Stolen and recovered cars are not flagged by Autotrader checks

knittygirl

Did anyone else know that if a car is stolen and recovered the checks by Autotrader won't show this up, despite the fact that it has a significant detrimental effect on the value of the car?  I found myself in this position, garage I purchased from were no help, and Autotrader claimed that it was because there was no ongoing cost implication of this - however when I tried to PX the car I found I couldn't in most garages as they wouldn't accept a car with this history - they used other car check sites (in this case MotorCheck) who does flag it up.  This has cost me thousands of pounds - just a warning of something to be award of. 

born_again

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/vehicle-check

These are the data items included in a Check Result:

1. vehicle registration mark (“VRM”);
2. make;
3. model;
4. transmission;
5. fuel type;
6. body type;
7. colour;
8. number of gears;
9. first registered date;
10. Co2 emissions rating;
11. engine capacity;
12. year of manufacture;
13. road tax cost (for 12 months);
14. stolen status;
15. finance status;
16. write off status;
17. plate change status;
18. colour change status;
19. number of previous keepers;
20. mileage status;
21. environmental report details;
22. import status;
23. export status;
24. VIN confirmation;
25. MOT history data;
26. scrapped status; and
27. third party interest status

This seems to just relate to online purchases, & not where you visit the dealer & purchase.

FlorayG

Why do they see stolen/recovered as a problem? Mine is, the dealer informed me, it certainly wasn't reduced in price because of it

cw8825

its unlikely to have cost you thousands
a car could be stolen and recovered with no damage and no issues, you would never know
it may be in your head when chosing between 1 that has been stolen and 1 that hasnt
this is not a car that was written off and repaired, where the status will impact resale.

Mildly_Miffed

Was it written off after being stolen? Cat X (field 16 in the Autotrader list above)

Or was it simply stolen, found, repaired by insurance (if damaged), and returned to the owner?

Because if the latter, there may simply not be a marker - same as a car that's been in a collision but repaired by insurance wouldn't have a marker.

Only write-offs get life-long markers.

A car that's stolen will have a police marker against it (field 14), but that should be removed once it's been recovered - it's primarily there to flag to a police car with ANPR to stop the vehicle, and clearly you wouldn't want that forever after...

If it is a CatX writeoff, then when did you buy it, and when was the marker placed on it?

Stateofart

Because there's no flag against cars that have been stolen / recovered, so Autotrader wouldn't have that info anyway.

DullGreyGuy

Stateofart said:

Because there's no flag against cars that have been stolen / recovered, so Autotrader wouldn't have that info anyway.

It's been a while but a Quick Look at the guidelines if a car is stolen and recovered a notable time after that the insurer would mark the vehicle as stolen initially in MIAFTR and then mark it as recovered after its found rather than deleting the original stolen record. 

If the vehicle is stolen and recovered by the time the insurer is told they it comes down to if the vehicle was significantly damaged, if it wasnt then it never gets registered, if it was then it gets registered. 

Dont know where Autotrader source their data but the information is out there and various people have access to it. 

knittygirl

FlorayG said:

Why do they see stolen/recovered as a problem? Mine is, the dealer informed me, it certainly wasn't reduced in price because of it

to my mind if you are told the facts and get the choice then its up to you, but I wasn't told, and Arnold Clark were one of the bigger dealerships who wouldn't take it in PX because of its history.  I also spoke to the AA and they said they won't let stolen recovered cars be advertised on their website.

cw8825

knittygirl said:

FlorayG said:

Why do they see stolen/recovered as a problem? Mine is, the dealer informed me, it certainly wasn't reduced in price because of it

to my mind if you are told the facts and get the choice then its up to you, but I wasn't told, and Arnold Clark were one of the bigger dealerships who wouldn't take it in PX because of its history.  I also spoke to the AA and they said they won't let stolen recovered cars be advertised on their website.

Did you do your own hpi checks when buying the car?

knittygirl

cw8825 said:

its unlikely to have cost you thousands
a car could be stolen and recovered with no damage and no issues, you would never know
it may be in your head when chosing between 1 that has been stolen and 1 that hasnt
this is not a car that was written off and repaired, where the status will impact resale.

It has cost me thousands, and a search of motoring sites confirms that there is a cost implication of buying a car with this history. I was merely pointing out a warning to others to be careful - thanks for the unhelpful reply at what is already a difficult time. There are clearly different levels of damage and as someone else has pointed out different timing of posting/removing markers by insurance companies. As far as I know there are no rules on when they post or remove the markers-happy for clearer information on this as it will help with the legal case I’m in over the non disclosure. My issues came to light because some HPI check companies use more detailed information than others.. the one used by Arnold Clark when I was trying to PX, Motor Check, pulls data from salvage auctions too, something which I was told, though have not verified, is not done by AutoTrader.  A car can have lots/little/no damage and still go through an auction like this… not necessarily a problem, bug the fact that Motor Check includes that data does give you additional information to check out for yourself…I hadn’t even heard of that company previously. 

Anyway, this was just a warning to others to be careful and flag that there are other smaller companies out there doing different levels of detail on their checks and hopefully even if just one person was helped it would make me feel a bit better..I use this site to look for help with difficult situations and as I had come across one myself thought it would be helpful just to warn others that this is a possible issue… think I’ll just keep it to myself in future!

DullGreyGuy

knittygirl said:
 There are clearly different levels of damage and as someone else has pointed out different timing of posting/removing markers by insurance companies. As far as I know there are no rules on when they post or remove the markers-happy for clearer information on this as it will help with the legal case I’m in over the non disclosure. My issues came to light because some HPI check companies use more detailed information than others

There is a code of conduct https://www.abi.org.uk/globalassets/files/publications/public/motor/2019/code-of-practice-for-the-disposal-of-motor-vehicle-salvagenov2019.pdf for MIAFTA which is the db used by insurers to notify both of salvage and stolen/recovered markers.

Once a theft marker has been applied it should never be removed unless it was an operational error by the insurer (eg they mistyped the registration). You will note however that if the vehicle is recovered before the theft marker is applied it will depend if there is any damage to the vehicle or not on if it should be registered as stolen and then immediately recovered or doesnt need registering at all. If it was stolen first, then registered stolen, and subsequently recovered with no damage the stolen marker stays and gets a recovered marker added to it.