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Cloned Vehicle - insurers to chase us for money!
Hello!
We bought a vehicle at the beginning of February this year. It was a private sale where we paid part cash and part into a bank account. It may have been priced slightly below market value but not enough to ring alarm bells, just enough to think we were having a good deal.
We picked it up from the address on the V5 from who we thought was a genuine bloke who even replied to questions about the vehicle a week after the purchase. We checked the VIN on the engine and this matched the V5 and the last 4 digits were the same as the vehicle check we had paid for before purchasing. The VIN number allowed us to access all the service history on the Land Rover website so all look genuine.
After having the vehicle for a week or so I decided I didn't like it, it was far to big for me to drive & cost more in diesel than I had thought so we decided to get rid of it. So when we received the V5 we started looking for something else.
We found a vehicle we liked and at a BMW dealer and PX's the Discovery at the end of March.
A few weeks ago we received a call from the dealer and it turns out the vehicle had been cloned, we couldn't believe it! It was actually a 2011 and not a 2014 as we had thought. It was apparently on another traders stock list and this was how it was found.
The man from BMW said that in all his years in the motor trade it was the best one he had seen and they could only tell it was a clone by looking at the reference numbers on the seat belts and head lamps.
BMW have been really good and accepted it as their loss, which was a huge relief to us, it would be a far bigger hit to us than them. We were as helpful as we could be and gave all details, the bank transfer was done in a a branch so we advised about checking their CCTV.
The only thing looking back was that the account we paid into was a different name but he said it was his partners, we believed that which may have been naive.
BUT!! BMW have been back in touch and advised that the insurers who paid out for the stolen vehicle will now pursue us for the money as we were the last registered owners.
I was just wondering if anyone had any insight on this, would BMW not be the last owners??
We carried out all reasonable checks as did BMW when they had it off us.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks
We bought a vehicle at the beginning of February this year. It was a private sale where we paid part cash and part into a bank account. It may have been priced slightly below market value but not enough to ring alarm bells, just enough to think we were having a good deal.
We picked it up from the address on the V5 from who we thought was a genuine bloke who even replied to questions about the vehicle a week after the purchase. We checked the VIN on the engine and this matched the V5 and the last 4 digits were the same as the vehicle check we had paid for before purchasing. The VIN number allowed us to access all the service history on the Land Rover website so all look genuine.
After having the vehicle for a week or so I decided I didn't like it, it was far to big for me to drive & cost more in diesel than I had thought so we decided to get rid of it. So when we received the V5 we started looking for something else.
We found a vehicle we liked and at a BMW dealer and PX's the Discovery at the end of March.
A few weeks ago we received a call from the dealer and it turns out the vehicle had been cloned, we couldn't believe it! It was actually a 2011 and not a 2014 as we had thought. It was apparently on another traders stock list and this was how it was found.
The man from BMW said that in all his years in the motor trade it was the best one he had seen and they could only tell it was a clone by looking at the reference numbers on the seat belts and head lamps.
BMW have been really good and accepted it as their loss, which was a huge relief to us, it would be a far bigger hit to us than them. We were as helpful as we could be and gave all details, the bank transfer was done in a a branch so we advised about checking their CCTV.
The only thing looking back was that the account we paid into was a different name but he said it was his partners, we believed that which may have been naive.
BUT!! BMW have been back in touch and advised that the insurers who paid out for the stolen vehicle will now pursue us for the money as we were the last registered owners.
I was just wondering if anyone had any insight on this, would BMW not be the last owners??
We carried out all reasonable checks as did BMW when they had it off us.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks
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Comments
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Surely the insurance will just want the vehicle back. You no longer have any interest in the vehicle so why would you want to pay to have it back?
BMW now own it the registered keeper isn't relevant.0 -
Well we haven't heard from the insurer just direct from BMW, do you think maybe they are trying to scare us?? It's worked if they did!
BMW just said that as we are the last registered owners it would be us the that the insurer will be chasing to reimburse them.
My partner rang Citizens advice, for all the good it does and they said our only options were;
1. to try and get the money from the people we did the car check with, but they only gave us the details of the vehicle that had been cloned which is all the correct information, it just wasn't for the vehicle we had!
2. or chase the person we had it from and claim it back from them, who I imagine will be lost in the wind now so that is a non starter.
Would we be able to claim from who we had the vehicle insured with??0 -
Let the insurance company recover the vehicle from BMW, it's their problem not yours .0
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BMW just said that as we are the last registered owners it would be us the that the insurer will be chasing to reimburse them.
From the front of the V5cTHIS DOCUMENT IS NOT PROOF OF OWNERSHIP
BMW bought it from you (you'll have the sales receipt) they are the owners.2. or chase the person we had it from and claim it back from them, who I imagine will be lost in the wind now so that is a non starter.
Are you sure the person you bought it off wasn't also an innocent buyer of the vehicle just like you?0 -
BMW just said that as we are the last registered owners...
BMW should know that there is no such thing as a "registered owner". There is the "owner" and the "Registered Keeper". They need not be one and the same and very often are not.
It is unlikely BMW would have been the Registered Keeper of the car after you. Motor traders usually declare vehicles that they have temporarily as "In Trade".0 -
Are you sure the person you bought it off wasn't also an innocent buyer of the vehicle just like you?
We have been advised that the vehicle was stolen 2 weeks before we bought so I think everyone is assuming they weren't very innocent, it has been forwarded for the police to look into so if they are innocent we should be told.It is unlikely BMW would have been the Registered Keeper of the car after you. Motor traders usually declare vehicles that they have temporarily as "In Trade".
I think they said they would be keeping it in trade when we did the PX, I'm not sure what this really means though, do you think it's right that the insurer would come after us as it's in trade?0 -
We have been advised that the vehicle was stolen 2 weeks before we bought so I think everyone is assuming they weren't very innocent, it has been forwarded for the police to look into so if they are innocent we should be told.
I think they said they would be keeping it in trade when we did the PX, I'm not sure what this really means though, do you think it's right that the insurer would come after us as it's in trade?
No, they know they wont get a penny out of you. They'll go for the vehicle BMW may have to buy it from them though.0 -
Just ignore it and wait for them to send you a letter in the post. It will probalby never arrive
If it does, post the contents back here.Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.0 -
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Ok so after speaking properly to my partner last night as it was him BMW spoke to, I’m now thinking that the insurers they are speaking about are BMW’s insurers & not the insurer who paid out on the stolen vehicle.
Has anyone heard of this before??0
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