Bought an ATV with the serial numbers removed. What are my rights?

gwernybwch

Hi all,

I recently bought an ATV / quad bike which has had the serial numbers removed. I have reported it to the Police and they are due to send around a Police Officer that has some kind of experience in vehicle identification in a weeks time. Although I would be amazed if they would be able to get the numbers from it.

The Police have told me that if they can't trace the quad, then I will be able to keep it. If they can trace it, it goes back to its rightful owner (or the insurance company).

As far as I'm concerned if I am able to keep it the ATV is now 'worthless' or worth much less than what I bought it for. Therefore I would appreciate some advice on my rights and / or my options.

Here is the background - I bought the ATV on a well-known online auction site and won it via an auction. On the listing it was being "sold as seen" as a non-runner. When I collected it I paid in cash. There was no mention in the listing that the serial numbers had been removed, nor did they mention it to me when I collected it.
I bought the quad from a limited company who were VAT registered. I didn't check the quad when I collected it and only noticed that there wasn't any serial numbers on it about 10 days after I collected it. I bought the ATV 14 days ago, it will take at least another 7 days for the Police to do some kind of proof of ownership and / or theft. The Police have asked me not to contact the seller whilst "their inquiries are ongoing".

Thanks in advance for any replies.

neilmcl

gwernybwch wrote: »

As far as I'm concerned if I am able to keep it the ATV is now 'worthless' or worth much less than what I bought it for.

How do you work that out? If you are allowed to keep it then it'll be worth what a non-running ATV is worth, probably not much in the first place.

k3lvc

Surely some responsibility on your part here. Why did you not check the serial nos before parting with your cash ?


Given their description what you've bought is a pile of parts - may come back to haunt them that they didn't remove some of the parts and put them in boxes to ensure it couldn't be seen as anything other than a pile of bits

gwernybwch

neilmcl wrote: »

How do you work that out? If you are allowed to keep it then it'll be worth what a non-running ATV is worth, probably not much in the first place.

It was a non-runner, but it was an early Honda ATV, which hold their value remarkably well. It was worth about £400 to £500, but with the potential to be got running relatively easy or broken up for spares. If I got it running, who is going to buy an ATV with the serial numbers removed? Similarly if breaking it for spares, the two most valuable parts are the engine and the frame. Again I can't see anybody really wanting those parts in that state. Hence why I think that is now worth considerably less.

gwernybwch

k3lvc wrote: »

Surely some responsibility on your part here. Why did you not check the serial nos before parting with your cash ?


Given their description what you've bought is a pile of parts - may come back to haunt them that they didn't remove some of the parts and put them in boxes to ensure it couldn't be seen as anything other than a pile of bits

I'm not suggesting that there isn't some responsibility on my part. I'm sure that they would have advertised it differently or sold it differently if they had known the potential trouble that it will cause them, but they nor me are Captain Hindsight like you.

Hermione_Granger

gwernybwch wrote: »

If I got it running, who is going to buy an ATV with the serial numbers removed?

Well, you did!

Provided that you get something in writing from the police stating that their investigation is closed, I can't see any reason why you should have any problem selling the quad in the future.

gwernybwch

Hermione_Granger wrote: »

Well, you did!

Ha Ha! Touche!

Hermione_Granger wrote: »

Provided that you get something in writing from the police stating that their investigation is closed, I can't see any reason why you should have any problem selling the quad in the future.

The Police have said that if they are not able to trace it, they will provide a letter saying that they have examined it and have no records of it being stolen (or something along those lines).

I'm not one of those people that try to sell things without highlighting the bad bits, so I would definitely put on any advert that the serial numbers had been removed. When that is on the advert, I doubt that it would sell for a price close to that I paid for it.

bris

You got what you viewed and accepted.


Is this another bought a non runner (faulty) and not as easy to fix as I first thought so want my money back thread.

gwernybwch

bris wrote: »

You got what you viewed and accepted.

Thanks for the reply.
Can I just ask that your post has a basis on consumer protection knowledge or legislation ?

hollydays

I'm not sure posting this query before the police have investigated is a good idea.

rtho782

Assuming you know who the seller is (e.g. which ltd company) and have invoices etc, you could potentially take them to court if it is stolen goods.