The rise of the car clone

As the increase of car crime continues, people are being urged to be more vigilant when purchasing privately owned vehicles; car cloning has become a real favourite of many wanton car thieves.

One car is stolen every five minutes in the UK, increasing the chances of an innocent buyer purchasing a stolen car, which is likely to have been cloned. Police have seen a substantial rise in car cloning cases, as thieves can easily steal the identity of a legally roadworthy car by changing number plates and even identification numbers.

Police are urging any new car owners to check and re-check any used car they may wish to purchase avoiding future embarrassment and confiscation of their new vehicle.

New car owners can check the car's identification number against the logbook and inspect the number plate and car window etchings for any signs of tampering. Other details of the car's logbook can also provide useful clues in suspicious cases, as the address should match the previous car owners.

There are also multiple facilities online for consumers to check the car history of any potential new purchases using the well-established HPI check, which can tell if the car has been written off, under finance or reported stolen.

Insure My Vehicle provides commercial vehicle insurance to insure your entire business fleet and can arrange competitive online car insurance premiums to lower overall business overheads.

September 02^nd 2009

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