Don’t Be a Victim of a Cloned Car

With the increasing number of vehicles being stolen and cloned, it’s important to make sure the next time you’re buying a second hand car that you’re aware of how easy it is for criminals to clone cars.  A car is cloned to disguise the identity of a stolen car, which is sold on for a quick profit. However, it may not be a stolen car, with some criminals using stolen number plates to avoid parking or speeding fines, leaving the owner of the genuine car to have to pay the bill. What can you do to make sure you’re not a victim of a cloned car? Read these 7 tips below.

7 Tips to Protect Yourself

1. Get a Car History Check from services such as myvehicle.ie, to provide you with clues to identity a cloned car. Every vehicle has a hidden past, make sure your car has a future!
2. Cost of the Car- Make sure you have a look at the market’s value of the car. A genuine seller of the car will not want to lose money on their car. For example, if you’re playing less than 50% of the market value, something is not right!
3. Look for incorrect spellings on paperwork, like car titles.
4. Avoid paying in cash. The favoured method of payment according to Police is by bank draft or bank transfer in the seller’s name, where an audit trail would exist.
5. Trust your instinct, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
6. Check the registration plates for damage. This could mean that the plates have been recently replaced or removed.
7. Ask for two sets of keys for vehicle as a vehicle should always have two sets of keys.

If you have received any recent motoring offences such as speeding points or parking fines, make sure to get in touch with the Police and let them know that you may have been a victim of cloning. Before letting the Police know, try and find some evidence to backup why these speeding fines may not be yours, such as the location of your whereabouts at the day.