Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 47 total)
  • is there any point in being law abiding?
  • plumslikerocks
    Free Member

    I’ll try to be brief:

    Individual works for company – gets company car. Individual leaves company – keeps company car.

    Company wait for individual to sell car on, then report it stolen.

    Police arrest & charge individual. Found guilty, wears a curfew tag for a few weeks, pays costs. No compensation ordered as he’s skint.

    I buy car then after a few weeks get knock on door from old bill saying it has been stolen. They caution me not to sell car or I’ll be done for handling stolen goods.

    Now company want car back as they haven’t been compensated by the individual and I have goods that should never have been sold in the first place…

    So the law has it that I’m financially responsible for a theft that someone else has profited from. I don’t have any capital, can’t afford more debt but do earn a decent amount – so long as I have transport.

    Is it just me or is there something wrong here – I’d quite happily stay at home at night for 4 weeks to have a few grand put in my pocket….?

    wwaswas
    Full Member

    Did the seller have all the paperwork for the car?

    plumslikerocks
    Free Member

    he had a duplicate v5 but no purchase receipt

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    clubber
    Free Member

    Did you check the car’s history before buying?

    eg https://www.icarcheck.net/ under a fiver?

    woody2000
    Full Member

    Bummer. Did you make sure everything was legit? Did it seem too good to be true?

    FWIW – you can sue the person that sold it to you, for all the good that might do.

    Lifer
    Free Member

    ‘Duplicate’ V5?

    plumslikerocks
    Free Member

    Car was HPI clear as not reported stolen until after I bought it.

    Duplicate V5 – anyone can get a V5 for any car for £25 – the DVLA just check with the previous keeper

    muppetWrangler
    Free Member

    It’s a tough one to swallow but you’ve just been unlucky in that you inadvertently bought a stolen vehicle. In this instance the thieves have stolen from two people; money from you and a car from someone else.

    A few years ago I was on the other side of this story. Had my car stolen, insurance said they would payout if the car wasn’t recovered with a short period. About a week before the insurance were due to payout I get a call from Oxfordshire Police telling me that my car has been found. That weekend I go and collect my car whilst the person that bought it watched as what he considered to be his car was driven away leaving him out of pocket.

    It was an old car and had been ragged to within an inch of its life and need considerable work to get it back to it’s pre theft condition. So like you both I and the purchaser of the car lost out to thieves.

    Can’t say this episode ever made me think about the positives of a life of crime, if anything it made me very anti “knock off” anything.

    clubber
    Free Member

    So the V5 had the name of the person you bought it from and his address?

    Lifer
    Free Member

    So the company registered it to him? Did they split the cash?

    EDIT – clubber thinking along same lines as you

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    So really the issue here is that you need to take out a case against the person who you bought the car off?

    plumslikerocks
    Free Member

    clubber – yep have his address on both V5 and court extract. Not really interested in vigilante action if that’s what you’re thinking! And he has no money either.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    at the very least id sign him up for plenty of junk mail

    clubber
    Free Member

    Ah, right, googling shows that V5 shows the keeper but doesn’t prove ownership. Not sure how you check ownership then…

    MSP
    Full Member

    Can you go to court (small claims?) to recover the amount from the theif.

    May be a pain in the arse, but better than just taking the hit, does he own his home etc? He may have assets that can be recovered from if you use the law.

    clubber
    Free Member

    Step 2: Checking the vehicle’s registration certificate (V5C)
    Thieves can change a stolen vehicle and its paperwork to make it look like a real one (this is known as ‘cloning’).

    Hold the V5C up to the light – there should be a ‘DVL’ watermark.

    Make sure the seller has the right to sell the vehicle. If the seller has had the vehicle for some time, they should have any of the following:

    •a bill of sale (receipt)
    •service records
    •MOT certificate
    Remember, the V5C is not proof of ownership.

    http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/BuyingAndSellingAVehicle/AdviceOnBuyingAndSellingAVehicle/DG_4022402

    News to me TBH – so basically you need to see a receipt in the seller’s name to show ownership.

    muppetWrangler
    Free Member

    How long had this car been known as being stolen?

    This reads like someone stole the car, sold it to someone else who then sold it to you. Is that right?

    And he has no money either.

    He does have the money you gave him for the stolen car that he was selling.

    nickf
    Free Member

    Talk to a solicitor. You’ve checked the V5, had an HPI check – what more can a reasonable person do? If you can demonstrate that you took precautions, you might be OK. But get proper legal advice.

    plumslikerocks
    Free Member

    Think my main chance is from the person who sold it to me – but will probably involve small claims court and further financial risk. And because someone down the line stands to lose out completely it’ll be contested every step of the way.

    It’s the principle as well though….I thought we were supposed to have the best legal system in the world but this just doesn’t seem right.

