Furious with myself (have a laugh at me)

[dougie_374468830]

Through the course of my business i get the occasional chance to buy caravans before they get advertised. I have a cris account so everything gets checked before purchase.

I was looking at a prospective purchase owned by a guy i have known for years. He`s had the thing for 3+ years and has receipt but no cris doc. i dont normally worry about doc because a lot of people pay 000`s for a van then baulk at a tenner for a doc.

Anyway, i checked van with cris and all ok so parted with the dough.

Next day i am going over van when i notice the number on one window doesnt seem quite right,there is a dot just slightly out of line. A scurry round the rest reveals the worst.What should be a 3 is now a 9. What do i do? sell it hoping it isnt noticed? Not an option, i run a caravan repair business. I cant be seen flogging hooky vans. A phone call to cris reveals the worst. Nicked in 2000 when van was 3mths old and insurance co that paid out is defunct.So off to old bill, who cant understand why i havent just flogged it given it was stolen 10 yrs ago. But after some summary investigation they are not going to seize it just yet.

There are 3 traceable owners of this van since 2002 it has service history, it has been insured and all the time it was a stolen van. Yet there has never been a cris application for this van or its alter ego.

Into every life a little rain must fall, I get bloody Niagra.

 

[Surfer]

Goes to show how easily one can be duped however it also demonstrates that a dealer has no interest in the caravan as long as they can get you to part with your cash. I assume that it was serviced at a dealership. If it was a car it would have been picked up within 3 years due to the MOT. Makes you wonder if there were any warranty claims on it at any stage.

 

[Robtel]

Hi Dougie,

No, I wont have a laugh at you. At least you have done the decent thing and notified police etc. I'm sure a few others would'nt have bothered and just shifted the van on as quick as possible. You're quite correct in your actions though, a good reputation in business is something you just can't buy, well done!

What is the likely outcome of this? Will you lose the van, do you have recourse to claiming back the purchase fee from the seller. If it can be traced back to 3 previous owners can they all claim back the purchase price till only the first buyer since stolen is out of pocket?

Hope it works out for you ( bet you wont make the same mistake again though)

Robert

 

[thursdays child]

Dougie my friend I doubt if anyone on here will be laughing at your expense. We are more likely to be thinking " there but for the grace of god go us all"!!! I hope you are not too much out of pocket and can quickly recoup any losses. Maybe divine intervention prevented someone from having to get into debt to buy this van only to discover its dubious history and end up paying for several years for it when it is taken from them.One has to question the ethics of the police officer whose advice you sought.

I sincerely hope you get a happy ending to your story.Even with all the documentation cars have it doesn't prevent professional criminals from giving them new identities and selling them on.If stealing is your chosen profession then you will keep up to date with all procedures required to breach security systems.

I applaud your integrity and wish you all the luck for a happy conclusion.

Thursdays Child

 

[Pat_374304630]

Dougie,

I think you should chang your name to ' Honest Dougie ', however thinking about that maybe it wouldn't sound too good in your line of business.

Seriously mate I admire you for what you have done.

 

[dougie_374468830]

Thanks for the sentiments.Thankfully we`re not talking a huge sum of money ,unlike the guy on the telly.

The police line is that given the van was nicked 10 yrs ago and the insurance co (Eagle Star) no longer trades there is a fair chance the inquiry will hit the buffers and the police will release the van back to me and inform cris accordingly.They (police) will try to speak to all traceable people but as there was a payout they might just pursue direct to insurance co.

At the mo i have custody of the van but it is still technically seized, at least i can keep an eye on it.

 

[SBS]

Eagle Star is part of Zurich Financial Services (although the brand name has disappeared). Hopefully, the records have disappeared as well so they won't want the 'van back.

Good luck.

Mike

 

[gary]

Doing things honestly and correctly can pay dividends? about two years ago I was asked to date a van, it turned out to be 1994 and stolen less than a year before. Police got involved and traced back uncovering how it ended up with the present 'keeper' who was proved totally innocent.

Up shot was it stood the insurance company at