by Sometimes life throws you a curveball so absurd that you start to think you’ve become the unsuspecting star of a hidden camera show. This is exactly what happened to Ivan Valentine, who woke up one morning to find his beloved car mysteriously vanished from his driveway.
Feeling utterly disappointed, he turned to Instagram on February 18 to express his frustration. “Somewhere out there are absolute scumbags,” he wrote. His “favorite” is a 2016 car, which he purchased about three years ago. And then, in a twist of events, he bought it back just a few weeks later. Yes, he bought his own stolen car.
Initially, Valentine did everything one would do in such a situation. He contacted law enforcement, followed the procedures. He even reached out to the community for help. “STOLEN Type-R, taken from the Solihull/Olton area at 3:05 AM, they arrived in what appears to be a Cupra Leon. Please share and let me know if you see it nearby. Thanks and much love,” he said.
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Unfortunately, nothing helped, and he made the choice he had been avoiding. In search of a new car, he was lucky enough to find a Honda Civic Type-R that seemed perfect for him. It was the same year, the same color, and even had the same type of exhaust he had installed on his own car. Yet, it couldn’t be his car. Key details were different.
The mileage didn’t match, the plates were different, and even the VIN didn’t correspond. Moreover, his VIN check on this car came back clean. Believing he had simply found a twin of his former car, he proceeded with the purchase and spent around £20,000 (about $27,000 at the current exchange rate) on it. As soon as the car was back in his possession, some questions began to arise in his mind.
He noticed things in the car that felt too familiar. A tent peg, a few packs of Mars candy, a wheel lock key in a Tesco bag… this prompted him to check the built-in navigation in the car for previously entered addresses. Sure enough, his address, his parents’ address, and others he knew well appeared. It was his car.
At this point, he needed further confirmation and another conversation with the police. He asked a local dealer to confirm that the VIN listed in the ECU was his original VIN. The thieves had cloned the car to another one somewhere, and according to Valentine, they did it well.
According to reports, the investigation has been suspended, and no arrests have been made. The insurance company is also discussing how to handle this situation. Yes, it’s a strange situation, but Valentine seems happy to have his favorite back.
