Autodecide

Beware of Auto Identity Theft When Buying a Used Car

December 16, 2007 on 7:30 pm | In automobile purchase, decision analysis | No Comments

Four years after you buy a used car, the police confiscate it and you never get it back. This actually happened to a lady in South Florida. Her story is in this Sun Sentinel article. She had a sporty gray Mitsubishi Eclipse which she bought at a large car dealership. Both she and the dealership weren’t aware that it was a stolen car that had its vehicle identification number (VIN) replaced with another car’s VIN.
According to the article, cloning operations often target high-end models and their business is booming. Consumers often lose their cars when such fraud is found because the vehicles are considered stolen property.
Vehicle Cloning Prevention Tips
As the article describes, the thieves can be sophisticated and can be difficult to detect. They forge, duplicate or alter titles so VINs placed on the clone matches the documents. There are some steps you can take to reduce the chance of this happening to you. Here are some vehicle cloning prevention tips mentioned by the National Insurance Crime Bureau:

Check the vehicle’s VIN with appropriate government agencies and your state bureau of motor vehicles.
Analyze the ownership pattern for any new or late model vehicle with no lien holder.
Trust your instincts: If a used vehicle deal sounds too good to be true, walk away.
Have a private company conduct a vehicle history search.

Obtaining a Vehicle’s History Report

A vehicle history search can be done on the internet. Two choices are AutoCheck from Experian and CARFAX. Both searches cost around $25. The CARFAX tool is nice in that you can get a free and immediate summary of the car’s year, make, model and a few other car details by just entering the car’s VIN. I tried this out with my car and it worked perfectly. You’re then given the choice to purchase the vehicle event history.