S3 TAKEN OFF ME!! WHAT CAN I DO???

AndyMac said:
You'd think so, but would they care about getting 2 for the price of one?
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Nah, 'spose not. I wonder though just how many 'original' cars there are out there that are being taxed twice, possibly 4, times a year due to the 'clone' being taxed also?! This would be sooooo so easy to spot and flag up for investigation. Both cars should be registered to an address so shouldn't be too hard to find and do a bit of digging? Perhaps if the DVLA, then possibly Police, did this then cloning cars may not be so attractive and people like Ash wouldn't end up in the situation he is in now?
 
I know this sounds like a thuggish reply but I would be chasing up the person who sold it too me myself with my mates from work. Had too do the same recently too a lad who decided too put his knee through our head doormans window just too take out his aggression on a random car. Which ever way you go about it I wish you all the best!
 
arthurfuxake said:
Citizens advice would be a good start(at least it won't cost you), and then possibly a solicitor if they won't help, or for a second opinion. As good as citizens advice is, they're not gonna give your case as much attention as a good solicitor will.

By the way, have the police mentioned anything about possible proceedings against yourself? I know it would be massively unjust, but at the end of the day you were in possesion of stolen property, so legally speaking they do have grounds to instigate proceedings against you. No doubt the CPS would drop any charges as it would be blatently unjust, but crazier things have happened when it comes to DVLA/Police/CPS(insert any other government department here).
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Sorry to hear of your misfortune. To be honest the inept running of DVLA never ceases to surprise me. As for the police, I can say that they won't be interested unless you have any details of an address, landline or mobile number to trace the scumbag that sold the car to you.

As for any charges against you........not in a month of Sundays. They would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you had knowledge of the car being stolen. Highly unlikely!!

Hope you get some sense from the Insurance company, Good Luck!!
 
Thanks

Phoned the bloke i bought it from today using the number he left me on the receipt and it was a genuine name and number and he was shocked that it was stolen. Said i can forward his details onto the police and he will cooperate with them, which is good.
Found out where the car is being stored also but i cant take anything off it without a police release note.
Should find out tonight which insurance company own the car and if i can get it back some how.

Fingers crossed!!
Cheers for all the help
Ash
 
bouncer--daz said:
I know this sounds like a thuggish reply but I would be chasing up the person who sold it too me myself with my mates from work. Had too do the same recently too a lad who decided too put his knee through our head doormans window just too take out his aggression on a random car. Which ever way you go about it I wish you all the best!
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:motz:
 
really bad news mate,

its scary when you buy second hand cars

hope you get it sorted mate, and get everything off the car
 
wont it be on a q plate if u get it back , did u do all the mods yourself , or were they already done , sorry to hear that it was stolen ,
 
So are you saying there were or are two cars out there on one reg plate..? One genuine and yours being a fake...? How can this happen..? I can understand it if a write off car is bought, with log book, then straight (ie undamaged) car is nicked and the identity fo it disguised using the write off log book..? But there would still only be one car with that reg, albeit a dodgy car? I can see someone cloning a car for evading speed cameras, etc, but how do you get a legitimate log book for it..? There must have been some colusion with the owner or keeper of the original car with that reg, otherwise, where would they get the chassis number for the original reg...someone must have had access to both cars once?
Also, you say the chassis plate was "fibreglassed in". Was this the origibal car with your numberplate's chassi number, ie a bit of metal cut out of the original car with your number, or was it a bit of plate stamped with the incorrect chassis number..? Could the old other chassis number be seen underneath..?
what about the window" on the screen that shows the chassis number..? did that have the "correct" chassis number for the reg you were driving about on? if so, maybe that was taken from the original car? if it was a different chassis number or missing, then that is more obvious. How have youn got the service book, is it the orginal and does it show the VIN number on the book..? Does that vin match the ones on the car, dodgy plate, winscreen window and the sticker inside the boot..? If they all match up, someone MUST have had access to both cars to get the stickers and book etc, but how did they remove those flimsy paper sticker form the boot..? Oh, the VIN IS on the ECU also, get vagcom to read it and see if it matches. Dont let this one go, if you checked all these things and they all added up, all matched the legit car you thought you bought, may be it is ok, maybe its had some secondhand part fitted to it which came off a broken stolen car and that had the tracker in it..? Long shot but you just never know. If the chassis numbers dont match then you are a bit mullered as they will say you should have checked.
The facelift S3s and A3s have the chasiss number stamped into a "tamperproof" soft metal strip under the window on the plastic scuttle panel cover. Any fo you guys with facelifts,go and carefully lift the window up and have a look at the chassis number that's stamped on there! You will crap yoursleves ands think its fake as it looks like its on a think bit of metal stuck over the original number stamped into the cars metal! Looks so dodgy, I swear if the cops pulled a facelift model over and looked, they would swear it was dodgy!

real sorry to hear about your bad news, but I rekcon it may not be as bad as it seems. You clearly ahve bought somehting, and if is a stolen car and the insurance have paid out on it, what do they want it for now..? Maybe they will let you buy it off them for cheap and get it a legit plate, even if its a "q".

This really does not add up at all.
 
