Cloning

alexthecheese · 25 Jul 2011 at 21:54

Am due to buy a motorhome this wednesday, for £10.5k, from a guy up in Chorley. Went to see it last Wednesday, on the spur of the moment, after seeing it posted 2 days before on autotrader.

It had masses of interest, being pretty well priced and generally well kitted out. The guy Must've had 7 phone calls for it just whilst I was there looking at it.

The guy seemed pretty kosher, if a bit bonkers, and I met him outside his home and signed up a receipt for sale after giving him a deposit.

Prior to this I had run off a hpi check which brought up two things:

- change of recent owner, and that I would be the fifth, should I buy it. It's t/1999 registered though so not the end of the world; and
- it changed colour from being blue, to being White, some years ago.

The last thing has got me worried, after watching one of those poxy police chase programmer earlier, and now I'm worried that it could potentially be cloned.

I've still got £10k in my pocket which I can walk away with now, but still wanting to buy it, if it's legit, what do I need to check for when I go and attempt to seal the deal?

Like I say the saving grace is that I met his family, he was thorough and though bonkers seemed genuine, but that doesn't really stop me buying a cloned vehicle.

iaind · 25 Jul 2011 at 21:55

Why would a T reg camper be cloned? Did you check the VIN numbers against the V5?

Fr0dders · 25 Jul 2011 at 21:57

and check that the VIN number hasn't got any obvious welding done to it.

Its pressed into the metal, so if it looks as though the metal has been cut / welded around that area then walk away.

DM · 25 Jul 2011 at 21:59

Just buy it and dont be driving yourself mad, you checked the van, you went to his house thats it over and out nothing more you can do, im quite sure plenty of people have thought i was a nutter selling them a car ****ed in the past

Scania · 25 Jul 2011 at 22:03

Why does that not surprise me DM?

alexthecheese · 25 Jul 2011 at 22:06

No, will check the vin against the v5. Anything else I need to do?

Just want to be sure - those programmes do make you silly paranoid.

One key piece of info I forgot was that it's predominantly White, with a blue stripe. So really the update corrected the information on the vehicle history.

Sounds like I should just give the man some money?

iaind · 25 Jul 2011 at 22:09

Do they? I'm well aware of cloning but the thought never really crossed my mind when buying my car, other than the previously mentioned common sense checks.

Sounds like it was blue but was painted white, albeit leaving a stripe of blue from underneath. Nowt wrong with that