Majority of motorists lack basic knowledge to protect against vehicle identity fraud
motorists lack knowlege to protect against car clones
[UKPRwire, Mon Oct 02 2006] More than half of all motorists risk falling victim to car cloning crooks because they don’t know how to check if their vehicle is a fraud.
A survey carried out by mycarcheck.com has revealed that the majority of drivers are ill-prepared to protect themselves against the growing problem of vehicle identity theft by organised criminals.
Each year an estimated 25,000 dangerous cars are put back on the road, many of them sold to unsuspecting motorists by organised gangs and confidence tricksters making an estimated £3 billion a year from the illegal trade.
It is thought that of the 35 million vehicles registered with the DVLA one in three have something to hide.
The easiest way to check a vehicle’s history to make certain it is safe and legal is to ensure the registration plate matches the Vehicle identification Number (VIN) on the chassis or elsewhere and that it looks original.
All UK vehicles have a distinctive chassis codes consisting of 17 letters and numbers and at least the last four are unique to each vehicle.
However research carried out by mycarcheck.com, which deals with thousands of calls a month from motorists checking the history of their vehicles, discovered that most motorists did not realise the importance of their car’s unique Vehicle Identification Number or even where to find it.
Alarmingly 34% of callers did not know what a VIN number is. Of those who did know what a VIN is 56% were unable to explain where to find it on their vehicles and 51% admitted they did not know why it was important to check its authenticity.
The Vehicle Identification Number is more than just a line of random letters with a serial number stuck on the end. Concealed within the number is most of the history of the car, including the model and body style, when and where it was built down to the location of the factory.
Although VINs are often found in several places on a car the most common locations are on the frame of the passenger door, on the dash near the windscreen, on the engine itself, on the steering column, on the radiator support bracket and on the vehicle registration documents.
“It’s of the utmost importance that people are aware of and check their vehicles VIN number,” said Roger Powell, General Manager of mycarcheck.com.
“If there is less or more than 17 characters, or if there is any suggestion the numbers have been tampered with in any way, people should be immediately suspicious.
”Any irregularities between the number on your vehicles chassis and the number appearing on your vehicle registration documents is more than likely a sign of car cloning.” said Mr Powell, whose company uses data supplied by the DVLA, the police and the Association of British Insurers to provide a one-stop Vehicle Fraud Protection Service to consumers for just £9.95.
Often people don’t realise that insurance companies do not check the history of a vehicle when a motorist takes out a policy and it is left up to the owner.
“A car may look all right but if it has been written-off or stolen then insurance companies may not pay out if it is ever involved in another claim,” said Mr Powell.
Ends
Note to Editors:
For further information please contact Roger Powell on 01436 821206.
MyCarCheck.com is a trading name of The Vehicle Inspection Company (UK) Ltd., which has a contract with the DVLA and the Police Authorities, and is a subsidiary of CDL Group Holdings.
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