get on with your life!
Hope you sell the car soon.

vaio

CCA only applies to car on finance (and is suspect only on finance with british companies) so would apply in this case as there is no finance agreement. A bounced cheque isn't a finance agreement

If (and it's a very big IF) the story is true then I suspect the Irish seller didn't have title and so couldn't pass title to you. The car still belongs to whoever took the rubber cheque and they are entitled to recover it.

Having said all that, the circumstances all sound so so unlikely that I wouldn't be worrying to much about it.

bod1467

Just to clarify ... do you mean the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland?

(I suspect people are assuming the Republic, and that's how I read it too, but I believe it's important to make this clear).

winslo

Hi yes it is the ROI and not northern ireland

Thanks

CoolHotCold

Essentially all it boils down to is.

You got a email from a pospective buyer who SAID he got a email from another company and since then they've phoned you and you've told them more details.


Sounds like the guy who emailed you is part of the scam.

hartcjhart

have no more dealings with them,if they contact you again tell them to speak to the UK police

browneyedbazzi

winslo wrote: »

I did briefly speak to a police officer who is a friend of a friend about this and his opinion is that the car is not stolen, so the police would not take it off me. The crime that has been committed is a fraud by the person who issued the cheque with no funds in account to pay for the car. The company who has allegedly taken the cheque would have to sue the issuer of the cheque to get their money back. He also thinks that it is a civil matter and not a police matter, and that they should not have to go around cleaning up there mess for being so stupid to hand over a car without waiting for the cheque to clear. He also thinks that I’m at more of an advantage as I’m in a different country?

Any advice/help would be very much appreciated

Regards

Although if the cheque story is true there may be a police issue (in the UK there are offences that the police here like to pretend don't exist because they can't be bothered to investigate them, but I'm not sure about the law in ROI) - I agree with the rest of what your friend of a friend PC said.

I would be very suspicious of the 'buyer' who you've been in contact with because it's pretty likely that they are involved in this scam. Don't provide any more details and just block the email address that they've contacted you from.