    I bet if I sold the car on, I’d get a far stiffer sentence that the original thief, AND get ordered to pay back the money.

    plumslikerocks
    Free Member

    muppetWrangler – the car came to me via about 4 different traders

    clubber
    Free Member

    you might be OK

    Yes, you’d show that you didn’t knowingly handle stolen goods. What it won’t do though is stop him losing the car. If it’s considered stolen then it’ll be returned to its legal owner (the company) regardless.

    Legoman
    Free Member

    Have you tried going back to HPi?
    Don’t they have a guarantee for this kind of thing?

    muppetWrangler
    Free Member

    I thought we were supposed to have the best legal system in the world but this just doesn’t seem right.

    What do you think should happen?

    I bet if I sold the car on, I’d get a far stiffer sentence that the original thief, AND get ordered to pay back the money.

    I doubt you’d get a stiffer sentence but you would have knowingly passed on stolen goods so yes you would have committed a crime.

    muppetWrangler
    Free Member

    muppetWrangler – the car came to me via about 4 different traders

    When you say traders do you mean private traders or commercial traders and in what period of time? The bit I’m not getting is how long it take to show up on records as being stolen, seems like it may have gone through a lot of hands in a short space of time.

    [edit]

    I guess it doesn’t really matter too much how the car got to you. You’ve been sold a dud and should get your money back off of the person that sold it to you, how they cover that isn’t really your concern but I’d imagine they would then try and recover the money from the person that sold the car to them assuming they were genuine.

    ski
    Free Member

    That sucks!

    You could carry on the loop on and sell it on then claim its been stolen

    Curfew tag for a few weeks, then home free 😉

    clubber
    Free Member

    with a lovely criminal record to boot…

    plumslikerocks
    Free Member

    muppetWrangler – went from orginal purchasing dealer to a 2nd hand car broker, to the dealer who sourced it to my request over the space of a couple of months.

    I think the “victim” took their time reporting it as they pursued it as a civil matter until they realised he had sold the car on.

    What do you think should happen?

    For example in Scotland I understand this would all be between the victim and the perpetrator.

    Mister-P
    Free Member

    He does have the money you gave him for the stolen car that he was selling.

    HAD the money. It is pretty easy to make cash disappear if someone else wants it. He probably “lost it in the bookies” or some such tripe.

    ski
    Free Member

    clubber – Member

    with a lovely criminal record to boot…

    Badge of pride round these parts 😉

    Again, might be worth checking out the HPi guarantee

    TheSouthernYeti
    Free Member

    Is it insured?

    Lifer
    Free Member

    Didn’t realise that about the V5 either!

    falkirk-mark
    Full Member

    I had a mate that bought a stolen car (20 years ago and Scottish law) iirc the car ownership was disputed as mate had bought in good faith and I think he bought car from insurance co for about half market value value (after car had sat in a yard for months) GET PROPER LEGAL HELP

    muppetWrangler
    Free Member

    If it were a private seller I might have been more sympathetic but as the car was bought from a dealer I would get yourself some proper legal advice and set about recovering your money straight away.

    It seems a lot of problems could have been avoided if the original owners of the car hadn’t dithered about reporting it stolen.

    plumslikerocks
    Free Member

    It seems a lot of problems could have been avoided if the original owners of the car hadn’t dithered about reporting it stolen.

    Indeed….

    First call in the morning is Citizen’s Advice Bureau to get to help with kicking off the Small Claims process. If they’re rubbish and / or too slow then I’ll have to lawyered up.

    Edukator
    Free Member

    I think you need a lawyer rather than STW. It strikes me that if the police try to prosecute you they will also have to prosectute three other people for handling stolen goods and at least one of those people may be prepared to take the hit rather than have a criminal record. I bought a UK registered car in similar circustances and ended up with the car, no prosecution and nothing extra to pay.

    clubber
    Free Member

    Ah so you bought from a dealer. I think that’s probably good news.

    Found this which makes sense
    http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=85261

    The original company will still be the owner but you will be able to claim against the trader that sold you the car since they breached the contract with you (eg they didn’t have the legal right to sell you the car). I’m assuming though that this will be outside small claims values so you need proper legal help. Does your insurance cover this – lots do even if you’re not aware of it.

    plumslikerocks
    Free Member

    Southern Yeti – yep insured AND with legal cover but, guess what, they regard this as a “consumer issue” and won’t get involved.

    I must admit I wondered what would happen from a legal / ownership point of view if the car was written off whilst in my custody. Not for a moment suggesting that I would do anything to make this the case..

    muppetWrangler
    Free Member

    Best of luck to you. It really is crap getting turned over like this.

    project
    Free Member

    O/p are you a member of any motoring organisation, they provide legal cover

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 47 total)

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