Just had the police at my door..

[tvchimp]

*this is a long post, refer to the bottom of the post for a TL;DR*

Regarding a motorcycle I recently purchased. First thought was "WTF, they're delivering NIP's by hand now?" then remembered I havent ridden it in the past few weeks (since the day I bought it...will give details).

I bought the bike off a guy on ebay, spoke to him before I won it, sounded fine, organised to pick it up and give cash in hand. With what the bike had done (new engine rebuild and parts - ebay add listed here clicky I had no doubts of it). Went on the back of my old man's bike, guy seemed fine, bike sounded and looked in great condition. Signed all the paperwork, started on the ride it home (175miles-ish).

60miles from where we'd picked it up, bike started to struggle with power and wouldn't go over 8k rpm in any gear, regardless of throttle openening. Pulled over, gave it 10minutes then started up again, bike seemed ok, but smoking like a victorian chimney from both the exhaust and the engine head seals... Got it about 5miles from my house, the bike ran out of fuel, got some more, but the bike decided it liked the lay-by so much on the A38 that it wouldn't move (the clutch died) ... Ended up getting a mate with a van to pick us up and bring us home.

A few days later, me and my old man managed to get the engine apart. To discover this...

https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/bobhm/CB125/IMAG0103.jpg
https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/bobhm/CB125/IMAG0102.jpg
https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/bobhm/CB125/IMAG0099.jpg
https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/bobhm/CB125/IMAG0095.jpg
https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/bobhm/CB125/IMAG0097.jpg
https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/bobhm/CB125/IMAG0096.jpg
https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/bobhm/CB125/IMAG0094.jpg
https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/bobhm/CB125/IMAG0093.jpg
https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/bobhm/CB125/IMAG0100.jpg

Bear in mind he stated pretty much *everything* on it was new. The kicker was that on separating the head and barrels, we found half the old gasket hadn't been cleaned off, the stems for the exhaust had been chemical metal'd in place, resulting in the smoke coming from the exhaust (couldn't see this before, as the exhaust covered it). I'd put a claim in with Ebay to recover/all or part of the costs, as he's blatantly not replaced much of the things with new parts.

So, having ordered all the new parts to get it sorted (using a guy Teflon_Mike advised - Cheers by the way mate! ) and they should be here on Monday... Will be holding off fitting them until the Police Investigation has been taken care of (I can walk to work, it's about 2miles from my house)..

Basically, the guy I bought it from, also sold the bike to someone else after I'd bought it, police were involved and got my details (I presume) from the DVLA. Now the guy can't be contacted by any contact number, had my details, and I had the address I picked it up from. The copper was nice (young blonde lady, om nom nom) and took all my details/details I had for the bike (well, copies anyway)..

One thing I noticed, that the engine number differed from that on the MOT sheet (have yet to receive the full log book), haven't checked the frame number but will be later on to see if it matches.

Apart from leaving the police to do their investigation, is there anything I should do myself? I've given all my details and she was happy with everything I gave (never been involved in a bike scam/police investigation)

*TL;DR - I bought a bike, guy seemed ok but scammed another person trying to sell it to them. They got the police involved who knocked on my door to get the guys details as no-one could find them. I helped out, and gave all the details. Anything I should do now?*
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Bike: Currently Bikeless... Gahh

[tvchimp]

Just had a quick look, I've now got the VIN plate sitting in my front room. It was held on by double-sided tape with rivets in place (but doing fuck all) to make it seem like it was held on properly.

Phoned the police, they're getting their vehicle inspectors out to have a look later today or tomorrow (will get a phone call).
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Bike: Currently Bikeless... Gahh

[Fisty]

sounds like you are about to lose the bike. Do you have the guys address?
____________________
Quietly and consistently taking the piss.
TL1000R | Hayabusa | ZXR400 | TL1000S | Bandit 400 V
Fatter and faster than Fret

[Poseidon]

Bad luck mate. I'm using ebay less and less these days purely because it's becoming more and more like a breeding place for scumbags and scam artists. That and I'm sick of searching for something to find 100 identical items from the same seller at the same price all one after the other. List it once with 100 available you fuckers!

Anyway, ranting aside, I feel for you mate. It's never nice being ripped off. I'd like to say the cash only part in his advert would've rang alarm bells for me, but to be fair I would've just thought that he was trying to avoid paypal fees. Hope it gets sorted!

Hopefully karma will make a visit to the bloke who ripped you and another guy off!
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1977 Honda CG125
2002 Ducati Monster S4 (currently restoring)

[tvchimp]

[DrDonnyBrago]

Not looking great mate, not much you can do other than leave them to it I think. Hoping it is not nicked as I've heard of the police seizing stolen bikes leaving the 'new owner' out of pocket.

Good luck .

[Suntan Sid]

Sorry to hear of your woes.
I will offer you this advice, having been in a similar situation many mons ago.

