I thought it could never happen to me....

[anonymous-user]

Very lucky!

As I was reading it was expecting you to write that the guy had disappeared and you were stuck with it until the police came to take it way.

Deva Link said:

Isn't it a bit weird that neither VIN showed anything untowards? What could have happened to the vehicle that the replacement VIN came from?

It does seem strange. Maybe an unrecored bad write off, but which the ringer though had been recored?

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 2nd May 12:13

[bimsb6]

lazy reshelling job early on in its life ?

[MadMullah]

lucky man!!

though i would err on the side of caution

i do think this is as someone above mentioned a joint OP. keep an eye out for this motor to be relisted

would advising the cops be of any use?

[va1o]

bimsb6 said:

lazy reshelling job early on in its life ?

Could be actually, like the cut and shuts you used to get in the old days. Two 'broken' vehicles combined into one?

[Acehood]

poing said:

Got to be worth sending a nice bottle of wine or something to the guy you bought it from for being honest enough to return your money. Sounds like he's just a victim as well and he was a true gent in the way he dealt with it all.

Glad for you it all went ok but feel sorry for the other guys if they both honestly didn't know, which it sounds like they didn't.

I'd be driving around in a ringer still if it was me, I'd never have spotted it.

This

[Twincharged]

Beyond Rational said:

Ozzie Osmond said:

Lets Torque said:

Hats off to the guy though for handing the money back as soon as it was confirmed it was a 'ringer' and then driving your family back to your house.

Or maybe he wasn't really surprised at all and simply didn't want any trouble from the police?

After all, who's he going to sell it to now.....

Taking it to the body shop to have it confirmed doesn't seem to be the actions of someone who already knew it was dodgy.

You're assuming that the "accident repair specialist who he knew for his expert opinion" isn't his friend in on the deal. If this was the case, they couldn't lose- they just have to rinse and repeat until someone doesn't bring the car back.

[Beyond Rational]

Twincharged said:

You're assuming that the "accident repair specialist who he knew for his expert opinion" isn't his friend in on the deal. If this was the case, they couldn't lose- they just have to rinse and repeat until someone doesn't bring the car back.

Why go to the bother? They'd have more sense just to agree that it was a bad'un when they had the driveway inspection rather than raising doubt and bringing another business/individual into the loop?

[flattotheboards]

That is extremely lucky! Sounds like you couldn't have bought it from a nicer bloke. Its a shame that he is left with a dodgy car though, I'm not sure what he or his mate can do about the whole thing as the previous owner to this hasn't seen the car in 11 years.

[Bungleaio]

As the others have said you were very lucky to get your money back. Many sellers would have told you to jog on.

[monthefish]

buzzer said:

va1o said:

Rich_W said:

You were LUCKY!

Could have been a lot worse! Odd that the real VIN didn't show as stolen.

It is, I would be interested in peoples opinion on that

Hang on a tick.

Which VIN did you enter into the HPI search? - the one that was displayed on the screen (that you subsequently removed with a bit of wire) or the real one that you later revealed?

buzzer said:

the VIN.... it moved! in fact it came off and I pulled it out to reveal the real VIN of the car underneath.

[buzzer]

monthefish said:

buzzer said:

va1o said:

Rich_W said:

You were LUCKY!

Could have been a lot worse! Odd that the real VIN didn't show as stolen.

It is, I would be interested in peoples opinion on that

Hang on a tick.

Which VIN did you enter into the HPI search? - the one that was displayed on the screen (that you subsequently removed with a bit of wire) or the real one that you later revealed?

buzzer said:

the VIN.... it moved! in fact it came off and I pulled it out to reveal the real VIN of the car underneath.

I checked the VIN on the HPI report that came back on the registration number on the car before buying it, it matched. The original one on the car was then HPIed and that cam back as not stolen, and for the same specification/colour of car.

I have been around cars all my life... Its not a cut n shut, in fact it had not had any panel work on the car as far as I could see... Paint on the rear wings, boot, doors looked factory finish, but the bonnet had been painted at some point. Understandable. All the seam sealer around the car was factory applied (one of the things I always check... its very difficult to replicate a factory finish on the seam sealer!)

