Car cloning is a serious crime that is on the rise. Unless you’ve had your car’s number plates physically stolen from your vehicle, then you will have no way of knowing whether your car has been cloned until an offense has been committed.  The first you will hear about it, in all likelihood, is when you receive a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) or fine through the door for something that you are not guilty of. In some cases, the first you hear of your car being cloned may even be a visit from the police. This could well be the case if a cloned car has been involved in serious organised crime, such as a ram raid of burglary.
The other option is to get a FREE vehicle check from us, go here and fill out the vehicle registration. Our Premium checks will also check for stolen or cloned plates, as well as so-called Grey Imports (find out more about Grey Imports here).
What Should I do if I get a Speeding Ticket from a Cloned Plate?
If you receive a speeding ticket for your car, and it’s clear that it wasn’t you or any other permitted person driving the car, then it may be that your car has been cloned. If this is the case, then you need to take action.
The first thing you should do is contact the organisation or body that issued the fine and explain to them that it wasn’t you and that there is a possibility that your car may have been cloned. They can then stop pursuing you for the offense or crime and investigate further.
Consider a new Plate
It may sound over the top, but if you suspect that your number plate has been cloned because you have received a PCN or fine relating to your car, then you should consider changing your registration number. The easiest way to do this is to buy a private or personalised registration and have it transferred to your car.
Doing the above will mean that any subsequent PCNs or fines cannot possible be from the activities of your own car, and you will have documented proof that you haven’t been using your original registration from the date that you bought the personalised one. The great thing about private registrations is that they are very cheap nowadays. You can get one for as little as £100, which is considerably less than the financial ramifications of any parking charges or other offenses that you could be wrongly accused of.
What Evidence Should I Gather?
Like it or not, if someone has cloned your car, then you are going to be the main suspect for any illegal activities that they have been involved in. So the most proactive approach would be to gather any supporting evidence that you can. It will all help you in the long run. Any evidence that proves your car was in a location different to that which shows on any PCNs or other fines would be good evidence. In the UK, CCTV is everywhere so is probably the best evidence that you can get.
Unfortunately, if your car is cloned then it is not something that is going to go away by ignoring it. You need t take action as soon as possible by gathering evidence to prove that you and your car are not involved. There is no shortage of people who didn’t do enough to fight their case and the consequences were dire for them. Learn from their mistakes and protect yourself as much as possible.
