Car Cloning

What’s this all about?

One of our insurers, Allianz, have received notifications from concerned policyholders who have received parking tickets for places they’ve never visited with their cars.

What is car cloning?

It’s been likened to personal identity theft but for vehicles. It occurs when a number plate is stolen or replicated and used on a vehicle not connected. Increasing numbers of people, who legally own their own vehicle, are reporting receiving fines they never incurred as a result of one of their vehicles being cloned.

To clone a vehicle, the thief could steal the number plate of a legal car or, a more common option would be to buy a number plate online for the same make and model as the one that is insured that they want to clone.

Ideally the thief is looking for a vehicle with the same make and model to one which is insured.

What can I do if I receive a fine for somewhere I’ve never visited?

If you receive correspondence about fines or charges where you know it wasn’t you then the following points may assist you:

•    Contact the police so they can attempt to trace and identify the person cloning your vehicle;
•    Return and letters or fine to whoever issued them, along with any evidence you can provide to show you weren’t there;
•    Write to the DVLA at DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1ZZ along with the crime reference number so they can update their records and note it for future reference.

How can I reduce the risk this represents to me?

If you’re buying a vehicle then you may want to consider:-

•    Asking the seller for the make, model and registration number so you can check them against the DVLA’s free online vehicle enquiry service;
•    Check the vehicle registration certificate (V5C) has a ‘DVLA’ watermark. It’s also worth checking the serial number as it shouldn’t be between BG8229501 to BG9999030, or BI2305501 to BI2800000. If it is, the V5C might be stolen;
•    Check the vehicle’s identification number (VIN), engine number and colour corresponds with the details in the V5C.

In the event that you discover the vehicle you’ve looked at is cloned then it would be good practice to notify DVLA and the police.

The government have produced a leaflet which provides more information on car cloning. Click here to download the pdf

How can we help you?

Please complete one of the following if you would like us to provide a quotation for your car insurance:

•    Complete the form on the Homepage
•    Fill in the form on our contact us page
•    Email us at admin@towaninsurance.co.uk
•    Call 01637 876 876

We do everything we possibly can to check that we have got our facts straight, but it’s always possible that we could make a mistake (hopefully not or never would be better). Therefore we would like to make you aware that we accept no responsibility for information that may be factually incorrect or out of date, but we will do our best to make sure that all content is accurate. Our vision behind bringing the blog to the wider community is to keep our clients and prospective clients informed of their legal requirements, the different products on offer and how they may benefit your business and the new schemes we find which we think will benefit you.

We are Personal and Commercial Insurance Brokers based in Newquay covering the whole of Cornwall and the UK.