(Source: Hurriyet Daily News)

ISTANBUL – In an attempt to escape banks, some transportation firms change their vehicle identification numbers and the color of the trailers in their fleet. Such irregularities are eroding trust in the industry as a whole, says Murat Tokatlı, chairman of the Association of Trailer Manufacturers. ’Our customers are unable to obtain funding for trailers,’Tokatlı complains

Some transportation companies that are in distress and unable to pay their loans resort to fraud, eroding confidence in the sector, the head of a Turkish association has warned.

These firms change their vehicle identification numbers and colors of the trailers in their fleet in order to escape from banks. Such irregularities erode financial institutions’ trust in the transportation industry, said Murat Tokatlı, chairman of the Association of Trailer Manufacturers, or TREDER. “Therefore, customers are unable to obtain funding for trailers. This forces producers to shoulder costs and risks.” 

Tokatlı said 1,000 trailers and 300 trucks are “lost” at present due to the irregularities. He also said some firms have new traffic registrations for previously-used vehicles after having small producers change their vehicle identification numbers and colors. 

Erosion of confidence 

“Such irregularities started six months ago. The losses deriving from this have reached 25 million euros. The vehicles we produced get lost, and another brand new vehicle emerges. Such moves are completely in violation of the manufacture, amendment and assemblage regulations for vehicles,” said Tokatlı. 

Irregularities in type approval certificates have also been an ongoing issue in the sector, Tokatlı said. Despite obtaining just one type approval certificate, some firms produce many vehicles, he said. 

Explaining the irregularities, he said; “Some producers manufacture a type of product without having its certificate. Then they purchase the certificate and have the vehicle’s traffic registration. Besides being against the law, this also is a threat for safety. It is crucial to establish an audit mechanism.”

Commenting on financing problems stemming from the irregularities, he said; “The irregularities have eroded the trust of finance institutions into the transportation sector, which is the purchaser of trailers. The customers are unable to obtain financing for trailers. Maybe half of the trailer sales in Turkey are made with producers’ loans. The sector is under threat, and therefore we are obliged to provide the funding. Producers shoulder the cost and risk of the financing.”

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 (Source: CNN)

There’s probably no way to describe the feeling.  Joe Pirrone’s pride and joy, his F350 Super Duty turbo diesel truck, turned out to be a stolen “clone.”

One moment, Guiseppe “Joe” Pirrone was on a long weekend at the beach.

The next moment, he found out the pickup that he bought a year ago is stolen, and he is still on the hook for the $27,000 loan.

Stories like Pirrone’s are scattered across the country, and Tuesday the FBI announced that it has broken up one of the largest auto theft cases in the U.S.  Capping “Operation Dual Identity,” arrest warrants for 17 people were executed in Tampa and Miami, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; and in Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico. The suspects were accused of “cloning” vehicles, which is making stolen cars look like legal ones.

The FBI says that the ring was operating in the U.S. for more than 20 years. More than 1,000 vehicles were stolen in Florida, with more than $25 million in losses to consumers and banks.

“Individuals have been victimized at every level, from the average Joe, to the banks, to big companies,” said Dave Couvertier, of the FBI’s Tampa field office. Car theft rings clone vehicles by taking license plates, vehicle identification numbers (VIN), and other tags and stickers from a legal car and put them on a stolen vehicle of similar make and model.

“This does not just affect big business. Anyone could become an unwitting victim of this particular scam. It could happen to anyone,” said Couvertier.

Pirrone knows how it was done because it happened to him.

Last year, he bought a used 2005 F350 Super Duty turbo diesel pickup to use for his landscape business in Fort Myers, Florida. He bought it off a small used car lot and took out a $27,000 loan from a credit union.

“I had it for about nine months. It was a great truck,” he told CNN.