Norwegian Thomas Meberg bought a used BMW X5 in 2021. However, he got a bit of a shock in the inspection hall. Because the car is illegal, now he feels cheated.
In 2021, Thomas Meberg spent 200,000 kroner on a used BMW X5. But now he feels cheated because the car turns out to be illegal.
He tells this to Norwegian Motor .
However, the car was purchased by a private individual through a brokerage firm, so there may not really be much Thomas Meberg can do about his anger.
But in the inspection hall it turned out that the car's chassis number does not match what is printed on the registration certificate. In fact, the original chassis number had been intentionally erased.
This is despite strong indications that the fraud – also known as cloning – occurred long before the car was imported to Norway. The authorities did not discover that the car was cloned when it was initially inspected by customs.
But now the approval from that customs inspection has also been withdrawn, so the car is actually not allowed to drive on Norwegian roads at all.
Neither the dealer who sold the car to Thomas Meberg on behalf of the previous owner, nor the previous owner will agree to take the car back. The car has, they point out, been approved for inspection several times. Just as BMW, which has serviced the car, has not discovered anything either.
First, something happened in the Consumer Complaints Board that went in Thomas Meberg's direction. Here, he was right that the transaction should be reversed.
But neither the former owner of the BMW nor the car dealer would give up on that. It was not until Christmas that a settlement was reached regarding the car. Unfortunately, the story from Norway is not unique.
In Denmark, it has previously been estimated that more than 50,000 cars may have been cloned. And in recent years, a large number of criminals – including several inspectors – have been convicted for their roles in such cases. Read more about it here .
