The number of enquiries made to the
FLA Vehicle Recovery Scheme, the number of resulting
‘hits’, and the value of recovered vehicles were all up in January,
according to February’s reporting period.
Enquiries to the scheme numbered 5,457, up
17.6% on the 4,504 enquiries in December and exceeding the 4,943
enquiries made in November, according to reporting periods for
January and December respectively.
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Of those enquiries, 519 were ‘hits’, whereby
an enquired vehicle is found to have outstanding finance, up on the
383 in December and 464 in November.
The ratio of hits to enquiries was also up to
9.51%, from 8.5% and 9.38% in December and November, but just shy
of the 9.59% recorded in October.
The total worth of vehicles recovered in
January was £2.92m, the highest value recorded since £2.99m last
June.
Vauxhall topped the table for the
most-recovered vehicle brand, ahead of Ford for the second month
running, but by 112 vehicles to 67, a much wider margin than
January’s 72 to 63.
Two police forces, Strathclyde and
Hertfordshire, each recovered more than £300,000-worth of vehicles
in January, accounting for 13.2% and 10.9% of the total
respectively.
The figures come ahead of Car Crime Awareness
Week in March, run by the Association of Chief Police Officers
Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (AVCIS), which will
highlight the ways to guard against vehicle fraud, including
clocking.
AVCIS and its Vehicle Fraud Unit are sponsored
by 21 companies through the FLA, which has generated some negative
reaction in the press, with
suggestions of ‘cash-for-cuffs’ policing.
The FLA said funding for AVCIS from the motor
finance industry is necessary following Home Office cuts, and has
led to
£19m-worth of cars being recovered since 2007.
The FLA Vehicle Recovery Scheme is run in
association with HPI Crushwatch.
richard.brown@vrlfinancialnews.com
