Call about a written off car

[S70JPS]

My wife took a phone call yesterday from a Polish chap who claimed to have bough my car from a garage in Poland. He said he was suspicious about the car and asked a few questions. My wife told him that the car was a total write off 5 years ago. I'm fine with him ringing but a couple of things how did he trace the car to me and how did he get my ex-directory phone number? Also the last time I saw the car it was in a police nominated scrap yard. Should I report it?

[andburg]

Report it, if he calls again tell him you can't help.

[cheesesliceking]

Report to who for what?

It's legal to sell a written off car (dependent on category), so the salvage yard hasnt done anything wrong. The problem, if there is one, is with whoever the Polish guy bought it from and how it was represented.

[SteveR1979]

I'd also wonder why its being sold in Poland.
You can't register a RHD car there I don't think

[ZOLLAR]

Any documents left in the car?

[scorcher]

SteveR1979 said:

I'd also wonder why its being sold in Poland.
You can't register a RHD car there I don't think

No one mentioned it being RHD?

[Nickyboy]

Eastern Europe buy a lot of our scrap cars, they buy them as end of life etc but once in their home country can do as they please. A lot are put back on the road, especially higher end cars. A written off BMW here is worth little but in Poland or Lithuania it's worth a fortune

[plasticman]

If it was a cat D write off then your name would be on the log book . If it was a cat C or worse there should have been no ID with the car .

[TooMany2cvs]

plasticman said:

If it was a cat C or worse there should have been no ID with the car .

Nope. If it was a CatC and passed a VIC, the buyer would get a V5C which would carry the last keeper's details. And, for a fiver, DVLA will send the keeper of any vehicle a list of all the previous keepers.

It's entirely credible that the current owner of what used to be the OP's car has managed to get their name etc.

If the car was Cat C or Cat D write off, then it's also perfectly common for it to go through a salvage auction and end up back on the road.

[S70JPS]

It's now Lhd.. It was completely obliterated from the windscreen forwards but fine from there back. In my opinion it should have been plundered for parts then crushed. How though would this guy find my x-directory phone number?

[ging84]

cheesesliceking said:

Report to who for what?

It's legal to sell a written off car (dependent on category), so the salvage yard hasnt done anything wrong. The problem, if there is one, is with whoever the Polish guy bought it from and how it was represented.

fixed that for you

[TooMany2cvs]

S70JPS said:

In my opinion it should have been plundered for parts then crushed.

That's nice, dear. It's actually the insurance assessor's opinion that's rather more relevant.

But I rather suspect that what he has is the identity from your ex-car and a ringed nicked left-hooker...

S70JPS said:

How though would this guy find my x-directory phone number?

Dealer service records?

[ging84]

i love how people talk about ex directory like it means something these days
you have to go out of your way to opt in to the phone directory these days, and the only people who do must be very lonely, and very interested in being sold things

[lbc]

x-directory means jack if you ever given that number to anyone. Banks normally need a landline number for a start,
so you would have given that number out at some point and it will have been sold on.

[anonymous-user]

Its common practice here in Poland to contact previous owners to verify a vehicle due to the huge amount of dangerous scrap being sold as undamaged such as this

https://scontent-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t...

Also the cost of converting a car to LHD here is quite low in comparison to the cost of buying a LHD version. Not to mention that cars in the UK get written of for relatively minor damage compared to here.

I called the previous owner of my current BMW in Belgium prior to buying it just to make sure and he was more than happy to answer any questions.

Are you only suspicious because he is Polish?

[andburg]

the suspicion would be how the caller got the telephone number i believe

[Sump]

andburg said:

the suspicion would be how the caller got the telephone number i believe

Not that difficult. Took me 5 seconds to find you live in Barnsley and you're from Rotherham etc.

[S70JPS]

I was actually surprised because the car was written off so long ago (over 6 years). Not really suspicious but it did make me wonder where he got my number from. I would have expected it more on my mobile than my land line as I don't tend to give my land line number out. I actually feel sorry for him as he has spent £8K on the car.

[anonymous-user]

What sort of car was it? Not a Ford Galaxy by any chance?

[E36Ross]

Sold a Cat C S320 Merc to some Romanians a few months back.

They repaired it and exported it to Romania.

Also sold them a Land Rover FreeLander with no paperwork.