Car reported stolen 4 months after purchase
Discussion
Hi all,
Bit of advice needed please.
We brought a lovely car back in January 2017 and absolutely love it!!
Imagine our shock and horror last week when we received a letter from the police to say that our car was reported stolen on Monday. Apparently the owner has been away for the last six months, returned home on Monday and noticed it missing.
Don't know much more details from the police regarding the owner and his story. We gave the police all the info we have on the seller - personal details we have, description of him. How we brought the car, where we saw it advertised etc.
When we purchased the car we received MOT papers, full service history details, v5c form and keys etc etc. We paid two thirds in cash and a third by bank transfer.
So we're just waiting to hear from the police now. We honesty don't know what to do next. We can't think of anything else at the moment.
Surely the owner will have to prove its been stolen? (Forced entry etc) and explain how the seller had all the relevant forms and the keys etc? I just can't believe he'll get his car back and we have no legal rights whatsoever.
Please give us some hope...
Thank you all
Bit of advice needed please.
We brought a lovely car back in January 2017 and absolutely love it!!
Imagine our shock and horror last week when we received a letter from the police to say that our car was reported stolen on Monday. Apparently the owner has been away for the last six months, returned home on Monday and noticed it missing.
Don't know much more details from the police regarding the owner and his story. We gave the police all the info we have on the seller - personal details we have, description of him. How we brought the car, where we saw it advertised etc.
When we purchased the car we received MOT papers, full service history details, v5c form and keys etc etc. We paid two thirds in cash and a third by bank transfer.
So we're just waiting to hear from the police now. We honesty don't know what to do next. We can't think of anything else at the moment.
Surely the owner will have to prove its been stolen? (Forced entry etc) and explain how the seller had all the relevant forms and the keys etc? I just can't believe he'll get his car back and we have no legal rights whatsoever.
Please give us some hope...
Thank you all
Thank you all for your comments and advice.
At this point, we're still waiting to hear from the police in regards to what is happening next. We've been advised that we can still drive the car but obviously can't sell it (what sort of person would do that anyway??) Oh... Hang on....!!
Anyway, in regards to the above questions. My husband states that the seller was on the v5c form as a trader. (We can't remember if the address on the form was the address we met him at when we brought the car). The property was open (with other people present).
Not sure I worded the original message correctly but what I meant was surely the owner would have to prove without reasonable doubt that he has been the victim of theft? I find it very hard to think that someone would go away for such a long time, leaving your very nice car in a garage and not ask someone to at least check on it? Also, the seller had keys, registration papers (which had the owners details on it), MOT papers (with an attached credit card receipt) and full service history?? I don't know.. Maybe we're being to cynical here...
We've spoken to our insurance company, citizens advice bureau, DVLA and now we're just in the hands of the police.
Can't think of much else at the moment and dread to think we're going to lose the car and the £15k we paid for it. Very depressing indeed!
But thank you all again for your advice, very much appreciated!
At this point, we're still waiting to hear from the police in regards to what is happening next. We've been advised that we can still drive the car but obviously can't sell it (what sort of person would do that anyway??) Oh... Hang on....!!
Anyway, in regards to the above questions. My husband states that the seller was on the v5c form as a trader. (We can't remember if the address on the form was the address we met him at when we brought the car). The property was open (with other people present).
Not sure I worded the original message correctly but what I meant was surely the owner would have to prove without reasonable doubt that he has been the victim of theft? I find it very hard to think that someone would go away for such a long time, leaving your very nice car in a garage and not ask someone to at least check on it? Also, the seller had keys, registration papers (which had the owners details on it), MOT papers (with an attached credit card receipt) and full service history?? I don't know.. Maybe we're being to cynical here...
We've spoken to our insurance company, citizens advice bureau, DVLA and now we're just in the hands of the police.
Can't think of much else at the moment and dread to think we're going to lose the car and the £15k we paid for it. Very depressing indeed!
But thank you all again for your advice, very much appreciated!
fido said:
Did it have the original car manual and service book with stamps? Or do you mean a printed out service history?
