2010 saw 14 percent fewer motor finance fraud cases than 2009 –
832 – despite more cars being sold on finance, according to
statistics published today by the Finance & Leasing Association
(FLA).
At £14.6 million, the total value of the vehicles involved in
fraud cases fell 13.5 percent compared to 2009. Furthermore, FLA
member companies prevented more than 9,000 cases of suspected or
attempted fraud, avoiding losses of at least £116 million.
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Motor finance companies recovered 40 percent of fraudulently
acquired cars, via their own investigations and through
partnerships with the police, including the industry-funded ACPO
Vehicle Fraud Unit which recovered more than 900 vehicles valued at
£15.5 million.
News of the reduced fraud figures comes on the back of this
month’s announcement that the Home Office will axe its £300,000
grant to AVCIS, the vehicle crime intelligence service run by the
police strategic body ACPO, leaving the FLA as AVCIS’s chief
sponsor. The FLA’s head of motor finance Paul Harrison said: “Car
fraud funds organised crime and FLA members will continue to
support the police by funding the Vehicle Fraud Unit. We hope
that the Home Office will be able to find alternative funding
streams for the rest of AVCIS.”
Meanwhile, HPI CrushWatch, the online service helping dealers
and motor finance companies identify vehicles that are illegal or
have finance payments in arrears, was used 5,188 times in February.
This led to police recovering vehicles valued at £2,590,040 during
the month.
Three of the recovered vehicles were worth more than £50,000. An
Audi R8 Spyder Quattro valued at £90,190 and a £53,000 Audi RS6
Quattro was recouped by the West Yorkshire police, while a Bentley
Continental GTC worth £72,100 was recovered by the Gwent force.
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By GlobalDataThe top two marquees recovered were (for the second successive
month) Vauxhall (80) followed by Ford (76). The Vauxhalls were
valued at £299,129 and the Fords £302,998. A total of 33 BMWs,
worth £294,798, were also recovered.
The top-performing police forces in terms of the value of
vehicles recovered continue to be West Yorkshire (£393,261),
followed by Merseyside (£232,606). Third-place Lancashire police
recovered vehicles with a value of £200,868, with Hertfordshire
recovering £199,728 worth.
