Man discovers he has bought his own stolen car

[Speedy]

It happens.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn7x1e0648zo

A man who bought a £20,000 car to replace the one he had stolen has discovered he has accidentally bought back his own stolen car.

Ewan Valentine, 36, from Solihull, woke up on 28 February to find his car, a black Honda Civic, had disappeared from his drive overnight.

After informing police and his insurers, he started looking for a replacement 2016 Type-R model and found one that looked "identical" about 70 miles away.

But after he bought it, he noticed similar items in the vehicle. It was then Mr Valentine realised he had bought his stolen car - he also found his previous addresses in the car's sat-nav.

He told the BBC he was "gutted" when his car was stolen, and he was determined to replace it with the same model.

>>>>

"The police and the Honda garage all said this was one of the best clone jobs they'd ever seen, so if it wasn't for these little artefacts, no one would have ever known."

[Acer]

"The police and the Honda garage all said this was one of the best clone jobs they'd ever seen, so if it wasn't for these little artefacts, no one would have ever known."

All that effort to clone, and they couldn't clear the candy wrapper out of the cupholder?

[special]

Don't they have a VIN or other serial numbers over there?

[Gareth]

special wrote:
Don't they have a VIN or other serial numbers over there?

BBC wrote: "You could see signs where they'd tampered with things and removed VIN numbers and replaced other ones and things."

[special]

yeah sorry, I jumped ahead and posted before reading the story.

Still unbelievable. I have seen Android devices with user interface to make them look like an iPhone on youtube. I guess anything can be faked these days.

[GGD]

I wonder what CarFax would show for that VIN.

[JoeH]

If it exists in the UK, probably that the VIN was on a car that was supposed to be scrapped. Possibly borrowed from a stolen vehicle sold outside the UK, would delay detection a small bit.

[RAMd®d]

"You could see signs where they'd tampered with things and removed VIN numbers and replaced other ones and things."


I take this to mean that much like cars in the US, there is the one obvious VIN plate that usually has unique characteristics beyond the obviously unique VIN number itself.

Beyond that, the number is also hidden on multiple locations of the vehicle.

It sounds like more than one of the VINs was located and replaced.

It's an interesting situation.

The guy got his car back, for a price he paid willingly.

He would have paid that much for another car in the condition it was in, if he'd found another.

Presumably he got something approaching a reasonable settlement from his insurance.

I'd like to thing somebody is/did go to jail for their part in the fraud, if not the theft, but that doesn't seem likely.

[GGD]

I wonder if the ownership will get even more complicated. If insurance paid out a claim for the stolen vehicle and it was later recovered, then doesn't the insurance company now get ownership? Might the guy find himself without the car, and without the money he got from insurance when it was stolen because he spent that. In the end all the money might wind up going to lawyers.

[chopper]

Doesn't Honda still put the VIN number on all removable body parts? My S2000 has the VIN in so many places it's not funny.