Car reported as previously stolen...

Wolfey

I looked at a car this weekend and I'm quite interested in buying it, so I carried out a motor check report, which showed that the car was reported as being stolen in 2014.

The car was returned to its owner and it is legitimately for sale now, but I'm just wondering whether I can find out any details of the 2014 theft and whether the car was damaged at the time?

The car is a UK import and it was in the UK in 2014 when it was reported stolen. It's not recorded as an insurance write off.

Also, do you think that I should go ahead with the purchase (subject to a full inspection by a mechanic) as I really like this particular car, or would the fact that it was previously stolen put you off?

Atlantic Dawn

How old is the car? My main concern would be how much damage if any was caused when it was stolen, there's a possibility it was just stolen with key and parked up somewhere. Is the current owner who had it when stolen, could they provide receipts if the car was repaired. Future resale value might be an issue if you can't verify what happened when stolen.

bazz26

Contact the car check report company that you got the information from and ask them if they can query the insurance company for more information, who dealt with the case.

colm_mcm

If the car is just in from the UK and being flipped straight away, it may have been a cheap purchase over there.
If the car is pretty new, it would def put me off unless it was noticeably cheaper than similar cars as resale would be tougher, and who knows what issues are lurking.

Wolfey

bazz26 wrote: »

Contact the car check report company that you got the information from and ask them if they can query the insurance company for more information, who dealt with the case.

Thanks, I sent an email to Motorcheck today requesting more information.

Wolfey

colm_mcm wrote: »

If the car is just in from the UK and being flipped straight away, it may have been a cheap purchase over there.
If the car is pretty new, it would def put me off unless it was noticeably cheaper than similar cars as resale would be tougher, and who knows what issues are lurking.

The car is a 2008 model.

There were 2 UK owners. The first owner from new until 2010. The second owner from 2010 until December 2015. The car was reported as stolen in September 2014.

The current owner (third owner) is Irish and he purchased and imported the car in December 2015, with a view to selling it on quickly at a profit.

gctest50

Be grand - built for it sure

_Brian

There's always another better car out there if you take the time.

I think we all fall into the trap that "this one is for me" and try to excuse away wooly stuff we see.

I'd see this as a signal to walk away and look elsewhere.

CGI_3

On a related subject, are there any car history checkers that will tell you of Irish stolen cars?

Atlantic Dawn

CGI_3 wrote: »

On a related subject, are there any car history checkers that will tell you of Irish stolen cars?

As far as I know there's no official register here, same as there's no official register for written off cars here.