Beware Of The New Car Scams!

Scam, scam, scam. From March 1st 2022, new cars will now be registered with a ‘22’ registration tag. Rather than a ‘71’ to represent the new year. This change happens every year to update new cars to the current year. If you want to know a little more, read about the history of number plates. 

The new registration plates will still follow all of the same legalities as previous registrations. This means that they will require the updated legal BSAU 145e markings on the plates themselves. As well as legal lettering. These include all of the styles that we provide such as 3D Gel plates, 4D plates.  All of which are available on our number plate builder.

Illegal stylings include; neon letters, 3D printed, carbon style and frosted. This is as the two-tone nature of the lettering makes it difficult for ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras to pick up the registrations.

 

The change to ‘22’ registrations has sparked a surge of scam-warnings to drivers who are looking to purchase a new used-vehicle. Bristol Street Motors have warned about a common car scam which could become more prevalent with the release of the registrations.

What’s the scam?

As written-off cars, (Category C / Cat C) are auctioned off to garages who can professionally repair them and sell them on again once safely fixed. Motor traders must legally disclose whether a vehicle previously got wrote off or not before selling.

The scam comes in here as private sellers however do not have to provide the vehicles full history. Meaning that some scammers complete a botch-job to patch the car’s damage up and not provide a full history to highlight that it the previous state. This leaves the buyer unknowingly purchasing an unsafe written-off vehicle. 

In itself there are clearly some severe cost implications as the true value of the vehicle will be considerably lower than what the buyer paid, plus the cost of professionally fixing the vehicle could cost hundreds of pounds.

When you purchase a vehicle from a private seller, always ask for the full history. Otherwise they might scam you pretty badly! So please be careful.

 

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Whilst you’re here and we are talking about the launch of the new ‘22’ plate… why don’t you take a look through the brand-new exclusive ranges. Be the first to get your hands on a 22 registration here from the Number1Plates private registrations!