Offer from Insurance on stolen and recovered vehicle I purchased in good faith

Artyjules

My son purchased a car for £13,000 on a '05 plate that has since turned out to be stolen. The police have been informed and they contacted the insurance company who technically own it. We have also found out that the car is actually an '06 plate and the insurance company have given my son an offer to buy it of £15,500 which is not negotiable, adding the two together you could actually go out and buy one of the same from the showroom! Can anyone tell me if this is the normal amount the insurance company would ask for? Do they always say not negotiable first but if you give them an offer they may consider? Am I right in saying that if the Insurance company took it back they would only receive 35% of the value for salvage or do insurance companies differ from company to company as to the way they work? My son cannot pay the full amount they are asking but he doesn't want to loose his £13,000 he already paid to thieves and is willing to pay a small fee so his loss is not as great. I would appreciate some much needed advice on this.

raskazz

I'm guessing that they paid out £15,500 to the rightful owner as settlement. I'm also guessing that your son got it for a couple of grand cheaper than the true market value as the seller wanted shot of it quickly before getting caught.

Did he not run a HPI check on it? I have to say that IMO, it is rather surprising that someone would genuinely spend £13,000 on a car without doing some basic checks, if the purchase was 'in good faith'. Was all the paperwork in order?

As far as I can tell the can try to negotiate but ultimately the insurer holds all the cards.

MarkyMarkD

If it's stolen and recovered, it's worth far more than 35% of its normal value if it's sold on in perfect condition.

If £15,500 is less than the fair market value of the vehicle then it's a fair price for them to ask.

The £13,000 your son has paid is irrelevant - he's lost it.

Artyjules

Raslazz
My son did do an HPI check on it and it all came out fine, the only trouble was he didn't know the plates and VIN numbers were stolen so the police told us it wasn't validated. He received all the paperwork that had also been stolen!

raskazz

Artyjules wrote: »

Raslazz
My son did do an HPI check on it and it all came out fine, the only trouble was he didn't know the plates and VIN numbers were stolen so the police told us it wasn't validated. He received all the paperwork that had also been stolen!

But then if it should have been on a different plate surely there would be a discrepancy with the plate showing on the V5 and the plate showing on the car?

MarkyMarkD

I think the OP means that the criminal had obtained duplicate V5 documentation to match the stolen vehicle. It's apparently not that hard.

Or the V5 documentation could have been stolen blank paperwork with the details printed on, or entirely faked paperwork.

Artyjules

You are correct MarkyMarkD. Everything about the car was fraudulent.

MarkyMarkD

Unfortunately undertaking HPI checks and the like is not effective against cloned vehicles. AFAIK, the only effective way to spot them is identifying that the visible VIN and hidden VIN don't agree or have been tampered with.

missile

£13K is an awful lot of money to pay for an 05 car. What was it?

I would always go to a dealer if I were spending that much and then you can claim against him.

5562

You could take this up with the company you used to do the HPI. They normally have gaurentees whereby if the info the provide is not accurate then they compensate you. Do you check all the VIN number with the one on the HPI and V5. Did they match?

Artyjules

The police have said that I will get no joy as the HPI check was done on incorrect vin numbers and plates, the information they returned was correct for those details. My point is: If you knew the plates and VIN were stolen then you wouldn't bother with HPI check so what is the point of HPI?