With approximately 8,000 vehicles stolen each year in Ireland and between 10-15% of them never being re-covered, Cartell.ie, the independent car history checking company is urgently calling for a national Stolen Vehicle Register (SVR) to be set up.

Jeff Aherne, Director of Cartell.ie comments, “Our objective has always been, and remains, to keep Irish motorists safe. According to our statistics 800-1,200 stolen cars remain un-recovered and while some of those will be sold as scrap, it is fair to assume that a large percentage are still on Irish roads, being insured and driven by unsuspecting owners. We believe this practice must stop.”

Cartell.ie originally brought in a system of document verification with its car history check service some time ago. The purpose was to prevent the consumer from buying a vehicle with forged documents as these were generally stolen vehicles. This system has been very successful to date. However, Cartell.ie believes a national stolen vehicle register will make the system even more robust.

Aherne again, “We know of instances where car thieves will request to see documentation when viewing a vehicle. They use this documentation and the owners name to notify the Department of Transport that they have purchased this vehicle. The thief then robs an identical vehicle and tries to sell it. However, Cartell.ie can identify quick changes of owners on vehicles. As is often the case, a quick change of ownership can mean that the vehicle could be cloned. In cases like this, people need to be careful that they do not become the victim of identify theft as well.”

While there is currently no official stolen vehicle register in the Republic of Ireland that can be accessed by the public An Garda Síochána maintains a Stolen Motor Vehicle Unit (SMVU). Since 2002, Cartell.ie has been working with the SMVU to have stolen vehicle data released so that the public can check to see if a car has been stolen themselves. While the release of the stolen vehicle data will not solve the above problem it should assist in the recovery of some of these vehicles by An Garda Síochána. At present, Gardaí tend to locate cloned vehicles after the vehicle has been sold on or when two vehicles are being taxed under the same registration.

Aherne believes a system similar to that used in the UK would go a long way to keeping stolen cars off our roads. In the UK police released their stolen vehicle register to HPI UK, a company offering the same service as Cartell.ie. This system is very effective in locating and recovering stolen vehicles.

“Our statistics indicate the 0.2% of vehicles imported into Ireland from the UK are stolen. With over 60,000 vehicles imported from the UK this year so far, it is possible that 120 stolen vehicles may be hidden here. It would be beneficial if Cartell.ie through its partner HPI UK, could track stolen Irish vehicles being sold on in the UK with their original plates” concludes Aherne.

To help protect against buying a cloned or stolen vehicle, Cartell.ie recommends the following;

• Always view the vehicle in daylight.
• Do not give away personal or car information as these could be used for cloning purposes and lead to identify theft.
• Ask to see all the documentation and record the Vehicle Registration Certificate Number (VRC), the NCT number and the Chassis number.
• Never leave your Vehicle Registration Certificate in your car.
• Always carry out a full car history check with a company like Cartell.ie or the AA. If the documentation does not match their record or the vehicle has had a change of owner very recently as described in the reports, then beware.
• Inspect the vehicles’ chassis number locations for evidence of tampering such as welding, screwing or fresh paint in and around the area.
• Always request a form of identification from the vendor that matches the vehicle registration certificate.
• If buying the vehicle, never pay in cash or cash a bank draft on behalf of the vendor.
• Always purchase the car at the vendors address and ask to see the service history.
• Never let a person take a test drive in your car on their own.
• Always get the two sets of original keys and make sure both work correctly.

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