Ringer? What is it? Well, one driver found out the hard way - learn from her.
"Ringer" is a term that meant little or nothing to me until recently. Then I found out the hard way what it meant.
People are generally trusting when buying a new car, and don't assume the worst.
However, there are always worries when it comes to private purchases. And, sadly, I know what I'm talking about, after falling victim to an elaborate crime. My old car's days were numbered, and I was looking for a replacement. After much research, I decided on the make and model I wanted.
All I needed was to find a car within my budget, and after searching numerous motor publications, trade magazines and local advertisements, I found some suitable vehicles.
I wanted to check them before buying. But by the time I had made the checking arrangements, they were sold. I was becoming disheartened, and this got worse when I sold my car.
But one day, browsing through a classified magazine I came across an ad for what seemed like the perfect option. I phoned the contact number and, being overeager, decided to meet the "seller" without the checks I'd planned.
To make matters worse, the meeting was in a car park. This may sound dodgy, but I had met the couple who purchased my old car only days earlier in a public car park, as they couldn't find my address.
I took along two friends to the meeting for personal security. All the paperwork was provided, and checked, but because there were some suspicions one of my companions contacted the Garda.
He was told that gardaí were not permitted to advise on private purchases, which we understood. When we asked if it would be possible to establish if any report had been made against the registration number, they replied "No, that's fine."
Feeling reassured we examined the car and made the sellers an offer which, of course, was accepted. A few days later, still dubious, I e-mailed the motor tax office to check if they had received the change of ownership documents. Nothing had been received, but they explained that it can take a few weeks for the process to be completed.
I had expressed suspicions about the paperwork to the car's seller. Being aware of these doubts, if everything was legitimate, the seller would surely send in the paperwork straight away - so I tried to reassure myself. I felt my best option was to wait until the end of the week and if nothing had been received by then, I would try to contact the seller using the address he had given.
But after spending hours searching the internet and thumbing through phone books, I found there was no such address.
Although I did find the name of the previous owner at a similar address in the phone book, the spelling was slightly different but everything else matched.
When the end of the week arrived and the motor tax office confirmed that they had not got the relevant forms, I phoned the number I had found a few days earlier.
A woman answered - she seemed apprehensive, and told me that she had reported to the garda that her car had been broken into over 24 hours before my companion had contacted them to check the registration.
I immediately contacted the garda, and asked them to come and inspect the car. On arrival, they took details and the car was then taken away to be examined for fingerprints and to have a check done on the chassis number.
They were very nice, but offered little hope of a positive outcome. They later advised me to "forget about it and put it down to experience".
Next day I got a call from the garda station where the break-in had been reported: they confirmed that they had received a report of a break-in on the date and time stated, and felt that "the whole situation could have been handled better".
Weeks later I'd still heard nothing more from them, and they seemed to have little interest in the case.In the end I had no car, no money and no hope of anything being done to right the wrong. How was I duped?
The first step is to steal a car in good condition. It's then hidden for a short while to allow clearance time for garda enquiries to end.
The thief then tries to find an identical car, even down to its colour, and remove the tax, insurance and NCT discs. Using these registration details, a fake set of number plates are made up and put on the stolen car, and the con is on.
As for any checks and balances to stop this kind of scam, the gardaí are not permitted to advise on purchases, nor are consumers necessarily told if there are any reports relating to a vehicle that they may be considering buying. Thus, while the gardaí will usually give you details if the vehicle registration you supply them relates to a stolen vehicle, you won't be given any information if a break-in is reported. You can use the AA to carry out mechanical checks of the vehicle at a cost. But there is no one to carry out free checks on any criminal activity prior to purchasing vehicles privately.
The onus is on the buyer to be extra vigilant. If you are considering making an offer on a car for more than €1,000, take as many precautions as possible:
Make sure you meet the seller at their home address;
Check all the details on the vehicle registration form, the name, address, registration number and especially the chassis number.
The chassis number is the most likely giveaway. If the number on the car does not match the number on the form, don't buy the car under any circumstances.
In the end, the biggest problem was that I was never aware that stolen cars could be sold like this, and so I was defenceless. Believe me, it's a hard and costly lesson to learn.