No, there isnt 2 cars going round with the same plate
Its where my car was stolen from the owners house, by breaking into the house and nicking the keys. Then they wait for an A3/S3 in the same colour to end up in a breakers yard etc then take the plates and chassis numbers off it and put them on the stolen car, hiding the fact that its been stolen.
BUT... When i HPi'd the legit reg (False reg) it didnt come up as written off or salvaged etc.. so i dont know how they could have done it.

Police have been in contact with tracker, got to wait for a vehicle examiner to go and have a look over the car and make sure its the one the police were looking for. Then tracker let the insurance company it belongs to know that theyve found the car. Then ive asked that the insurance company call me straight away as some of the stuff on the car is mine.
They told me that my car was stolen to order, was taken from the owners garage where they had to move another car to gain access to mine.

Its all soooo confusing!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

P.s Citizens advice are rubbish as they only work half days and theyre not open until monday now and im off to work away by then :(
 
So you end up with a stolen car with a written off chassis number and reg? How on earth did that get past HPI?
Are the DVLA happy about taking 3 years of road tax for a car they have on their database as written off?
I can believe that breakers yards are in on the scam but who writes off an S3 and doesn't claim the insurance?
 
Provided the write off is correct category, you can rebuild them and DVLA issue a new logbook. but I think now nearly all must be VOSA inspected before going back on the road.

Its all very strange. if you dont mind the question Ash, when you bought it, was it particualarly cheap....were you at all suspicious based on price, owner, etc etc?
 
IMO i think there should be a change in the law to protect people like ash. Insurance companies are there for a reason. In this situation I believe ash should be able too keep the car but obviously pay for any costs to put the correct registation etc back onto the car and the insurance company should be made to chase their loses via the people who stole the car.
 
You think there should be a change in the law to protect people who don't check every single last item on a 10,000 car?

10K is a LOT of money, in fact, after a house, a car is is probably the second most expensive thing you own.

As simch pointed out, there is like 4 places on a standard car you can check the chassis number/VIN, 5 if you include VAG-COM.

No, I think people should check something they intend to spend that amount of money on and make sure its checked properly.

Thats a bit like banning guns to stop yardies shooting each other...

But, law aside, it'd make sense if after 3 years you could just pay for re-registration and VOSA check and be on your way.
 
Cheers Daz, agree with what your saying.
It was a bit cheap at the time as it had low mileage but when i got there it needed abit of tidying up, the previous owner didnt know much about it, didnt know it had stainless exhaust and brembo brakes etc.. Just wanted to get rid of it as he took it in PX for his scooby. Which is why the person i bought it off isnt on the V5 because he didnt want to put an extra owner on the vehicle if hes just going to sell it straight on.
 
Let’s hope the previous owner has still got the name and address of the person who bought his Subaru so the police can catch the scum who swapped the numbers over.
Hpi will only show it as written off if the insurance wrote it off, just look at the amount of damage repairable cars on eBay that say 'unrecorded damage'
 
AndyMac said:
As said, the Tracker system can only be activated if the car is in range. Cloners keep stolen cars underground or in containers and presumably after a period of time Tracker stop trying to activate the system (as there must be a bandwidth limit of the number of activations they can do simultaneously). Maybe they then give it a go on the anniversary of the theft just to see if it's surfaced and unfortunately for Ash it did.
Ash, what happened with the DVLA, do they have you down as the owner on the V5, or have you just got a forged V5 and DVLA still have the legit S3 owners details? Does the owner of the cloned car know he's been cloned?
In this day & age I think the onus should be on the manufacturers to make cloning slightly trickier than filing off chassis numbers and changing number plates. Why can't the DIS show the reg number on startup? It's pathetic when you think about it, all that technology and we still rely on easily forged details to prove a vehicles legit.
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Andy the new one does, you can display the chassis number on the dis via a menu
 
simch said:
Provided the write off is correct category, you can rebuild them and DVLA issue a new logbook. but I think now nearly all must be VOSA inspected before going back on the road.

Its all very strange. if you dont mind the question Ash, when you bought it, was it particualarly cheap....were you at all suspicious based on price, owner, etc etc?
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This is correct some cat C cars can end up on the road and all cat D cars can be repared however they must be checked by VOSA.

This only involves checking the identity of a vehicle ie VIN/Chassis numbers etc. Do they match, look dodgy etc and NOT the repair.

If ok they will rubber stamp it so technically you could take 2 cars welded together and as long as the VIN and chassis looks ok it will be on the road.

I dont hold much faith in this as if done professionally you can easily fool them, they are only given 20mins a car so they can do so many a day and some i have seen are shocking they have let through without further digging.
 
Currently waiting for Derbyshire police to phone me, hopefully they should be able to tell me a bit more about the theft, and the guy who had it nicked. I also need to tell them ive been in contact with the guy i bought the car off and that he is willing to cooperate with the police.
Not going to bother with citizens advice now, people say they wont be able to do alot, going to see a private solicitor instead who should be able to shed some light on where i stand and what my rights are.
Ive been told i can demand my money back from the person i bought the car off as the car was'nt rightfully his to sell in the first place. He would then have to do the same to the person he bought it off / swapped with and it goes back down the line until you get to the scum who messed with it / nicked it!