I had a good look at the floor pan while on the ramp, all good there. It was a straight car in the sense its never been bent!

[masermartin]

Beyond Rational said:

Twincharged said:

You're assuming that the "accident repair specialist who he knew for his expert opinion" isn't his friend in on the deal. If this was the case, they couldn't lose- they just have to rinse and repeat until someone doesn't bring the car back.

Why go to the bother? They'd have more sense just to agree that it was a bad'un when they had the driveway inspection rather than raising doubt and bringing another business/individual into the loop?

Additional believability, and kudos to the specialist because he tells the truth in the matter.

I dunno, I'm a bit cynical about it too. But it goes to show that you can never be too careful, and even if you do all the things you're supposed to do, you can still be caught out. I did see a VW Bora in a disposals place about a year ago that I travelled a fair way to see, and I walked away because it didn't appear to be the right spec (someone bought a Highline without a CD player? Really? In 2005?) and more importantly the VIN in the window looked like it was printed on a sticker or piece of paper which was creased, like the OP mentioned.

[buzzer]

Popped in today and gave him a bottle of good wine, he was very appreciative

[scottyr]

Went straight into the wine cellar with the rest of the gifts <biggrin>

[Jonny_693]

buzzer said:

It is, I would be interested in peoples opinion on that

I'm going to suggest, Bloke writes his nearly new z3 off while uninsured. Then gets a dodgy mate to nick one the same and swap all the ID over and dispose of the write off. Not rocket science and the insurance companys are none the wiser?

[Deva Link]

Jonny_693 said:

Then gets a dodgy mate to nick one the same

...so why doesn't the original VIN on the shell come up as stolen / unrecovered on HPI?

[Gizmo!]

Twincharged said:

Beyond Rational said:

Ozzie Osmond said:

Lets Torque said:

Hats off to the guy though for handing the money back as soon as it was confirmed it was a 'ringer' and then driving your family back to your house.

Or maybe he wasn't really surprised at all and simply didn't want any trouble from the police?

After all, who's he going to sell it to now.....

Taking it to the body shop to have it confirmed doesn't seem to be the actions of someone who already knew it was dodgy.

You're assuming that the "accident repair specialist who he knew for his expert opinion" isn't his friend in on the deal. If this was the case, they couldn't lose- they just have to rinse and repeat until someone doesn't bring the car back.

This would be my bet too. I wonder who the correct body to report it to actually is...

[buzzer]

Jonny_693 said:

buzzer said:

It is, I would be interested in peoples opinion on that

I'm going to suggest, Bloke writes his nearly new z3 off while uninsured. Then gets a dodgy mate to nick one the same and swap all the ID over and dispose of the write off. Not rocket science and the insurance companys are none the wiser?

But the car is now the one that was stolen... so the insurance company would have registered the VIN with HPI. My theory is that its a ringer and it was done say 12 years ago and HPI records weren't that good then?

[The Wookie]

buzzer said:

But the car is now the one that was stolen... so the insurance company would have registered the VIN with HPI. My theory is that its a ringer and it was done say 12 years ago and HPI records weren't that good then?

Sounds most likely.

The car is in the era of Nikasil. Slightly tenuous, but perhaps a previous owner binned the original car and decided it would be cheaper to buy a car of the same spec with a dead engine and swap the block and vins across than to claim on insurance

[buzzer]

The Wookie said:

buzzer said:

But the car is now the one that was stolen... so the insurance company would have registered the VIN with HPI. My theory is that its a ringer and it was done say 12 years ago and HPI records weren't that good then?

Sounds most likely.

The car is in the era of Nikasil. Slightly tenuous, but perhaps a previous owner binned the original car and decided it would be cheaper to buy a car of the same spec with a dead engine and swap the block and vins across than to claim on insurance

Nice theory, but the Z3 was not affected by Nikasil so I believe