Shortly after dawn on Saturday, August 1, a taskforce of 300 police swooped on homes around Sydney to seize 130 cars believed stolen and "reborn".
The term refers to the criminal practise of stealing a car, then replacing its compliance plate and chassis or vehicle identification number (VIN) with those from a wrecked car, often bought at auction for a few dollars.
The criminal ends up with a perfectly good, registered vehicle for the cost of the wreck, and then sells that car to some unsuspecting victim for its market value.
The reasons why this has become such a popular nationwide crime are these:
* There is no national wreck registration system, allowing the authorities to see that a car registration application pertains to a vehicle that has been written off by an insurance company.
* Members of the public have no way of checking whether the car they are interested in buying has been an unregistered wreck at some time, (except in South Australia, where a system is in place, but not enthusiastically supported.)
* Insurance companies are loathe to order the destruction of compliance plates on wrecks because the wrecks would fetch a lower price at auction.
Of the 122,000 cars stolen in Australia each year, about 10 percent are never recovered. Many of these are the embryos of the rebirthed vehicle scam.
Of the 130 vehicles seized by police in Operation Gore two week ago, a few may be returned to the people who thought they owned them, but the majority will go to insurance companies or private owners who can establish prior legal ownership.
For the victims, the average loss will amount to $20,000 to $30,000. The criminals favour the payoff for high-quality, relatively new models.
Experts have told ACA that it's very hard to pick a rebirthed car because the quality of the work done to attach a new compliance plate and VIN. Specialised mechanical and panel beating skills are needed to detect the change. Even used car dealers can be fooled into purchasing them.
Detective Inspector Laurie Pettiford told us that no owner of a second hand car can be certain their car was not reborn.
A national wreck registry will not be working for a year. Until then, the only road to redress for potential owners would be to buy their car from a licensed dealer. Then, that dealer must bear the cost if the car is later found to have been reborn.
Reference: ACA, 18th August, 1998
Reporter: Howard Gipps
