I purchased a car thats been cloned...

unholyangel

Cash payments aside, the HPI guarantee also doesn't pay out if its a private purchase and it was purchased from anywhere other than the registered keepers address from the registered keeper (which you're supposed to see ID for). Which is quite funny given the RK isn't necessarily the owner and can't pass title unless they have the authority to act as an agent for the owner.

You're also supposed to check the VIN number on the vehicle itself. And obtain a written receipt containing vehicle info and the sellers name & address.

Nor will they cover if the purchase price is 30% (or more) below the retail market value.

So quite a few exceptions to the guarantee that this sale may have fallen foul of even if it wasn't paid by cash.

ConMan

Awful news. I'd never buy a vehicle privately for this reason. I know you save money over a dealership purchase but things like this are a lot less likely.

Good luck with trying to retrieve your funds and catching the crim.

parking_question_chap

Hermione_Granger wrote: »

You forgot to mention that if you were to do that, there is a possibility that you would end up with a criminal record for assault/ABH/GBH and demanding money with menaces (or whatever the legal term is for this) and possibly a bit of jail time as well.
Even though you may well be in the right morally, the law wouldn't care about that.

Maybe when the police force had the capacity/gave a damn.
These days you could give them a sob story and you get a suspended sentence, or even better get a woman to carry it out and the judge will probably decide any kind of punishment would infringe on her feminist rights and let her off scott free.

parking_question_chap

samy4127 wrote: »

I am in the process to trace this person now and will be hiring a private investigator as I have absolute no faith in the police. Pictures and videos are to follow so people know exactly what I have been through and that others are aware not to fall for this type of scam.
.

Spot on pal, best of luck getting them.

rajeshk4u

What could OP have done differently?

jimbo6977

facade wrote: »

Shall we come back from fantasy land for a minute? - if it were that easy to find the scammer, then even the Police (who don't like to spend much, but would go for an easy clear-up) would have found them.




Did HPI accept the number on the V5 as genuine? You need to enter it and have it accepted to activate the HPI guarantee.

The Police probably could find them, but might also find they are a member of some protected community or other, so not be willing to do anything as daft as, oh I don't know, upholding the law....

parking_question_chap

rajeshk4u wrote: »

What could OP have done differently?

Not meant as a dig at OP, just purely to answer the question imo.

If I were ever in the position to buy a £30,000 car I would be buying it from a well established dealer, not a private seller.

Its not clear if the OP checked the VIN number on the chassis rather than just taking the word of the seller.

Another warning sign being a seller willing to take £29,700 for a £35,000 car is a massive red flag. Especially given they are selling it from a flat, nothing against flats, its just the car to property value is another warning sign something might not be right.

Muscle750

Should have checked the VIN number on the car althou not totally fool proof Both numbers stamped into the shell and the stickers etc and any signs of tampering walk. Remember years ago you could get hold of Ford Ringing kits basically a small section of floorpan that was cut out a bender and that was then stuffed over top of the original number on the floor pan of the cloned car etc. With more and more keyless entries and starting systems this will only get worse Still better than start with screwdriver Mk 3 escorts and Golfs thou

Barny1979

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Maybe when the police force had the capacity/gave a damn.
These days you could give them a sob story and you get a suspended sentence, or even better get a woman to carry it out and the judge will probably decide any kind of punishment would infringe on her feminist rights and let her off scott free.

Sweeping Statement-tastic!!!!

Johnmcl7

I'm a bit confused about what has happened here, the seller had a Mercedes with a different identity but did they have a genuine V5 for the car that had been cloned? I don't see how the V5 passed the HPI check but immediately failed with the DVLA.