Beat used car fraud with What Car?

• National awareness week
• Don't get conned – and lose your cash
• What Car? anti-fraud guide

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Unscrupulous sellers conned used car buyers out of £16.9 million last year, according to official car fraud statistics issued by the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA).

Car Crime Awareness Week
The latest statistics come at the start of Car Crime Awareness Week, which aims to highlight the dangers of vehicle fraud to both consumers and the motor trade.

Visit What Car?’s Anti-fraud feature now at www.whatcar.com/fightcarcrime

Outstanding finance fraud
The selling of cars with unpaid finance was the joint most common type of car fraud in 2009, accounting for 29% of all cases.

Selling a car that’s still on finance is a prosecutable office, but buyers failing to check a car’ history often don't realise until it’s too late – so lose their money and the car when it’s repossessed.

Paul Harrison, from the FLA, said: 'Buyers should always ensure they carry out a full vehicle history check, which will confirm if there's any outstanding finance, before committing to buy a used car.'

Credit application fraud
Application fraud was the other most common offence in 2009, also accounting for 29% of all incidents.

However, this wasn’t all down to career criminals – it’s relatively easy for ordinary car buyers to break the law when making credit applications. In many cases car buyers unwittingly commit offences by omitting vital information when applying for a finance deal at a dealership.

To mark Car Crime Awareness week and, to help consumers stay out of trouble, What Car? has created a guide to safer buying.