That leaves you with nothing but a worthless claim against a fraudster.  Which is precisely what happened in a recent High Court case where a motor vehicle was fraudulently “bought” on an auction, and “paid” for with a stolen cheque.  In short order the fraudster registered the car into another name, sold it on to his innocent victim, and disappeared with the money.

The mistake the eventual buyer made was to rely on the car’s registration papers as conclusive proof of the seller’s ownership.  It isn’t – in fact all that registration papers provide is a presumption (which can be refuted, i.e. what the law calls prima facie proof) of the accuracy of their contents.  Insist on proper proof of ownership, and take legal advice in doubt!