News Story
Car Cloning
Cloning is a new car crime emerging nationwide, where criminal gangs give a stolen car - often taken during a carjacking - the identity of an existing legitimate vehicle. In one case, police discovered eight cars with the same registration number.
In 2004, 77 per cent of vehicles recovered by the police were found to be 'cloned' (Source: Lancashire Constabulary Stolen Vehicle Squad – part of the Serious and Organised Crime Unit).
There are however, steps that can be taken to avoid this particular form of car crime:
- Organise a vehicle check and carefully follow the advice given by Auto Trader, HPI and Experian, and make sure it includes insurance up to £10,000
- Never pay cash for a vehicle – criminals selling a cloned vehicle will not take a Bankers' Draft
- Make sure you see the vehicle at the dealership address – not in a car park, or residential street
- Ensure you get a landline number – not just a mobile phone number
- Make sure that name and address on the vehicle registration certificate is the person you are buying it from, supported by identification
- If it looks to be good to be true – it probably is!