Privacy laws stop gardaí sharing data on stolen cars

There could be as many as 2,000 stolen cars for sale in Ireland at any given time and a customer would never know the legal status of what they are buying as the gardaí refuse to share their information.

Cartell.ie, the car history check service launched in May 2006, said it is all but impossible to tell if a vehicle in Ireland is stolen, as the stolen motor vehicle unit of An Garda Síochána does not make its logs of stolen cars available to be searched.

Cartell.ie director Jeff Aherne said a consumer who unknowingly buys a stolen car would find themselves completely out of pocket.