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Experiences with car theft.
https://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21740		 Page 1 of 3
Author:  clubmn [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Experiences with car theft.
Not sure how many people would have run into this problem...
Spend plenty over 3 yrs on restoring a mini from ground up, (purchasing a bare shell) you get the RWC one week ago and when going for the Reg and inspection today you are told the car was stolen and if proved to be the stolen car its not your property and therfore will be removed and returned to the rightful owner.
Sucks hey. Well does it get any worse?
Author:  minimetoy [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:38 pm ]
Post subject: 
Thats tough.

Strip the car immediately.

keep us posted.

Dan
Author:  simon k [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:46 pm ]
Post subject: 
never happened to me, but I know who was on the other end of that - had their car stolen, restored by someone and then taken off that person....

in your case, if the previous owner was paid out by their insurance company - then the car belongs to the insurance company, you may be able to strike an arrangement with them.

Don't go in all angry, go in sad and upset that you've spent so much time and effort making a dream mini, and it wasn't your fault - find out what you can do about it - maybe the 'rightful' owner will let you buy it off them - if you've got receipts for the $$ you've spent you might be able to get some back
Author:  DTrain [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:49 pm ]
Post subject: 
what do you mean you were told its not yours? why dont you have receipts?
Author:  Shard [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:50 pm ]
Post subject: 
When did this happen?!?!

This wasn't the black one we saw in the driveway today was it!

Shard
Author:  Namibian CAMEL [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:52 pm ]
Post subject: 
.

Thats tough stuff.
I assume it has just happened to you.

So does that mean everything that you might have done to the car is 'the other owners', even if they didnt do it to it.
Hope it all works out fine.
Author:  CPOCSM [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:56 pm ]
Post subject: 
Probably not as bad as that - but I did clock a little shite with the mini wheel brace at 15 yards. It was a pearler throw and knocked him off his feet.

He was trying to use a screwdriver to jimmy his way into the boot of my mini - succeeded - and took off with the toolbox across the Woden carpark. Wheelbrace was the first thing I picked up and I hucked it at him, hit him on the RH side of the skull, dropped my tools, then got away. Was probably all of 14-15 and with a huge headache(had hair on it too...lmao)

Hope the little f*&ker suffered for a bit! Police warned me about use of force and that they probably wouldnt get him. They did - a week later robbing a shop in Phillip, took prints and matched it with the ones on my car. I think he is still in Mugga lane detention centre...

Apparently I was a bees willy away from being charged myself with assault using a dangerous/offensive weapon. What are you supposed to do though - let them get away with it, maybe throw them the keys as well...lol

As I said - not probably in the same league but a few checks would satisfy you the car is genuinely for sale:

1. REVS check - any encumberence and this also flags anomalies in who is actually on the paper;

2. DOT check(QLD) - I did one with them every time I buy a car up there(costs $40 and is worth it - dont think the RTA do it)

3. The seller - make sure they have all the paperwork with them, and in their name(check their licence and make sure it matches the rego papers). If not, walk away from it

Vermin the lot of them - hope they rot

Hooroo
Author:  clubmn [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:59 pm ]
Post subject:  mm1275
Yeah mate it is that one, see the problem is the engine was somehow recovered, Which indicates the car was was stripped then parts found (but the body never found). Currently according to the RTA the engine is in a car in NSW. Whats on my side is the fact that i have never had the origional motor, and before 1989 only the engine number was taken from a car for the RTA and registration purposes not Vin numbers.

Now my car has clearly never been registered before 89 when the new regs came in, So lets say the 1ltr was removed in the 70's-80's and put in another car, they would believe my car was the stolen car... SORTA.. There is no ID of my car (not motor) ever been registered in AUS (this is becuase they only ever took the engine number, and it is currently in another car, the body number of the other car is not the same as mine)... Yeah kinda screwed i must say, but with a very small bit of hope.
Author:  Mike_Byron [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:01 pm ]
Post subject: 
There is a lot of dynamics happening in this one.
As said its certainly not the time to go banging heads in the RTA or the insurance company. It relates to a theft some time ago - evident by your 3 years plus what ever time before when it was stolen. Dont forget values change with time and it may well have been worth $500 about fifteen years ago when all this happened.

As said - act sad, plenty of money spent, not the same car in terms of quality, owner padi out years ago so its only you and the insurance co. involved. They dont care really, they would be happy with a moderate number and to be able to close their books on it. That is provided that insurance company still exists.
Author:  Shard [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:06 pm ]
Post subject: 
That's crap mate :(.

As said before, maybe try and find out how much they insurance company paid out back then and work something out.

Absolute worst comes to absolute worst I guess you could strip the car... but I'm guessing the paintjob alone might outweigh what they paid out in costs unless it was a ripper of a car pre-stolen.

Aside from that wonder if it is the insurance company or the owner they'll contact, imagine having your car stolen and then years later they find it... would be a weird feeling I wouldn't know if I wanted it back knowing that someone had given a new life to it.

Shard
Author:  Morris 1100 [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:12 pm ]
Post subject: 
In NSW the engine number and the Chassis number (VIN number) are used on rego and have been since time began. They need to recover both numbers to recover a stolen car.

Who is to say that the car was insured? Most minis in the 70s and 80s and probably the 90s would not have been insured for theft, just third party property. The owner may have been out of pocket.
Author:  clubmn [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:18 pm ]
Post subject:  mm1275
When contacting NSW RTA (where I was told the car was originally registered) they did not mention a stolen car. What they said is the engine is currently car and the car the engine is in does not correspond with the VIN number I have the RTA. Victoria however found the engine on the data base and they said the chassis comes up stolen.

I also thought that the car may have never had insurance. I also thought possible insurance scam, as the car could have been sold off in bits? (engine was recovered)

Oh and on the national database the body has also never been listed ever in the country. so possibly morris 1100 you are wrong. Or the RTA's arnt telling me somthing.
Author:  Morris 1100 [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:27 pm ]
Post subject: 
So the body has never been listed but somehow it comes up stolen?
How can it come up stolen if it does not exist?

BTW When I registered my Cooper S in 1982 they checked the engine number and the body number and both are on the rego papers. (back in those days the Department of Motor Transport used to call the Police while you were in the motor registary to verify if the car was stolen.)

I don't know if all the paper archives have been put onto computer but they would exist.
Author:  clubmn [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:33 pm ]
Post subject:  mm1275
i think in 1989 everybody had to show the engine and body number of there previously registered cars. Maybe in start of the 80's every body had to show the vin of every re-registered car?
This is what i was told as im just 21, I dont know personaly
Author:  willy [ Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:09 pm ]
Post subject: 
I hope you restored it well for the new (old) owners.

That sucks mega, man.

This happened recently... to Brad.
With his wife's Mini... Barbie.
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