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I’m fairly confident I’ve found my bike that was stolen 2 years ago on Fb marketplace. Has anyone ever dealt with a situation like this before? I’m 99% sure it’s mine based on a few small changes I’d made to the spec that are still present, but obviously could only be sure by checking the serial number on the frame. I’ve since had a replacement bike via insurance so unsure what to do next. I guess there are a few options:
Ignore it as I have a replacement and could lose that (a more modern bike I now also love) - has anyone experience of what happens to replacements if the original bike is found/returned?
go round there with my brother under the pretence of buying and check the serial number, then tell the seller the truth and threaten to call the police (daft??)
Let the police know, but they’re usually useless in my experience?
What would you lot do?
I should also add the bike was a wedding gift so it means slightly more to me than your average bike.
I’ve since had a replacement bike via insurance so unsure what to do next.
Nothing.
Option 1 for me.
2 years is a long time. The seller might have bought it in good faith and is now selling it on....
Move on with your life.
It'll have been moved on several times by now and as the insurance has paid out it belongs to them. If it really means something to you then you could just buy it back? Still worth mentioning it to the Police though.
i contacted the police and they went and got my bike and arrested the guy
this was a few days after it was nicked and no insurance paid out !
If you buy a stolen bike, be that knowingly or unknowingly you have no legal right to keep it.
As the insurance has paid out it now belongs to them.
So if you buy it back you still wouldn’t own it.
But you would have it…
I had the same thing a few years ago . I saw my stolen Cotic in an owner's group on Facebook . I figured you wouldn't steal it then do that so I messaged the guy and asked him where he bought the bike and he sent me screenshots of the conversation he'd had with a seller on Facebook. I looked up her profile and she had also been selling my road bike which was stolen at the same time . I rang the police ( about 6 months after the theft ) and someone took down the details and said the original attending officer would be in touch but no one ever got back to me .
The insurance had paid out so I knew I wouldn't get anything back but I had hoped the police might be interested . I understand they probably just don't have the resources to follow this stuff up 6 months later , it's a shame that's the case but that's just the reality of it at the moment.
If you've replaced it , as crappy as the situation is , I'd just leave it . If you go round with your brother it could end up turning into something else entirely and is it really worth that.
In all honesty I dont think the police will put as a priority a theft that has already happened. They will act in the prevention of crime, but not one that has already happened.
They will take note of it, probably add it to a file and make inquiries to see if that person is known to them, but as to zooming off in the car,lights a blazing i wouldn't think so.
You'll probably find that such actions would present a host of legal issues and trying to build a case is near on impossible- no comment interview, flat denial, bought from somewhere else etc etc.
But as above. You've been paid for it so it now belongs to the insurance company, so unless you work for them, its basically got nowt to do with you.
.
I got robbed of my Cannondale. Police knew who did it, i looked at mugshots, identified such and such but that was the end of it at that point and I was paid out for it by the insurance, and also criminal compensation for injuries received during the robbery.
About 6 months later the bike got recovered(in a hell of a state) and at that point the insurance company asked me if i wanted to buy it back from them.. They initially paid the claim of £900 and we agreed a price of £200 to buy it back from them. Fixed the issues, rode it for a few months then sold it for £400.
Thanks all. I just decided to log with the police as non emergency, leaving the original crime reference number and the Facebook sellers name. I know they’ll do nothing but it’s galling seeing it there, so if there’s even a tiny chance of some justice I thought it worth it. I won’t be going round there as agree it’s not worth it.
If it was a week after it'd been nicked then...
But as its two years, its probably been sold within hours of it leaving your possession and now owned by someone who will no doubt have bought it thinking it was completely legit
Annoying though it is, the person who nicked it will have spent the proceeds on their drug of choice 2 years ago