News

According to HPI the Ford Transit and Vauxhall Vivaro are among the top 10 cloned vehicles.

 We check all our used vehicles against the HPI register to help avoid cloned vehicles.

 The Top Ten Cloned vehicles for 2007 - 2008 are:

1. Mercedes-Benz C class
2. Ford Transit
3. Audi A4
4. BMW 3 series
5. Audi TT
6. Volkswagen Golf
7. Vauxhall Vivaro
8. Landrover
9. Peugeot 206
10. Volkswagen Passat

HPI's Daniel Burgess explains "Criminals will exploit any weakness including its identity.  In a war against dodgy dealers, the motor industry had improved the quality and accuracy of the data it holds on used cars.  This means selling a stolen vehicle without changing it's identity is all but impossible, hence the rise in cloning.  In addition to this, we are still hearing news from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) of suspect V5 vehicle registration documents doing the rounds"

A customer of ours tells how he was recently scammed with a cloned vehicle.  Dave found a Transit for sale in a national magazine and rang to see if the vehicle was still for sale, which it was.  Dave travelled some 150 miles to view the vehicle.  He took someone with him and upon arriving the van was sign written and parked outside the shop who were selling the vehicle.  The shop signs matched the ones on the vehicle, all looked good.  Dave checked the chassis number on the log book against the chassis number on the vehicle, they matched.  Dave negotiated the price of the van, paid cash and drove it home believing he'd grabbed a bargain.  A short time after getting the vehicle back, and after servicing and sign writing the van he had a knock on the door, the police had arrived.  They explained he had a cloned vehicle, when the police checked the engine number it didn't match the log book.  The police then took the vehicle away, leaving Dave with no money and no van.  Dave gave the police the address from where he'd collected the van but when the police visited the premises, no signs, no stock, nobody just a disused shop.   It seems some criminals are taking possession of a disused shop, making it look like it's real and selling cloned vehicles before disappearing.