bought a car without knowing it had been previously paid for with a stolen card

georg61

hi,
about 9 months ago i brought a car off autotrader, i had hpi checked, it had no outstanding balances or finance on it, hadnt been reported stolen. But last week i had a knock on the door from the police saying it had been paid for with a stolen credit card. I paid for this car in good will after doing all the appropriate checks. the bank have refunded the money to the card holders account, leaving the car company who sold the car out of pocket. will i have to give the car back or pay for it again as the police are sayin its between me and the car company to sort it out as they are just dealing with the fraud part of it, please help!!!

bris

You are an innocent purchaser so you should be OK. The courts will not award the car co the car back as long as you can prove you are an innocent perchaser in this transaction.

The car company will be covered if they did everything by the book, the CC co take the hit if the transaction was processed properly.

If chip and pin was used then the car co are covered, if they did it by manually imputting the numbers without the card being present then they will lose the right to protection and will have the money charged back, but they were negligent in the transaction and not your problem.

As you now have good title they will need to take you to court, but the likely hood of them winning is slim.

georg61

Thank you for your reply, it has taken a lot of stress off me.
Hopefully things should turn out for the best.

lynz68

I wouldn't take the above advice as gospel. I have known people before who have unknowingly bought a stolen vehicle and had to return it. Did you buy it from a garage or a private individual and how close in time between the fraudulent transaction taking place and you purchasing the car?

Maybe try and have a word with the police that called out with you or speak to a solicitor I doubt it is the last you have heard about this.

georg61

i bought the car last august, the car is not reported stolen as iv just done another hpi check in the last week and its all clear, it was bought frauduantly with a credit card from a dealer 2 days previous to my purchase, this was also the same day as the card was reported stolen. the police have said its up to me and the car dealer to fight it out between ourselves.

Chino

bris wrote: »

As you now have good title

As the car was effectively stolen by the party from whom the OP purchased the car, I doubt this is the case. If so...

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/nireland/consumer_ni/consumer_common_problems_with_products_e/consumer_lost_found_and_uncollected_goods_e/stolen_goods.htm

santas_helper

sorry but if it was bought 2 days before you bought it then how did you buy it and get log book etc???

georg61

i bought it of a person advertising on autotrader he had all the documentation for it and i only found out it was brought 2 days before when the police told me 9 months later

bris

lynz68 wrote: »

I wouldn't take the above advice as gospel. I have known people before who have unknowingly bought a stolen vehicle and had to return it. Did you buy it from a garage or a private individual and how close in time between the fraudulent transaction taking place and you purchasing the car?

Maybe try and have a word with the police that called out with you or speak to a solicitor I doubt it is the last you have heard about this.

Innocent purchasers are now protected and to lose the right to the car you would need to be aware of the cars history or maybe bought it on the cheap then you would lose it.
OP don't unduly worry, there is lots of innocent purchers out there that got to keep their cars. If it comes down to it, then the court will decide as it's now a civil matter, but don't give back the car no matter what the car dealer says.

jonesMUFCforever

2 Things come to my mind

1 OP never had a rightful title to the car. Sorry I disagree with others who say otherwise.

2 If he had bought it off a dealer then the dealer would have to take the loss but would have insurance to compensate him. If OP bought off a private dealer he has no such comeback.

Sorry but in my opinion OP is on a sticky wicket here.
( As far as I know HPI has no comebacks if the transaction is fraudulent)

mleczko

Georg61

Keep the car and use it
Good thing is police are not seizing it and refer to it as a civil
Matter, because it is.
You need to be a so called innocent purchaser in order to acquire best title.

Of course title does not pass with stolen property
But it's obvious that your case is different ( fraudulent purchase ) and in these circumstances title may pass.

I am in a very similar position, though police have seized my car and given it to the dealer ( they shouldn't have done and but Im still arguing this )

Look up a legal case Lewis vs Averay

And if you get a letter from dealers solicitor asking to give your vehicle back, contact me and I might give you details of a solicitor who knows what to do.

P.wojt@yahoo.co.uk

Regards