Car was stolen - police trace it down to an innocent party - Police tell me it’s a civil matter?

Mercdriver

rossmx31 wrote: »

Apologies just responding to the various replies since I posted last night

The Police went to seize the vehicle, only it had been sold. 🤬

Subsequantly traces the car to its new owner, but they (the Police) have now decided against a different course of action as the current keeper has purchased the car innocently and spent money on it.

How this scenario is any different to the scenario with the car the Police recovered from me is anyone’s guess. I’ve tried taking things through the Police complaints procedures but so far everything is coming up short.

I’m almost left with being forced to go down the full legal route, but I can’t even obtain the information I need from the Police to do this.

If you are going down the civil route (note IANAL) surely the claim is against the person that wronged you, not the innocent purchaser? You have been left minus the car not because of the person that bought your car from the bar steward that robbed you, but because of that bar steward. Surely it should be that person you should be directing legal beagles towards?

Aretnap

Mercdriver wrote: »

If you are going down the civil route (note IANAL) surely the claim is against the person that wronged you, not the innocent purchaser? You have been left minus the car not because of the person that bought your car from the bar steward that robbed you, but because of that bar steward. Surely it should be that person you should be directing legal beagles towards?

The purchaser may be innocent, but he is still in possession of the OP's property, and the OP is entitled to demand it back. The fact that you bought stolen property inadvertently doesn't give you the right to keep it - it remains the property of the original owner.

Admittedly if the purchaser has made significant modifications to the car the situation is complicated by the fact that only some of the car is the OP's property... so I can see why the police have chosen not to seize it and would prefer to let the civil courts sit out the mess.

Alternatively the OP can go after the bar steward who defrauded him out of his car in the first place... but given that the bar steward has presumably scarpered and may have gotten the blown the proceeds of the sale on skag already the OP's beat hope for recompense may be too try and get his car back from the purchaser. The purchaser can in turn go after whoever sold it to him... but it is fairly inevitable that someone somewhere down the line will end up out of pocket.

NBLondon

IanMSpencer wrote: »

So if they have taken your stock VW Golf and "improved it" into being a ground scraping bright green shed, they are entitled to be paid for their improvements.

Who would be in a position to decide what was a fair value? The current holder may have spent £3000 but the value of the improvement to the actual owner might be £30 or indeed negative. Allowing them the option to remove their improvements only works if they kept the standard parts at the back of the garage and they still lose out in their time and effort. I guess it could all be thrashed out in court and both sides end up compromising unless they can get the fraudster into court instead.

Messy indeed!

SandraX

Where did you swap the car, and did the registration docs match the address of the seller and did he have a receipt of sale and others bills from th address and how long did he have the car for are just of the questions anyone would ask. The site you used, what are their guidelines for swapping cars?

SandraX

just tried the site you used https://www.swaps.co.uk. - unresponsive.

stator

Get details from DVLA


Then offer the current registered keeper the opportunity to buy the car from your at the value it had when it was stolen, or take them to court.

AndyMc.....

stator wrote: »

Get details from DVLA


Then offer the current registered keeper the opportunity to buy the car from your at the value it had when it was stolen, or take them to court.

Can you honestly see that happening?

bobbymotors

I don't think the OP's car is stolen. He swapped it for a ringer.

Which is possibly why the police don't want to get involved.

AFAIK title to a stolen car cannot pass, innocent purchaser or otherwise

stator

AndyMc..... wrote: »

Can you honestly see that happening?

If he bought a car for X and then spent Y on it ( total cost W = X + Y) but it's current value, Z, is less than W. He would be faced with a choice of buying the car from it's true owner and keeping the car he has customised. Or taking an amount of money V, which is Z (current value) - X (original value). He then has to buy another car, which might not be as cheap as X, and then spend Y but he only has V and there might be a large difference. So it may be better value for money to spend X and keep the customisations that he has done for it.


Or he might think he has a good case and say 'see you in court'

AndyMc.....

bobbymotors wrote: »

I don't think the OP's car is stolen. He swapped it for a ringer.

Which is possibly why the police don't want to get involved.

AFAIK title to a stolen car cannot pass, innocent purchaser or otherwise

So if the title cannot pass the car is stolen.

Can’t have it both ways.