If it turns out that the bike was stolen, the police will sieze the bike, and give it back to the owner. If the insurance paid out on the, original, theft then the insurance company will own the bike.

If the police do sieze the bike you will not get it back.

I don't like to be the bearer of bad news but you will not get your money back either!

In my case I went to court to get my money back and lost, the fact that you're the innocent party in all this has no bearing on the matter.
If you want to recoup any of the money, strip as many good salvageable parts, you think you can get away with, box them up and take them to a mates house for storage, sell the bits at a later date to recoup some of your costs.

In my case it was a car that I had spent a lot of money restoring, only to have it siezed by plod 6 months after I bought it.
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"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!"

[tvchimp]

Me and my old man was contemplating going to south wales last week to 'pay the guy a visit', but gave it a miss as he had some stuff to do, a little glad now as I wouldn't have liked to be picked up for GBH

Spoke to the copper and she said it should be possible to get a civil dispute going along side the criminal one (if indeed it does turn out to be stolen etc). Told her the engine was in pieces, and it's in a plastic box in my garage, alongside the bike which is ready for the inspectors to come and look.

I'll be speaking to Citizens Advice Bureau tomorrow regarding it all, and due to the issue that the bike wasn't as described in the ebay advert (new engine rebuild - bollox!) if I can pursue it legally.
____________________
Bike: Currently Bikeless... Gahh

[Fisty]

Pricks like the seller make me so angry. Im not too far from him if you ever fancy paying him a mob visit. How much did the bike/collection/repairs cost you so far?
____________________
Quietly and consistently taking the piss.
TL1000R | Hayabusa | ZXR400 | TL1000S | Bandit 400 V
Fatter and faster than Fret

[tvchimp]

- £499 for the bike.
- £210 in new parts which will turn up tomorrow will probably end up getting a refund on them tbh.. Consists of: head/cylinder/piston/gaskets - basically a whole new topend, new clutch kit, new grips as he had put some shit aftermarket ones on).
- £70 in fuel for my dads/the cb125 there and back to collect it.
- £100 for insurance deposit and usage up to date.

Once the investigation is over, depending on what happens (if I can pursue it legally, to try and recover what I'd given him/spent on it) really depends on wether a visit is needed to him. Thanks for the offer though mate, will let you know and I'll pop round for a cuppa/beer if I'm in the area
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Bike: Currently Bikeless... Gahh

[Fisty]

Please tell me you payed via paypal???

[edit] just reread and saw you paid cash. Id be round his house removing items to the value of you total layout by now!
____________________
Quietly and consistently taking the piss.
TL1000R | Hayabusa | ZXR400 | TL1000S | Bandit 400 V
Fatter and faster than Fret

[tvchimp]

no ... I know, I know... REALLY, Really bad mistake. I'd be recovering the cost right now via disupte and be happy to let the police seize it if it were through paypal if I had..
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Bike: Currently Bikeless... Gahh

[mistergixer]

Personally, i'd pay the chap a visit, ask once (politely) for all the money back, if he refused i would offer him the choice of either:

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ifdfjvH9gtg/SzlDWFXjmzI/AAAAAAAAABs/SSlebj7i1Is/s320/molotov-cocktail-design.jpg

or

https://s7v1.scene7.com/is/image/JohnLewis/230554136?$product$

(It's hard work being an interwebs tough guy.)

But, isn't checking stuff like vin plates etc a fairly 'standard' part of buying a 2ndhand vehicle? Buyer beware and all that.....
____________________
Space Monkey #7
Don Eladio is dead. His capos are dead. You have no one left to fight for. Fill your pockets and leave in peace. Or fight me and die!
Mistergixer's videos on YouTube

[Ed Case]

Sadly it looks like you're phukt my mate, there's some bastards about.

[lllN30lll]

You didn't notice the Vin plate was held on with tape

[tvchimp]

[Banned]

Propper done like a kipper, no ebay feedback .... fucking hell mate,

...............................................
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BLUEX5 wrote: Good to have you back covdude.
Ariel Badger - I like the moss and the hole !

[mad4it028]

he has 2 other items listed on ebay get somone eles to message him about his copier asking for a number to talk to him about a deal

walah you have his number!
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always looking to buy bikes crashed ,unfinished projects,none runners pm me
currently riding kawasaki z1000 only bike ive ever loved

[thegubner]

[Banned]

We should buy his items ,, and fuck him up ..!!

................................................................................
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BLUEX5 wrote: Good to have you back covdude.
Ariel Badger - I like the moss and the hole !

[DrDonnyBrago]

[Rogerborg]

Damn, bad luck.

eBay + looks to good to be true = probably is too good to be true.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Kickstart]

[DJH]

[GREENI3]

Jesus

When you posted this a few weeks ago, I thought this was a bloody good buy.

Surprised he didn't try it on with a more pricey bike.

Did the police go straight to his house?