Spotting a cloned vehicle

Weather your buying privately or through trade I would recommend that you get the vehicle HPI checked by a reliable source. HPI checks the entire vehicles history and will tell you if the car has been reported as stolen, has any outstanding finance, has been classed as an insurance write off, any police interest the number of previous keepers and the date of the last change. HPI will also produce a report showing the vehicles make and model, the colour and engine size, Chassis number and VRM (also known as the VIN and vehicle registration mark) and last known recorded mileage.

With this you can compare the vehicle that the seller is offering you and check for any anomalies. Some companies like the RAC can offer a guarantee where if you HPI check a vehicle and no issues are flagged up you will be covered for a period normally up to a year from the date of the check. This is just another way you can protect yourself and you can often claim back your losses through the company if the information they provide was incorrect and you find yourself paying the previous owners finance bill.

The HPI check won't be able to guarantee that the vehicle you're actually buying is a clone but by providing you will the full specification, along with the VIN number you can check this against the vehicle and check for any differences. If the VIN number on the car is different and / or looks like it's been tampered with WALK AWAY

If the seller is trying to sell you a cloned vehicle they will only accept payment by cash. They will never accept payment by card or bankers draft as this allows the police to track them down and prosecute them later on. Some small business gets charged a certain amount when paying large amounts by card. If paying by card is not possible you should offer to pay by banker's draft.

Bankers draft is a way of paying money directly into somebody's bank account but it's also fully traceable and is a secure method of payment.

This is one of the biggest giveaways when purchasing a vehicle, I would not recommend that anyone pay by cash....simply because there's no way that it can be traced and there's no official record of the transaction. You have no idea who the seller is only a description of them and where they live. There simply isn't enough evidence to even bring the case to court and will make it harder for the police to track down the criminal and serve justice.

On the HPI report they will be able to provide you with the genuine VIN number from the DVLA's database. You should not only check to see that this matches but also look for any signs of tampering. Criminals can obtain the official VIN number from the DVLA by using HPI and changing this on the cloned vehicle so it matches.

The VIN number is normally printed in 2 locations on the car, in the bonnet riveted onto the body work and inside the drivers foot well but this does differ between car manufacturers. Find out where the VIN numbers are printed and check these carefully

If you have doubts about a vehicles identity best advice would be to walk away and find another vehicle.

Every logbook will have a watermark with DVL written on it. You can easily tell if the logbook presented to you is genuine by holding it up against the light. You should see this clearly and it should show on both pages of the logbook.

In addiction you can also check the engine number matches on the V5 Logbook. Sometimes there maybe cases where a new engine has been fitted and this has not been declared to the DVLA so it doesn't always mean the vehicle is a clone.

This is another important factor to bear in mind is the asking price for the vehicle. If this is significantly lower than the market value you should be very suspicious. Unless there's a good reason for the lower price you should consider looking elsewhere. Sometimes dealers will lower the price of a vehicle not because its cloned or stolen but this maybe down to other reasons, the car could have a lot of cosmetic wear which would be a good reason to reduce its asking price, or maybe the dealer has had the car for an extended period of time and wants to sell it and move on.

Although these are legitimate reasons if the seller is trying to flog you a stolen or cloned vehicle then they will normally reduce the price significantly to draw in most customers and make a quick sale. Put yourself in the seller's position, if I were a car salesman why would I significantly reduce the asking price of a vehicle below its current market value.

Whenever you do a HPI check they will tell you according to the mileage and year of the car its current market value. They will also request the buyer's asking price. If the asking price is below 30% of the market value then you normally won't be covered under the guarantee if an issue with the vehicle arises later.