- NaVCIS has recovered 320 UK-funded engines stolen in Europe since 2021
- Romania and Bulgaria account for 60% of the £9.6m worth of recovered cars
- Gangs use tactics to purchase cars on instalments and then transport them out of the UK.
Criminal gangs are using a devious tactic to steal cars financed from Britain and then transport them to different parts of Europe, we can reveal.
The National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) told This is Money it has prevented the theft or returned 320 stolen financed motors since 2021 with the support of HPI Check data.
The team has found and returned vehicles worth £9.6m, with Romania and Bulgaria accounting for 60 per cent of the value seized.
A specialist vehicle crime intelligence company has been working with HPI Check to track and locate hundreds of financed cars stolen from the UK and transported to Europe.
NaVCIS is funded by the Finance and Leasing Association and has one function: to track and recover stolen finance vehicles.
The goal is to dismantle large-scale illegal operations using different strategies to seize the engines.
Members of criminal gangs rent vehicles on a contract basis in their own name and, before defaulting on payments, they fit false number plates to them to avoid detection.
Others arrange finance fraudulently using false identities. Vehicles leave the UK via ferries, shipping containers and the Channel Tunnel.
The team has found and recovered vehicles worth £9.6m, of which 60% came from Romania and Bulgaria. NaVCIS is working with law enforcement in these countries to identify the seized British models.
However, HPI Check has been supporting the intelligence service with its own vehicle data, which is made available to European law enforcement agencies to help identify stolen engines.
When re-registering vehicles in the destination country, the information and vital data provided by NaVCIS and HPI Check can be used to detect whether the vehicles were stolen in the UK.
If identified, they can be seized by local police and returned to their legitimate financial companies in the UK.
This tactic is just one of several the operation has highlighted in recent years, and it is developing a list of best practices to help overcome the rise in vehicle finance-related crime.
More than 5,000 vehicles have been recovered in the UK and abroad, with a combined value of more than £75m, since operations began in 2007.
Members of criminal gangs rent vehicles on an installment plan with the option to purchase in their own name or using a false identity
Sharon Naughton, Director of NaVCIS, said: “These are complex crimes that operate across international borders and it takes the tireless work of the NaVCIS team of experts, alongside partners across Europe, to identify and seize these vehicles.
‘Our data partnership with HPI is essential to the process, which is time-critical in preventing onward transit of stolen vehicles, reducing opportunities for seizure and allowing vehicles to be checked for outstanding finances, theft and a wide range of other factors.’
Following the success of the operation, other foreign law enforcement services have expressed interest in cooperating with NaVCIS.
Jon Clay, HPI’s chief data officer, added: “Advanced technology ensures our data is updated in real time and we are delighted to support the vital work undertaken by NaVCIS.”