How to avoid buying a cloned car

Car thieves have become extremely adept at grinding off the car's original identity numbers and information.

Car thieves have become extremely adept at grinding off the car's original identity numbers and information.

Published Sep 26, 2014

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Johannesburg - More than 66 000 vehicles valued at over R8.5-billion (yes, billion) were stolen or hijacked in South Africa last year.

A shocking statistic, that. But where do all these stolen cars and trucks eventually end up?

According to the SAPS and the South African Insurance Crime Bureau, six percent (worth about R514-million) end up dismantled in chop shops, 57.6 percent (to the value of R4.9-billion) disappear into neighbouring countries, and 36.4 Percent (a little more than one in three, worth R3.1-billion) filter back into the system as clones of legitimately owned vehicles right here in SA.

A cloned vehicle is exactly what it sounds like: an exact duplication, or copy, of another car. Only in this case, one is legally bought and registered and one is stolen and masquerading as its legal counterpart.

Basically, bad guy steals silver hatchback. Bad guy pays corrupt official to source chassis and engine identification numbers, as well as registration papers of a matching silver hatchback on the NaTIS system. Bad guy applies (literally grinds off and re-stamps) these identifiers to stolen silver hatchback and sells it to an oblivious buyer.

Good guy who owns the legitimate silver hatchback has no idea his car’s identity has been cloned until he tries to renew his licence disc and finds his car is now 'owned' by somebody else. Bad guy is long gone with the cash.

It’s a scary process that affected about 39 000 vehicles last year in South Africa, according to SAICB, and the most effective way of fighting this lucrative crime is to stop buying cloned vehicles. Easier said than done, we know, but here are some helpful tips from Tracker to avoid falling victim.

First and foremost, always buy from a reputable dealer.

A private deal that seems to good to be true probably is. Meeting a shady seller in a parking lot to buy an impossibly cheap car should sound warning bells. Dodgy sellers often advertise on websites and offer only a cellphone number for contact details. Also be on the lookout for phoney stories of “urgent sales” due to immigration, or sales on behalf of another owner.

Ask for two sets of keys.

Thieves won’t go to the trouble of creating or copying multiple sets. Also look for the car’s service books and owner’s manual. These will likely be ditched if they can tie a stolen vehicle back to its original owner.

Avoid buying cars with multiple owners in short periods of time.

Thieves working in cahoots with corrupt officials can use false names and addresses of previous owners to throw buyers off track when tracing a vehicle’s history.

If you have accidentally bought a cloned vehicle in a private sale, chances are you’ll lose the car and will never recover your money.

If the cloned car was bought from a dealership, inform the police. The dealer can be held liable and should refund you.

Unfortunately there’s no real way of preventing your car from being cloned, especially if it’s a common make, model and colour. But, if you do suspect you’ve been cloned, inform your nearest registration authority and request a Request for Police Identification form.

The authority should then refer you to the nearest SAPS Vehicle Identification Section, which will open an enquiry docket and assign an investigator to your case. - Star Motoring

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