Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The Perils of Selling a Used Car

We have just had a visited from Her Majesty's Constabulary. "Do you own an Audi, Sir?" asked the WPC? "Well, if you look behind you, you'll see three of them!" I jauntily replied. "Is one of them registration number GU... XXX?" "Yes, the A4 over there," I pointed out. "We're trying to sell it." "Well it's been involved in a crime and used as a getaway vehicle," said the second WPC. I must admit, my blood started to run cold at that point, as I imagined joining Stevie Gerard down the local nick. My mood brightened when I realised it was registered in my partner's name and not mine :).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, my partner had put it in Autotrader and hadn't photoshopped out the number plate. So a London criminal decided to make the plate up, put it on an identical car and use it in a robbery. Nice. Apparently this happens quite a lot.

The only reason I am telling you this is as a warning to others. If you're advertising you car for sale, don't put the registration number in the photo!

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As the WPCs were about to leave, I asked them if they had ever had an Indian Head Massage. I quickly explained that I wasn't offering one (one of them looked more disappointed than the other one), but if they worked just over the border in East Sussex they'd get one free.

29 comments:

Old BE said...

I don't know how often this happens, but when the Congestion Charge came in I was expecting to read stories of this sort the whole time. Either they are not reported or people can't be bothered!!

Old BE said...

ps anyone in the market for a new car should be patriotic and buy a Toyota!

Anonymous said...

Yes it looks a nice car! Alas I will not be buying another a car for quite a while due to Mr Brown's Bust!

Talking of selling things I have just seen on the BBC that in 20 US cities house prices fell by 18% in one month!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7804851.stm

This could well mean that US banks will have further capitilisation problems and many homeowners may just walk away from the properties they live in! So the credit crunch is likely to get even worse!

J said...

If you'd have won Norfolk North, you might have been arrested :)

Piers said...

Why would you pay to put the car on autotrader when you could put it on compucars for free?

Andrew said...

I was so thrilled at the 2.5% VAT reduction that I've bought a new car. It's a Golf. That should get Britain moving again as the PM intended.

Mark Fulford said...

Serves you right for having Xenon headlights. ;-)

Ted said...

When I lived in a house on the Brixton/Camberwell boundary (previous resident John Major) in the 70's a friend had her clapped out old Fiat 500 nicked - despite a good array of Jags, Rovers even Fords to pick from parked on same street.
It was used as a getaway vehicle for a bank robbery (how did they get it to start we wondered?) before she had realised it had gone - PC Plod took some convincing of our innocence.

Dick the Prick said...

Relaxed when you realised it wasn't yours! You'd be rubbish on the lamb.

Blaad said...

I like your front.

And Plod believed you?

ps; How much did you get away with?

strapworld said...

Iain, It is quite amazing how many cars are advertised with their number plates on display, so you are not alone.

It is a wonder the policewoman didn't arrest you on the spot for making lewd suggestions.

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Hamish said...

Genuine reason for sale?

Iain Dale said...

Indeed - replaced by a Cabriolet. What better reason could there be?!

We only bought the car because it was necessary to have a saloon to transport my partner's mother in. Unfortunately she died in the autumn.

Vienna Woods said...

About time that the UK went continental and have the plates licensed to the person and not the vehicle. As an added benefit you have more of a chance to remember your plate number when stopped by Plod.

By the way Iain, my one year old Audi A4 was stolen a few months ago and was wrecked in an accident with a Polizei road block when the dear little Romanian shit driving tried to ram his way through! For good measure the Polizei shot him twice when he tried to leg it. Forgive me if I don't sound so sympathetic, but the insurance didn't pay out the full cost of renewal and I'm still arguing the toss. Meanwhile, I have bought a new Lancia Delta for 2/3 price of the Audi and it's almost as good!

weggis said...

Shame on You Dale!

There is no such thing as a "WPC" anymore. They are all "PCs" regardless of sex, gender or any spurious orientation, in line with the HO guidance on "PC"!

Iain Dale said...

Weggis, I am suitably shamed.

nicobulus said...

I've a few thousand Icelandic Krone left over from Xmas, it should just about cover the cost of a valve cap on your Audi. Will this do?

Unsworth said...

@ Weggis

Difficult to tell the difference, really. Apart from those rather nice frocks that the Counter Terrorist guys wear - off duty too, apparently.

Anonymous said...

what engine?

Iain Dale said...

2.0 TDI

Also has cruise control and tracker

Lola said...

what year is the car? And plate year?

Iain Dale said...

reg february 2008 on a 57 plate

Houdini said...

Cheshire Oaks Audi will sell you the same car brand new cheaper.

Haven't you heard there is a credit crunch on?

Iain Dale said...

Bollocks. It is £29,000 new.

Weygand said...

My immediate reaction on reading the second para of your post of 30 Dec 5 30 pm was to wonder why you had not just called an undertaker like anybody else.

[Please forgive this comment which is only meant to point out the wonderful ways of the English language and not intended to be upsetting. If you or your partner find it so, please delete it and accept my apologies.]

Andy said...

Iain. Why would a criminal look in autotrader if most of the cars' license plates are photoshopped out when they can just walk down the street and read off a license plate from a parked car?

Iain Dale said...

Absolutely no idea. I don't have the mind of a criminal.

I suppose next you will be saying I've mad the whole thing up!

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