East Anglia revealed as the UK’s ‘stolen for sale’ car crime hot spot
HPI urges used car buyers to protect themselves from losing the car and the money they paid for it hpicheck.com Nearly 15,000 stolen cars being offered for sale were uncovered by vehicle history check expert, HPI, in 2015. The latest figures from HPI reveal that East Anglia and London were the two regions where the greatest number of stolen cars were discovered by buyers who conducted an HPI Check®. Scotland, North East England and Northern Ireland are where the least stolen cars were offered for sale. Within East Anglia, Norfolk and Suffolk harboured the most stolen vehicles for sale, with South West London and Middlesex, being London’s hotspots. Cambridge and Essex, both in East Anglia, also showed a higher propensity of stolen vehicles for sale than other areas across the UK. Interestingly, Cambridge did not appear as an area of concern in 2014, but replaces Avon in HPI’s 2015 analysis. “Consumers simply do not realise that if they unwittingly buy a stolen car that is later proven to be recorded as stolen with the police, they stand to lose both the car and their money,” says Philip Nothard, cap hpi consumer and retail editor. “Once a vehicle is revealed as stolen, it will be returned to its rightful owner, whether that’s the previous owner or the insurance company that paid out a claim on it, leaving the victim with no car and, potentially, thousands of pounds out of pocket.” HPI’s analysis of 76 areas across the UK (where the majority of vehicle history checks were conducted in 2015*) reports that Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Midlands, Tyne & Wear, Belfast, Wiltshire and Devon had the least number of stolen cars advertised for sale. To help buyers radically reduce the risk of falling foul of car thieves, HPI offers four simple, but highly effective rules consumers should apply when buying privately.