Police call to close loophole feeding theft of luxury cars
CRIMINAL gangs and violent car-jackers are stealing BMWs, Range Rovers and other luxury cars for spare parts to order West Midlands Police have warned.
The gangs need the spare parts to do up insurance write-offs which are sold as repairable at auction.
So now West Midlands Police is calling on the Government and insurance industry to take action to close the loophole.
Investigations suggest criminal gangs are snapping up damaged cars rated insurance write-offs from salvage auctions – and then stealing cars to order for the parts they need to fix them and sell for a hefty profit.
Police said about five times more high-spec cars like BMWs, Audis and Range Rovers are sold as repairable write-offs compared to less valuable cars.
And so the gangs steal cars to avoid paying to get them back on the road.
Police are now calling for greater regulation of the scrap industry so that owners, auctions and breakers are correctly licensed and can be traced.
West Midlands Police Deputy Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe, said: “We’ve witnessed a near 100 per cent increase in vehicle thefts across the West Midlands in the last four years – up from 5,215 in 201415 to more than 10,000 in 2017-18.
“And there’s a correlation between the types of cars being stolen and those available as repairable write-offs.
“It is our firm belief, supported by police intelligence, that this increase is being driven by the criminal demand for car parts. We will be raising our concerns with government, the Association of British Insurers and online auction and sales sites.
“A review and improved regulation on the resale of insurance write-offs is needed.
“We’ll be asking if so many badly damaged cars should be offered as repairable write-offs and, where they are, salvage auctions should stipulate that buyers have the correct breaker’s licences needed to dismantle vehicles.
“We also want salvage auctions to introduce a ‘know your customer’ framework and have clear structures in place to report suspicious buyer activity.
“In addition, we’re also meeting with online sales sites to encourage them to better protect customers who could unwittingly end up buying a car that’s been repaired using parts from a stolen vehicle.”
Stolen cars are broken down at so called ‘chop shops’ – back street garages or industrial estate units – sometimes in a matter of hours before repaired cars are sold on through sites.
Last week West Midlands Police launched its ‘Shop A Chop Shop’ campaign urging people to report any premises they suspect is dismantling stolen vehicles.
Ms Rolfe also fears there is a serious public safety concern around the resale of repaired write-offs with some vehicles being passed on without features such as airbags.
She explained: “There is no requirement for repaired write-offs to be checked before being sold.
“They can be returned to the road without an inspection until they reach MOT age.
“Many of the vehicles sold at salvage auctions having been writtenoff by insurers will have been involved in serious collisions where airbags have been deployed.
“Under the Pyrotechnic Articles Regulations Act, they should be replaced by an authorised economic operator or professional user, but no procedures appear to be in place to ensure such replacement of airbags meet regulatory requirements.” online auction or sales