Will keep everyone updated! Thank you guys for the comments
Ash
 
Quick update:

Spoke to Derbyshire police tonight, have passed on the details of the person i bought the car from, they will be paying him a visit in the next few days.
Just need to keep-on at Shrewsbury police now, find out whats happening with the car etc..
Neither police forces seem too bothered about it all, sensing a 'dont give a toss' attitude with both of them.
Makes me so angry, ive worked my balls off to buy the car and keep it, i work 12 hours a day away from home, dont see friends/family/ girlfriend much at all, pay the best part of £2k to insure it making sure its all above-board to have someone take it all away, just breaks your heart.

Ash
 
£2000 a year is over £160 a month, make sure you suspend or cancel the policy a.s.a.p. no point paying for cover you no longer need
 
Already have done bud!

Had enough of robbing ********, nervermind insurance companies!!

Ash
 
I really do feel for you Ash, but it's really difficult, you're 20 with an S3!!!!! (albeit stolen), but still you had one. I was driving a 900cc Polo when I'd just left college.
 
Sorry to hear whats happened, if this happened to me i don't know what i'd do. hope you manage to get the car back through the police or through the insurance company, seems wrong the way it took a year for them to find where the car was, who ever stole it were clever b*sta*ds
 
UPDATE:

Finally seem to have got somewhere today!
The police vehicle examiner went to see my car at the recovery place today.
He was very helpful, phoned me up to let me know the outcome - best person ive dealt with so far!
He confirmed that it IS the stolen car the insurance company were looking for and that its owned by the Bank Of Scotland (IIRC) Insurance company.
All traces off the VIN number have been removed/replaced or tampered with even the sticker in the boot had been very carefully removed from the legit vehicle and put onto the stolen one.
This explains why the bodyshop couldnt match my colour as they thought it was Ming Blue when infact it is Azure Blue.
Turns out the engine isnt the original engine either, the engine has been taken out of the legit car and put in the stolen car - kind of worrying that a 200+bhp engine has been fitted by car thieves!!
The interior is also out of the legit vehicle, the car was stolen with the Blue Alcantara / Black leather combo, It now has the full Black Leather out of the legit car.
The guy who had it nicked (a pilot from Derby) had the Brembo brakes, Milltek Exhaust and Porsche Wheels fitted, dont know where the Porsche wheels ended up though - or the interior and engine for that matter!
I think the false reg and VIN numbers, interior, engine etc have all been taken from a crashed S3. Im certain it was bought privately (nothing to do with insurance) this means it has no recorded damage i.e CAT C, D etc.. when i HPi checked the reg. One of the seat airbags in the car had been deployed although there is no sign of accident damage on the vehicle the seats are in now.
I hope this is making sense to you guys, i kind of know what i mean!

The police officer recommended i seek legal advice againsd the person i bought the car off which im currently doing at the moment.

The police have sent someone round to the previous keeper registered on the V5 to make enquiries.

Finally seems like the ball is rolling!
Just hope i see some of my money back so i can pay off my loan i took out to purchase the car in the first place.

Thanks for reading this and cheers for all your help and advice, its really appreciated.

Ash
 
Turns out the engine isnt the original engine either, the engine has been taken out of the legit car and put in the stolen car
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iconuhohs9hi.gif
 
So the engine and the interior are technically yours, I'd insist that the police return them ASAP!
Who are these thieves, they sound very efficient, I might take my car to them when it needs some work doing!!! You'd think with all that effort they could set up a legit business.
 
AndyMac said:
So the engine and the interior are technically yours, I'd insist that the police return them ASAP!
Who are these thieves, they sound very efficient, I might take my car to them when it needs some work doing!!! You'd think with all that effort they could set up a legit business.
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You dont pay tax when your ripping someone off!!! :laugh:

lets just hope they catch the ********.

Are they technicaly mine? i know they dont belong to the insurance company as the insurance company own the blue suede interior and the original engine.

My name is on the V5 for vehicle - W907 RNE - What do i actually own? The perspex number plates and the paper V5 or everything in/on the car that the insurance company dont own??
 
I think thats why u really need legal advice bud
 
What a story! I agree on the legal advice - the lad that sold you the car could be telling porkies. While some theives are smart and some are not and the fact he didnt put his name on the V5....well I will leave that to your imagination!

What a sickner - I hope you get it all sorted and get your cash back although thats usually unlikely.

Im very careful when buying anyway but this will make me even more careful - its pretty easy to forget what to look for when the car you really want is sitting in front of you!
 
ForestHills said:
Im very careful when buying anyway but this will make me even more careful - its pretty easy to forget what to look for when the car you really want is sitting in front of you!
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Couldnt agree more, lets just hope everyone who reads this takes extra care when buying their next motor.

I know i wont be buying another expensive car in a LONG time as im still paying off this one. but if i do it will either be from a reputable dealer or will be AA/RAC examined before i part with my hard-earned cash again.

Its so easily done, you see it in magazines, TV programmes etc.. Dont buy a lemon, check this, check that... You never think it could happen to you
:asskicking:
 
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