Brit Man Learns He Bought His Own Stolen Car After Spending Over RM115K To Replace It
After his prized Honda Civic was stolen, Ewan Valentine set out to replace it — only to discover, in a bizarre twist of fate, that he had bought back the exact same car.
By Sadho Ram — 29 Apr 2025, 11:52 AM
A man from England has found himself at the centre of a bizarre tale after realising he accidentally bought back his own stolen car
Ewan Valentine, 36, shared the bizarre experience on his Instagram account, revealing that he had paid 20,000 pounds (RM116,552) for what he believed was a near-identical replacement for his beloved black Honda Civic Type-R — the very same car that had been stolen from his driveway just weeks earlier.
The theft occurred on the morning of 28 February.
Ewan awoke to discover that his 2016 Civic Type-R had vanished overnight. He promptly informed the police and his insurance provider, and began searching for a replacement.
Eventually, he found a seemingly perfect match listed for sale at a reputable garage about 113km away. The same colour, same year, and even the same custom exhaust — it felt like fate.
Ewan, who described the vehicle as his "mid-life crisis car", didn't hesitate to buy it.
Strange signs began to emerge once he brought the car home
"I started noticing things in the car were a little bit odd. Like a single tent peg, some Christmas tree pines, and some Mars bar wrappers that hadn't been cleaned out," he told the BBC.
The familiar clutter raised alarms, but it was the sat-nav system that tipped him over the edge. The navigation history contained his home address, his parents' house, and his partner's parents' address.
"I nearly crashed, to be honest, because I was in shock… My hands were shaking; my heart was pounding. It dawned on me at this point that my phone immediately connected without pairing. My phone is in the Bluetooth device history, my partner’s phone, and all our old phones," he said.
Still not fully convinced, Ewan took the car to a Honda dealership in Solihull. A technician inserted the car's physical key into the door, unlocking it with ease.
"It's your car, you've bought your own car back. I've never heard of this happening before," the technician told him.
For a moment, everyone — including a police officer and three Honda staff — stood in stunned silence in the car park, struggling to process what had just happened.
Subsequent checks confirmed the car had been expertly cloned, with its VIN numbers altered.
"The police and the Honda garage all said this was one of the best clone jobs they'd ever seen, so if it wasn't for these little artefacts, no one would have ever known," Ewan added.
He now suspects the garage that sold him the car had been deceived and is currently seeking a refund, including his deposit. Reflecting on the surreal episode, Ewan summed it up with a blunt post on Instagram: "Only f#cking me."
