DVLA nearing goal of replacing 34 million log books

By the end of this year, the DVLA plans to replace about 34 million vehicle log books in order to counter illegal car cloning.  Over two million forms were stolen in 2006 before being destroyed due to a printing error and are now being used illegally.  So far about 11,000 vehicles with an estimated value of £13m have been stolen, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers in a statement made last year.  The estimated cost for the replacement is about £6m.

Basically car cloning is similar to identity theft in that criminals use the blank vehicle registration forms to sell stolen cars in the private market as if they were legitimate ones.  All they have to do is copy legitimate number plate and other vehicle details onto the form, presenting an official looking vehicle logbook, the V5 form, to unsuspecting customers.  Presently, the DVLA is working with the police to put a stop to this criminal activity.

One of these measures, replacing the current blue vehicle log books with the new red ones is already well underway.  Nearly 26 million forms have been replaced already since last August according to a Western Mail spokesman.  The police are also recovering the stolen log books. Although they estimate that over 100,000 log books are still unaccounted for, they are making progress at the rate of about 10 recovered per week.

To help used car buyers, the DVLA has provided a list of serial numbers on their website they believe match the ones on the stolen forms.  Buyers are warned to check all documents against this list of serial numbers and be careful if they find numbers that match.  Checking the serial numbers against the registration database is also a step in the direction of stopping criminal gangs from successfully profiting from car cloning.