I purchased a car thats been cloned...

samy4127

Hello everyone,

I need some advice and guidance:

I saw a car advertised on ebay recently so I contacted the seller and he provided me with details of the car, history etc.

I was happy with the information he provided

I did a HPI check from HPICHECK website and all came clear and I then asked for the VIN number and V5C Serial number and issue date which he provided, I entered that on the HPICheck website and all came clear.

I also went to Mercedes to get a SPEC print out which also came out clear.

24/12/18:
He wanted £20,000 cash and £9700 bank transfer

I went ahead with the sale, did my checks, looked at the car, checked paper work. I went to his house: Address below:
{Edited by Forum Team}

Turns out it's a house split into 2 apartments.
Even checked his ID which matched.

So once he left as he allegedly needed to pick his kids up, I began to road tax the car and thats when the problems started, the document reference number was invalid but the serial number on the document matched the registration number.

So I couldn't tax the car, further looking at the v5 slip it came to my attention it was fraudulent. Guy wasn't there anymore and he fled and phone disposed off as it went dead.

I reported it to Manchester Police HQ and my Barclays bank and also contacted their bank Santander to see if funds could be stopped.

Drove to my house (From Manchester to Luton), I called a few mechanics my friends who had mercedes computer. Connected it and the VIN number is different to the one that is displayed.

So it's a cloned car on false plates thats either stolen or don't know what else to think.

I did do a lot of checks prior to this but nothing was out of the ordinary. I purchase and change my cars on a yearly basis, and yes also paid and received cash before so I assumed everything looked okay.

Further to my investigation the tracker, antenna and radio wires are disconnected inside the boot in the lining section.

Police aren't really doing anything at the moment and I am waiting for someone to come and inspect the car from the police station as they don't believe it's cloned. But it's really obvious.

I am depressed and out of pocket of the sum £29,700, thats my hard earned money for a car which I have but is cloned?

What do I do? I seriously need help, the level of detail of this fraud is so good that an honest seller can't tell. And the reason all the checks came clear is because the plate is not for this car but another same legitimate model.

It's currently insured and Taxed.

tim9966

That Vin is for {Edited by Forum Team} which according to isitnicked.com was stolen in Trafford South on 18/12/18

samy4127

Thank you so much for providing information, I have already passed the information of the vin onto police and still waiting for response

AndyMc.....

samy4127 wrote: »

Thank you so much for providing information, I have already passed the information of the vin onto police and still waiting for response

They'll probably be around soon to revcover the stolen car.

Nathaniel_Essex

I am sorry about your situation. Out of curiosity, how much would it have cost to buy a similar car from a dealer?

marlot

tim9966 wrote: »

That Vin is for {Edited by Forum Team} which according to isitnicked.com was stolen in Trafford South on 18/12/18

Wow, they didn't hang around.


Really sorry to hear your news samy4127. You seemed to do everything right. Was there any insurance with the HPI check? I'm assuming not.

parking_question_chap

Nathaniel_Essex wrote: »

I am sorry about your situation. Out of curiosity, how much would it have cost to buy a similar car from a dealer?

Sorry to hear this OP.

A casual search on Autotrader seems to show a minimum price of £35,000 for that model.

How much feedback did they have on Ebay? I cant see the sold car in a completed item search, can you post this?

Maybe you can monitor future advertised cars in that area in case they try to pull the same stunt from the same flat?

samy4127

marlot wrote: »

Wow, they didn't hang around.


Really sorry to hear your news samy4127. You seemed to do everything right. Was there any insurance with the HPI check? I'm assuming not.

Thankfully I did do a HPI Check which comes with a guarantee on the 23rd December 2018, one day before I bought the car, I also provided VIN and logbook details which all checked out alright. So protection was in place on 23/12/18. But due to Christmas period HPICHECK is closed so I can't start a claim yet till 27th December.

Will something like this be covered?

samy4127

Nathaniel_Essex wrote: »

I am sorry about your situation. Out of curiosity, how much would it have cost to buy a similar car from a dealer?

Similar car from dealers would range £33-36k and private price is £30-32k as I have been watching auto trader for couple of months.

samy4127

George_Michael wrote: »

That vehicle was up for sale recently for £43,600

Thank you for finding this.

Everything you guys are doing is helping me build up a case to catch this scum bag and at least try and retrieve any money lost.

Manxman_in_exile

samy4127 wrote: »

Thankfully I did do a HPI Check which comes with a guarantee on the 23rd December 2018, one day before I bought the car, I also provided VIN and logbook details which all checked out alright. So protection was in place on 23/12/18. But due to Christmas period HPICHECK is closed so I can't start a claim yet till 27th December.

Will something like this be covered?[/QUOTE]


I'm not sure but I thought I had read on a recent thread that cloned cars were excluded from cover?