Bought a stolen car - Advice needed

[dr.pepper]

A close friend of mine purchased an accident damaged Vauxhall Astra 3 months ago. Before he bought the car, he HPI'd it and it came back clear. He then had it repaired and took it for a VIC test, which it passed.

This morning his car was seized from him and he was told it was stolen. He is pretty much at wits end trying to figure out what he can do.

I would greatly appreciate any advice that you guys can offer.

[markmullen]

Where did he buy it? Dealer? Private? Auction? Ebay?

[Deva Link]

Did he buy it privately, or from some sort of dealer?

If private, did he abide by all the terms of the HPi check, especially buying from the address on the V5C and not paying cash?

[Rollcage]

Never a good situation - if he has bought privately he will be pretty much knackered. If from a trader then he has a glimmer of hope.

Not much else to add - doubt HPI will be much help either.

[Engineer1]

If he has the HPI result he should have a case with someone, and I would assume that the first port of call is the HPI company.

[poo at Paul's]

If he passed a Vic check, how can they now say its nicked? But also, if HPI clear, why did it need a VIC check? Only need one for cat c for them to issue a V5.

Sounds like you need some more info.

[HRG.]

Doesn't the HPI include insurance against this sort of thing?

[dr.pepper]

Thanks for the replies. Just going to add some more info as the OP was a bit vague.

He bought the car privately and paid by cash. The Hpi check indicated that the car was a CAT C but it didn't say anything about the car being stolen.

Oddly enough, the car still got through a VIC check despite being stolen?

[Engineer1]

Sounds like a foul up some where, maybe someone put it down as the wrong category?

[Gareth79]

Engineer1 said:

Sounds like a foul up some where, maybe someone put it down as the wrong category?

Or that it was reported stolen, and not subsequently marked as recovered and disposed of?

[dr.pepper]

I hope so. The Police advised my friend that the car had been stolen from Scotland and would now be returned to it's rightful owner.

My friend is seeing a solicitor tomorrow morning, but it doesn't look too good for him at this point.

[HRG.]

At HPI, we work hard to ensure that the data we receive and manage is the best available but no data source is perfect. That's why your HPI vehicle check includes the HPI Guarantee. Subject to the HPI Guarantee Terms & Conditions, the HPI Guarantee provides up to £30,000(£15,000 for written off vehicles) reimbursement of financial loss you suffer arising from inaccurate or incomplete information we supply to you as part of the HPI Check. As you'd expect from HPI, the cover is the most comprehensive available today.

[filthstreet]

Has the private seller disappeared with the cash? cough baseballbat cough

[Deva Link]

HRG. said:

At HPI, we work hard to ensure that the data we receive and manage is the best available but no data source is perfect. That's why your HPI vehicle check includes the HPI Guarantee. Subject to the HPI Guarantee Terms & Conditions, the HPI Guarantee provides up to £30,000(£15,000 for written off vehicles) reimbursement of financial loss you suffer arising from inaccurate or incomplete information we supply to you as part of the HPI Check. As you'd expect from HPI, the cover is the most comprehensive available today.

As I noted above though, you have to abide by HPI's T's & C's to take advantage of the guarantee. The two usual traps are not buying from the address on the V5C, and paying cash. (From memory cash is OK up to a fairly low level).

[Jasandjules]

Deva Link said:

and paying cash.

I fail to see why paying cash should be an impediment to any guarantee.

[Deva Link]

Jasandjules said:

Deva Link said:

and paying cash.

I fail to see why paying cash should be an impediment to any guarantee.

I guess due to the ability to trace the transaction in the event that it was fraudulent.

Anyway, doesn't matter why, it's in HPI's T's & C's.

So there's the HPI Guarantee:
http://www.hpicheck.com/furniture/guarantee.html

and then there's the HPI Guarantee Terms & Conditions:
http://www.hpicheck.com/furniture/termsAndConditio...

""12.6 The HPI Guarantee will not cover you for "cloned" vehicles (a "cloned" vehicle being a vehicle that has been stolen and given a false identity, normally that of an identical vehicle), where the purchase price of the vehicle was greater than £3000 and the purchase of the vehicle was made with cash. (The other terms of your guarantee are not affected.) We recommend that all vehicles are paid for via the banking system, such as, cheque or Bankers draft.""

Edited by Deva Link on Thursday 5th November 10:45

[Jasandjules]

Yes, I wasn't denying that the term was there, I was questioning whether or not a court would uphold such a term as being reasonable, especially when between a consumer and a business. I fail to see how such a term is reasonable when purchases may often be made in cash (drawn out of a bank etc) and unless such a term was brought to your attention before you engaged the HPI check.

[Deva Link]

Jasandjules said:

Yes, I wasn't denying that the term was there, I was questioning whether or not a court would uphold such a term as being reasonable, especially when between a consumer and a business. I fail to see how such a term is reasonable when purchases may often be made in cash (drawn out of a bank etc) and unless such a term was brought to your attention before you engaged the HPI check.

A court would probably think you were a bit stupid for handing over a large wodge of cash. In the legal system's eyes, cash = dodgy.

[Dracoro]

dr.pepper said:

A close friend of mine purchased an accident damaged Vauxhall Astra 3 months ago. Before he bought the car, he HPI'd it

Proper HPI or a cheapo one with much lower guarantees?

[FNG]

Deva Link said:

Jasandjules said:

Deva Link said:

and paying cash.

I fail to see why paying cash should be an impediment to any guarantee.

I guess due to the ability to trace the transaction in the event that it was fraudulent.

Anyway, doesn't matter why, it's in HPI's T's & C's.

So there's the HPI Guarantee:
http://www.hpicheck.com/furniture/guarantee.html

and then there's the HPI Guarantee Terms & Conditions:
http://www.hpicheck.com/furniture/termsAndConditio...

""12.6 The HPI Guarantee will not cover you for "cloned" vehicles (a "cloned" vehicle being a vehicle that has been stolen and given a false identity, normally that of an identical vehicle), where the purchase price of the vehicle was greater than £3000 and the purchase of the vehicle was made with cash. (The other terms of your guarantee are not affected.) We recommend that all vehicles are paid for via the banking system, such as, cheque or Bankers draft.""

Aren't those "and" clauses, not "or" ?

In other words their restriction against paying cash only applies for cloned cars which are worth more than £3000 and paid for in cash?

Not those that are cloned or are worth more than £3000 or are paid for in cash?

In which case, unless the car is cloned that clause does not apply, and HPI's guarantee can be invoked.

Whilst HPI's recommendation to use the banking system is a laudable one, I don't see anything there which indicates the OP's friend has no claim against HPI's guarantee.