Dodgy car sale?!

[Partyvan]

Hi all,

Browsing random cars for sale and I spotted an RS4 rolling shell for sale. Advert says

"NO ID VIN NOT INCLUDED

BARE SHELL

ID HAS BEEN REMOVED

ID NOT INCLUDED"

Is there any possible legitimate reason for this? Or is it a blatant sale of a stolen shell? It's in Dewsbury, which raises even more eyebrows!

[InitialDave]

Stolen recovered?

[Partyvan]

Possibly, but why would the ID and VIN not remain on the car?

[InitialDave]

Partyvan said:

Possibly, but why would the ID and VIN not remain on the car?

Already removed when it was found?

[DuraAce]

Removed from a cat b car so it could be sold for spares?

Or its ID has already been rung onto another car?!

[ApexCult]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2014-AUDI-A4-RS4-B8-B8-...

I would avoid this shell considering the damage unless you're just looking for a burn shell for a garden ornament...although doesn't look like a dodgy seller from a quick glance

[Partyvan]

I'm not considering buying it, I just wondered how it could be above board.

In my (limited) understanding - there's no legitimate reason for a car to have it's VIN removed.

[ApexCult]

It's not a road legal car anymore most likely - good for some rear quarter panels

[Jamescrs]

I know Dewsbury reasonably well due to work and if there is a car with identifiers removed there is I would bet significant money a dodgy story behind it somewhere down the line. Dewsbury and Batley are very similar and more often than not interlinked with Bradford

[A1VDY]

ApexCult said:

It's not a road legal car anymore most likely - good for some rear quarter panels

This^
ID has been removed to specifically to Stop it being transferred onto a stolen one.
Its for parts only, ie rear quarters, roof, boot floor and bolt ons like doors ect for repairs to a crash damaged car.
Theres nothing dodgy going on here..

[Partyvan]

^ Thankyou that makes perfect sense

[amazing driver]

A1VDY said:

Theres nothing dodgy going on here..

Come on mate. The ID's been removed and it's already been sold.

[bazjude2998]

amazing driver said:

Come on mate. The ID's been removed and it's already been sold.

Looking at the sellers other items for sale he,s obviously a dealer / breaker,
Can’t see anything dodgy, vin and id have been removed because of insurance category rating,probably parts only.

[amazing driver]

bazjude2998 said:

Looking at the sellers other items for sale he,s obviously a dealer / breaker,
Can’t see anything dodgy, vin and id have been removed because of insurance category rating,probably parts only.

Possibly, but those VIN's are so valuable..

[4rephill]

amazing driver said:

bazjude2998 said:

Looking at the sellers other items for sale he,s obviously a dealer / breaker,
Can’t see anything dodgy, vin and id have been removed because of insurance category rating,probably parts only.

Possibly, but those VIN's are so valuable..

This isn't some small, one car at a time operation, where people are chopping up cars in a small lock-up on the quiet!:

MANSU GROUP
10A Hartley Street
Dewsbury
WF13 2BJ

Looking at Google maps, and noting how many damaged vehicles they advertise about on ebay, it's obviously a reasonably sized business, that the police would have very little trouble tracking down, if anything dodgy (as you're suggesting) was going on:



Believe or not, local police tend to get an idea of dodgy things going on in their patch, especially if it involves a business on this scale, so it wouldn't be worth their while to get up to anything as dodgy as passing on VIN plates illegally.

As you rightly say: "those VIN's are so valuable..", hence why they are making it clear that the VIN's are no longer present - So dodgy geezers looking to ring a car, don't bother with it.

[Chris32345]

Bit hopefully with that pricing 😂

[Buster73]

Chris32345 said:

Bit hopefully with that pricing ??

Seen the postage?

[4rephill]

Chris32345 said:

Bit hopefully with that pricing ??

It's a parts car that they're looking at moving on complete, rather that have to break.

Got one already that the airbags have gone off in, wrecking all the interior?, or a vandal damaged car, with doors dented, windows smashed, interior damaged? - Price up the parts individually to sort it all out, and there's a good chance it will cost a lot more than £3500.

Buy this car, and you can sort out your damaged car, with all the fittings required, for a lot less.

Buster73 said:

Seen the postage?

Done deliberately, to put people asking for it to be delivered (or even posted) to them.

Funnily enough, according to the postage and packaging terms, it cost £150 to pick it up in person!

[NMNeil]

May be an urban legend but..
Two enterprising young men would steal high end cars from the streets of LA. Porsche, Ferrari etc. They would strip the cars down to the bare shell then tow the shell to a low crime neighborhood and dump it on the road.
A few months later after the insurance company had settled, the bare shell was sold at auction.
The enterprising couple bought the shell, got all the title paperwork then put the original parts back onto the car.
Voila, a legally owned stolen car

[focusxr5]

I bought a car from Dewsbury once. I won't ever be making that mistake again. The best thing about that place is the A638 taking you out of there.