No car manual no but the service history and MOT papers look originals (but I suppose if you're a good enough thief you can forge them). The car was MOT'd a few weeks before we brought it and there's a receipt with card details attached. Not quite sure why he wouldn't pay with cash if he had something to hide. Deebeezee said:
This happened to a family member. Turns out the sister of the owner had sold it without his permission whilst he was "away". Wheh he returns he finds his car missing and reports it stolen, 18 months later. Quite a long dawn our affair but in the end no action was taken by the police or the original owner and my sister kept it.
We're praying this is a similar case to what's happened here. I think it's the only way we'll have any positive outcome. Here's hoping the police can uncover something.poo at Paul's said:
OP, did you buy from a dealer? Presume so and you state it was from an open property with other people there, was it s car dealership site?
If so, and they had all the docs, car keys, history etc, this sounds to me like a "sale or return" dispute, where someone has left it with a dealer to sell for them, and the dealer take a cut, rather than selling it to the dealer to sell on. If so, sound like dealer took your money and did not pass it on the owner.
If so, you may well be in luck. As an innocent third party, (presuming you are and you paid proper value for the car) I think it will end up asa civil matter in the original owner suing the trader.
There have been a few threads on similar search for "sale or return" on PH.
What car is it and was it from an independent dealer? Without naming and shaming, can you provided more details?
It wasn't from a dealer with a garage etc, it was am individual claiming to be a trader on the v5c form and we met him at a residential address. There were other people there (clearly not related to the seller), so we're assuming maybe a house share? Whether he lived there or not we're not 100% sure. The address matched what was on the MOT papers. If so, and they had all the docs, car keys, history etc, this sounds to me like a "sale or return" dispute, where someone has left it with a dealer to sell for them, and the dealer take a cut, rather than selling it to the dealer to sell on. If so, sound like dealer took your money and did not pass it on the owner.
If so, you may well be in luck. As an innocent third party, (presuming you are and you paid proper value for the car) I think it will end up asa civil matter in the original owner suing the trader.
There have been a few threads on similar search for "sale or return" on PH.
What car is it and was it from an independent dealer? Without naming and shaming, can you provided more details?
If this is a sale or return dispute, I'm assuming the police would discover this?
kiethton said:
Friend had this and exactly the same issue (letter from police) a few years back after buying a 370z
Car was on SOR and the "company" folded without paying the original owner. It was all settled after a few years, he kept the car and was able to sell it eventually as it was decided that the theft wasn't actually a theft as the owner has given the documents, keys etc. and car to the trader willingly - it was then a civil dispute between them and a folded company.
If this is the case you'll have no issue as yours was a legitimate sale, the victim would sit on the other side of the transaction.
Fingers crossed for a similar outcome Car was on SOR and the "company" folded without paying the original owner. It was all settled after a few years, he kept the car and was able to sell it eventually as it was decided that the theft wasn't actually a theft as the owner has given the documents, keys etc. and car to the trader willingly - it was then a civil dispute between them and a folded company.
If this is the case you'll have no issue as yours was a legitimate sale, the victim would sit on the other side of the transaction.
Autopilot said:
It's blatantly a typo and should say 'making'. Even if you remove the whole word you can easily figure out what the sentence is supposed to say so should be even easier having all the right letters in there even if the first two are jumbled up.
I've never figured out what it is about SP&L that turns people who seem like nice people in other sections, in to complete dicks when they post in here.
OP - Hope you get this sorted ok!
Thank you Autopilot!I've never figured out what it is about SP&L that turns people who seem like nice people in other sections, in to complete dicks when they post in here.
OP - Hope you get this sorted ok!
It's almost two weeks now since we received the initial letter from the police and haven't received any sort of update from them since. No one seems like they're in a hurry at all, which in one way is good I suppose as we've still got the car but we are just left in limbo...
A few people have said get some legal advice but we don't really want to throw good money after bad (if there's nothing we can do)! At this point in time, I can see us having to give back the car and lose the £14k we paid for it... Which is utterly, utterly depressing.
But to all you who have given me some good advice, I really appreciate it, thank you!
JM said:
What address? The garage that did the MOT? But you didn't buy it from a garage... more confusion typos?
No typos there... Just confusion on your part. I was stating that the address we met the seller at when we bought the car matched the address that was listed on the MOT papers (when it was MOT'd just before we bought it). Not that confusing it is??
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