Why Your BMW Makes the Perfect Clone (And How to Check It Hasn’t Already Happened)

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Park a 3 Series in any UK car park, and there’s a good chance another one is a few spaces away. That’s great news for BMW’s sales figures, and great news for number plate too. The more identical cars there are on the road, the easier it is for a criminal to copy your registration onto theirs and leave you with the fines.

Number plate cloning, where your registration is copied onto a similar-looking car, is one of the fastest-growing motoring crimes in the UK. Around 13,000 cases a year are now reported in England and Wales, more than three times the roughly 4,000 recorded in 2018. In London, cases are up 64% in three years. It’s become big enough that Good Morning Britain, BBC Morning Live and Panorama are all covering it this month.

Already had a fine you can’t explain? Start here

1. Report it to the police on 101 and get a crime reference number.
2. Notify the DVLA, quoting the reference.
3. Appeal every notice in writing, before its deadline. Include the camera image compared against your car (more on that below) and proof of where you were. Never ignore a speeding notice, because failing to name the driver is an offence in itself.
4. Tell your insurer.
5. Consider a new registration. Moving your car onto a different plate means the cloned number no longer links back to you.

“Out of the hundreds we’ve spoken to this year, the ones who sort it fastest are the ones who change their number,” says Jon Kirkbright, Sales Director at RegHunters. “It doesn’t cancel the fines already issued, but it stops the next batch landing on your doormat.”

Not sure yet? The signs to look out for

You won’t get a warning. You’ll get a letter. Common giveaways include:

• Parking, bus lane or Clean Air Zone fines from places you haven’t been
• Speeding notices for times your car was parked
• ULEZ, congestion or Dartford Crossing charges you don’t recognise
• Debt collectors chasing unpaid fuel
• Police enquiries about your car’s movements

Always ask for the camera image. This is where BMW owners have an advantage, because you know your car’s details better than anyone. Look at the wheel design, M Sport bumpers, kidney grille finish, shadow line trim, badging, a tow bar or a parking dent. Cloners match the colour and shape but rarely the spec.

“Enthusiasts are brilliant at this,” Jon says. “They’ll look at a camera photo and tell you straight away it’s the wrong wheels or a non-M Sport bumper. That kind of detail wins appeals.”

Why popular cars are the easiest targets

A cloner doesn’t pick you. They pick a car that matches theirs: same make, same model, same colour. The more of your car there are on the road, the easier the match.

That puts BMW owners squarely in the frame. Popular trims in black, white, grey and blue are everywhere, and enthusiasts love sharing their cars online, often with the plate in full view.

RegHunters is one of the UK’s biggest DVLA-recognised plate suppliers, and Jon’s team now hears from two or three cloning victims every day.

“German premium cars come up constantly,” says Jon. “3 Series, 5 Series, X5s, all the usual suspects. It makes sense when you think about it. If you’re driving a dark grey BMW on fake plates, there’s no shortage of real ones to copy.”

How it actually happens

The process is depressingly simple. The cloner spots a matching car, often in a classified ad, at a meet or on social media. They have a set of plates made with that registration, and from then on every ANPR camera that reads their car logs it as yours.

There are no security features on a UK number plate. Around 34,000 businesses are registered to sell them, and registration costs a one-off £40. Checks are patchy at best.

Protecting your car (and your Instagram feed)

If you post your car online, blur the plate. That goes for sale listings, meet photos and build threads. Fit security screws so plates can’t be lifted off at a show, keep dated photos of your car from every angle, and only buy plates from a registered supplier.

Cloning isn’t going away until plates carry proper security features. Until then, the best defence is knowing your car, opening your post and acting the moment something doesn’t add up.

For more on cloned, ghost and stealth plates, RegHunters has a detailed guide to number plate cloning.

About Post Author

Marcus M.

https://www.bmwcoop.com