'BMW and VW drivers warned about rise in car cloning - I fell victim'

More than 50,000 UK drivers have fallen victim to car cloning, with fresh data revealing a 41% rise in cases over the past five years – and car experts are now warning the crisis is spiralling. If you don't know what car cloning is, let me explain.

I can do this because it happened to me. Back in 2020, I put my 2001 VW Golf GTI up for sale on Facebook. It wasn't an expensive car, to be honest I can't recall how much I stuck it up for, but it was definitely less than a grand.

I did the usual thing, wrote a description, took some pictures and posted it. As a news reporter of quite some years, I'd never understood why people would get annoyed if the website or newspaper I was working for posted or printed a picture that included car registration numbers. On any given day, your car reg is likely seen by dozens of people while you're driving around, after all.

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But after what happened five years ago, I suddenly got it. Now, it was five years ago and I may be misremembering the sequence of events a little, but this is the gist of it.

I'm not sure if I received the first fine before or after I put the car up for sale, as I'd probably posted a pic or two of the car on Facebook at some point before. Anyway, I do recall that it ruined my Saturday morning.

In the post came a letter addressed to me. When I opened it, some colourful language emerged from my mouth when I discovered I was being accused of having used the Dartford Crossing between Kent and Essex without paying.

This was daft for two reasons - one, I live in Cornwall and hadn't been anywhere near the place. Second, at the time, I believe the charge was something like £2.50 - hardly something worth risking a fine for.

I studied the accompanying image. Pictured was indeed a silver VW Golf, bearing the same number plate. But on closer inspection there were a few subtle differences. The wheels, for one, were different to the alloys on my car. There were also a few things like the bumpers having black trim, whereas mine had the same as the rest of the car - silver.

I'd never heard of this practice of car cloning - but a quick search online enlightened me. Clearly some unsavoury people like to search online for a car and then whack cloned plates on a very similar one and drive around merrily doing whatever naughty things they want to do - such as evading £2.50 tolls - to their heart's content. Some might even physically steal your actual number plates and then do the same thing.

Online info also suggested I needed to do two things - contact the police and then the toll-issuing authority. I did just that and, much to my surprise, the police call handler was entirely familiar with the situation. They took my details, noted the visual differences between my car and the car that had been caught, and made a note on my car's file.

This meant that if police caught a car with my registration driving along outside of Cornwall, where it was registered to me, it would be flagged up on the Police National Computer and it would be pulled over. The driver would then need to provide proof of ownership - something I could easily do.

The helpful police call handler then advised me to tell the toll-issuing authority that I'd contacted police and it'd be confirmed that the plates had been cloned. I did that and the fine was cancelled. All good.

But then it happened again. This time, I had a letter through the post telling me my silver Golf had been parking in Luton somewhere without paying and I had a fine to settle. I repeated the process and the fine was again cancelled.

In the end, the inconvenience to me was fairly minimal, if annoying all the same. I went on to sell the car and - guess what - not long afterwards, the new owner contacted me to say he was getting fines through the post. I told him what he needed to do to sort it.

However, things could have been more serious. Valuation specialists at BigWantsYourCar.com, a car-buying platform, say the crime is not only damaging innocent motorists' finances and reputations, but also undermining trust in vehicle ownership systems.

"Car cloning is fast becoming one of the most distressing issues facing ordinary drivers," a spokesperson at BigWantsYourCar.com explained. "We’ve seen cases where people selling their car are suddenly dealing with unexpected fines or insurance disputes, all because someone else illegally copied their number plate."

Criminals typically use cloned plates to commit further crimes – including stealing fuel from petrol stations, evading tolls, or even fleeing accident scenes. Victims are often left in the dark until they receive fines or letters from police, many of whom have no idea their vehicle details have been compromised.

"We urge the DVLA to review how number plates are distributed and tracked," the spokesperson continued. "Currently, even though sellers must check ID and logbook details, enforcement is patchy, and rogue suppliers are slipping through the cracks."

Owners of BMWs, VWs and Mercedes warned

BigWantsYourCar.com also warned that cloning disproportionately affects drivers who own high-demand cars such as German makes or premium SUVs, which are frequently cloned by criminals looking to avoid detection.

"We’d advise drivers of popular models like the BMW 3 Series, VW Golf, or Mercedes GLA to be especially cautious," the expert said. "These are among the most commonly cloned vehicles because they’re everywhere – and that makes it easier for a cloned version to blend in."

When buying or selling a car, the experts said it was crucial to check for anything that seems off – including mismatched documents, suspicious plate bolts, or unusual recent traffic fines.

They said: "If you're thinking about selling your car, make sure everything matches up – especially your logbook and registration history. If we ever suspect something during a valuation, we’ll always raise it with the customer – and we recommend people do their own due diligence too."

How to prevent your car from being cloned

The company also recommends that drivers take simple preventative steps, such as:

• Reporting any lost or stolen number plates immediately

• Using anti-theft number plate screws

• Regularly checking their vehicle record on the DVLA website

• Keeping a log of any unusual fines or driving correspondence

The expert said: "The worst part is how quickly this issue can snowball. One cloned plate can lead to police letters, insurance claims, even blacklisting from fuel stations – all to someone who’s done nothing wrong."

As the number of incidents continues to rise, the team at BigWantsYourCar.com is urging policymakers to crack down on illegal plate providers and work toward a more secure, digital identification system for UK vehicles: "Until the system changes, vigilance is the only real protection drivers have. We need to see tougher consequences for dodgy plate sellers and a modernised approach to car identity. Innocent motorists shouldn’t be paying the price for criminal loopholes."