Solihull man discovers he has bought his own stolen car

A man who bought a £20,000 car to replace the one he had stolen has discovered he has accidentally bought back his own stolen car.

Ewan Valentine, 36, from Solihull, woke up on 28 February to find his car, a black Honda Civic, had disappeared from his drive overnight.

After informing police and his insurers, he started looking for a replacement 2016 Type-R model and found one that looked “identical” about 70 miles away.

But after he bought it, he noticed similar items in the vehicle. It was then Mr Valentine realised he had bought his stolen car – he also found his previous addresses in the car’s sat-nav.

He told the BBC he was “gutted” when his car was stolen, and he was determined to replace it with the same model.

“It was sort of a mid-life crisis car, and you don’t get many of those, so I was pretty determined to get it replaced before one day I have to get a sort of family car,” he said.

“I spotted one that was identical, same colour, same year, same slightly obnoxious exhaust system on it as well,” he explained. “It fit the bill precisely.”

Mr Valentine paid £20,000 for the replacement car at a reputable garage, but upon driving it home, he started to get suspicious.

“I started noticing things in the car were a little bit odd, like a single tent peg and some Christmas tree pines and some, like, Mars bar wrappers and things that they hadn’t cleaned out,” he said.

“All very similar to what you could have found in my stolen car.”

Despite the car having a new number plate and a lower mileage, Mr Valentine’s suspicions were confirmed when he later discovered his and his parents addresses in the history of the built-in navigation system.

“I nearly crashed, to be honest, because I was in shock… My hands were shaking; my heart was pounding,” he said.

“A part of me felt sort of triumphant for a moment until I realised, actually, no, this isn’t some heroic moment; you didn’t go and get your car back; you’ve actually done something a bit stupid.”

He took the vehicle to a Honda garage in Solihull and informed the police, who he said could not believe he had “bought his own car” and suspected it was stolen to order by unidentified thieves.

“The first Honda technican. He pulled the physical key out [of the original smart key], puts it straight in the door and unlocks it and he’s like, ‘Yes, it’s your car’,” Mr Valentine said.

“You could see signs where they’d tampered with things and removed VIN numbers and replaced other ones and things.”

Mr Valentine said he believed the garage he bought the car from was also duped, and he now hoped to get his money and deposit back for the vehicle.

“The police and the Honda garage all said this was one of the best clone jobs they’d ever seen, so if it wasn’t for these little artefacts, no one would have ever known.”