Car ringing is a lucrative business and there are those who regularly make thousands of pounds from duping people like you. If you have never heard of ringing before, it is a car that has been stolen and has taken on a new identity – often the identity from a written-off vehicle in the scrap yard –although not always. Essentially, you buy a vehicle that has been stolen but that appears to be a different vehicle.
The last thing you will want to do is to buy :
- A stolen car
- A ringer
Should the real identity ever be revealed you could lose your car and your cash. So how can you avoid falling foul to the ringing scans that are rife? Firstly, do a vehicle check with any one of a number of car checking companies. Provide them with all of the information required – typically the registration number, the VIN, the mileage and the registration document. Check that all the information provided by the company matches that of the vehicle and do your own personal checks to ensure that the data matches the car that you wish to buy.
Importantly, do your own personal checks on the vehicle. Scrutinize every part of the car – the mileage, the VIN plates, there are a few plates on the vehicle and this varies from make and model. The newer the vehicle, the more plates can be found. There should be no sign of tampering. If you find that there has been or the VIN plates are different, walk away from the car. If you suspect ringing, contact the police or trading standards authority.
As technology improves, it becomes harder to spot any discrepancies so the onus is on you the buyer, to determine that you are 100% happy with the vehicle. Ringing is not typically the actions of someone looking to make some extra money from innocent purchasers, it is organized crime who steal and mass produce these vehicles, making a great deal of money on each. Just remember that if you buy a ringer, the car does not and will not ever belong to you.
Image courtesy of [toa55] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net”.