How to find out if a car is stolen

I am looking for a car at the moment and I have found an Audi A4 that is way to cheap for it's year and kilometres etc.

I understand that in these situations there is a very high chance that the car is not quite legal and there may be some problems.

The answer i am looking for is:

Is there some kind of amt that i can communicate the fahrzeugbrief details to and therefore find out if there will be any issues when it comes to registration.

I basically do not want to waste my time or money on something that will turn out problematic, but as i have emailed copies of the Fahrzeugbrief and Fahrzeugschein, there is a possibility that the car could be legal and I need to find out.

Any suggestions are appreciated...

Have you actually seen the car?
Are they asking for an advance payment to secure the deal?

I have not seen the car and they are not asking for advanced payment.

Second to that...

I am no idiot and have already asked myself these questions...

The answers I am chasing are actually in the direction of what tools do i have at my disposal to find out the legality of the vehicle, given that i have copies of the Fahrzeugbrief and Fahrzeugschein.

Nobody said you were an idiot, just a couple of simple questions.

Maybe I wrote that a little too hard and I was not intending to be confrontational...

It's just that those are the first 2 questions I was expecting...

Chances are either the odometer was rolled back or the car was in a wreck. Don't buy it without first taking it to a mechanic for a full inspection. A good mechanic should be able to spot the changes to a frame that a previously totaled car would show. You should also check on the Autobrief or whatever the fuck it's called and check with the previous owners about accidents/mileage/etc.

woof.

ATU will do a full inspection for somewhere between €25 and €75, I can't remember now exactly what it was.

Fahrzeugbrief is the owenship document. The person selling should have that, the fahrzeugschein and hopefully a service history. Check the information on those with the KFZ crowd in Westend for confirmation of the details on them. They should be able to tell you if it's half inched or at least point you in the right direction.

It's called a "Unbedenklichkeitsschreiben" this used to be issued by the KFA in Flensurg but I have read recently that this is now in the hands of the Zulassungstelle.

Basically this documents if the vehicle is on list as stolen etc.

Actually I think it's called "Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigungen".

You get a special prize if you can say it in one go!

Auskunft aus dem Fahrzeugregister - this will @ least tell you if the person selling the car is the registered owner
link to the KFZ Z-stelle

Thanks for the suggestions...

Much appreciated!

Once you have established that the car documents are legit, ask the seller directly if the car has been in an accident. As I understand the law here, a seller is required to disclose this if asked.

Yes, if the car has been in an accident, the seller has to make this clear.

Also, if it was actually stolen, and you buy it without knowing it was stolen, as far as I know, your contract is still valid.
My best friend's dad bought a car a few years ago (on ebay), turns out it had been leased and stolen in Italy. Since the original owner already had been reimbursed by their insurance, the car was cleared from the database of stolen cars (in Germany), but apparently not from the European one (I do not remember the exact details, but it was cleared from one db but not another), and her dad ended up getting arrested, but they cleared up everything (until then my friend's dad was clueless the car had been stolen), and he still owns this car today (legally).

I don't know if the same thing would happen if the car was previously privately owned, though.

And of course it would not be fun to be stopped or arrested by the police.

I think better get it checked at the Dekra , just call them and take an appointment in the nearest Dekra to you. Tell them you want to buy the car and you want them to make an assessment.

It will cost you Euro 80 and then you are ever happy.

They do all kinds of tests like..

checking the whole car whether at any place a repainting is done
check for dents
check for the proper functioning of doors and door lines
also engine
also if the main parts of the car are matching to the manufacturing date of the car (lets say if they replace a important part then the date will be recent)
Also they check their whole German database if that car had ever been to their shop for any kind of repair or AU/HU pruefung

just go and get it done,

regards

Old rule of thumb:

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Lots of cars out there.

The DEKRA test is very poor , it leaves out the extremely important cylinder test - ever heard the expression "blown cylinder gasket" - well it's one of the most common causes of engine failure. Worse again the test takes about 20 minutes but they refused to do it for me.

Are they not calling them head gaskets any more then?

Funny how times change though innit.. I remember when a blown head gasket was a standard maintenance thing. Gawd knows how many times i've changed one.