Dealers are being warned about fraudsters using stolen V5s to benefit from the forthcoming scrappage scheme.

“In a bid to make the most of the scrappage scheme to swap old vehicles for cut price new ones, fraudsters will need proof of a year’s ownership. This is the only prerequisite for qualifying for the discount and as of yet there is little or no means of policing this,” said Daniel Burgess, director of automotive at HPI.

He added: “As such, we have a concern that used car criminals will use stolen V5s to prove they’ve been the registered keeper of a vehicle for at least 12 months.”

Dealers need to look out for V5s with a slightly different background colour on the Notification of Permanent Export (V5C/4) tear-off slip on the second page, which looks mauve on the front and pink on the reverse. On legitimate documents they should be mauve on both sides.