Clone Car Guide - Protect yourself

AdrianC

OP's original clone thread...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5942152/i-purchased-a-car-thats-been-cloned

The biggy in the OP's case was paying <£30k for a car that had recently been advertised for £43k - so bullet 7 would have been the really helpful one before even phoning the vendor.

The V5C DocRef was also hooky, so bullets 5 and 11 would have flagged it - and that's before even being in the presence of the car.

NBLondon

samy4127 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

7: If a car is worth £20k and someone is selling it for £5k you might want to consider that this is ringing alarm bells.

Shouldn't this be number 1?

shinytop

forgotmyname wrote: »

1. Name 100 cars where the windscreen VIN is buried into the dash and inaccessible without removing the dash. Impossible for a buyer to check without a major stripdown.

2. A well cloned car will have all the correct numbers.

3. Would be a pretty poor scammer if they didnt have keys.

4. Wrong..

5. Seal check? What seal?

6. Wrong. Bank transfer is as good as giving cash away though. Loads of threads where people were scammed by bank transfer and they could not get their money back.
Sometimes its an innocent party used as a money mule.


10. Muggers tend not to advertise cloned cars and you wont get a chance to go away and come back. They want your money and likely to rob you before you even see the car.

What would you suggest to prevent being sold a cloned car in a private sale?

AdrianC

shinytop wrote: »

What would you suggest to prevent being sold a cloned car in a private sale?

Not even entertaining ones that are suspiciously cheap.
Checking the paperwork was legit before driving from Luton to Wigan to view.
Being utterly prepared to walk away if it didn't smell absolutely 100%.
Not spending £30k with shonky back-streeters who insist on £20k in cash.

EdGasketTheSecond

yeah the £20K cash was a bit strange with bank transfer for a smaller amount; I would expect completely the opposite i.e. a small cash deposit and the bulk by bank transfer. Still it's all easy with hindsight and after-knowledge.

samy4127

The market price for the clone car I went for at that time was: £36k. This came up on valuations and HPI valuation.

7 out of the 11 cars I've sold within 9 years people have paid in cash. Highest cash I have been paid is £61,250 for my RS6 but we had to walk to the bank and cash it in, woman over counter asked a few questions but it was a genuine sale. Since being scammed I've only paid via Bank Transfer and won't be buying with cash anymore.

EdGasketTheSecond

The thing that has also niggled at the back of my mind about paying a large amount of cash at a seller's premises is what would happen if you handed over the cash and then the seller just denied having been given it and hung onto the car and cash? Of course you might start a fight but not if he was a gorilla.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

samy4127 wrote: »

The market price for the clone car I went for at that time was: £36k. This came up on valuations and HPI valuation.

7 out of the 11 cars I've sold within 9 years people have paid in cash. Highest cash I have been paid is £61,250 for my RS6 but we had to walk to the bank and cash it in, woman over counter asked a few questions but it was a genuine sale. Since being scammed I've only paid via Bank Transfer and won't be buying with cash anymore.

So what happened with the private investigator, his bodyguard and your planned trip to Manchester?

EdGasketTheSecond

Shaun_of_the_Dead wrote: »

So what happened with the private investigator, his bodyguard and your planned trip to Manchester?

They are making it into a film.



(shouldn't joke it was a terrible thing to happen)

samy4127

Shaun_of_the_Dead wrote: »

So what happened with the private investigator, his bodyguard and your planned trip to Manchester?

I got a few people and went back to Manchester but no one came to the property and police didn't do anything. No private investigator.

We found them selling an A Class Mercedes on eBay but they were also a no show when we traveled up few days later.