Am I being too suspicious ??

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sun 16 Mar 2003 22:32
Am I being too suspicious ?? - scruffythedog118
Well, I don?t think so??

Last week I found an ad in the AUTO TRADER for an S reg Omega 2.5 TD AUTO being sold by deleted, a bloke who apparently works from home and has about 40 cars for sale stored away in lock-ups. Went to view this car in Windsor (J13 off M25) and on arrival at the address he gave, went to where this car was being stored in a normal domestic garage and it failed to start, (but had only been in there 2 weeks) so was jump started, then we returned to the original location, and I continued to look around the vehicle, after a test-drive I asked to view the log-book V5 so as I could check the VIN etc, etc but was advised that ?he didn?t have it with him and that they are stored in a different location for security reasons and he wasn\'t prepared to make a special journey to get it? I advised that I need to see this before I even consider proceeding with the purchase and do an HPI check and AA Inspection, the reply I got was ?do you think this car is stolen?? and that he would make the details available to the AA.
Surely this is normal practice to view the log-book, what does that advert on telly say.. ?it?s not legite without it? or something like that?
I walked away, very large steps the other direction???

Your comments please!
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Sun 16 Mar 2003 22:38
Am I being too suspicious ?? - blowpipe
Carry on walking, I would. If you really want to sell a car, part of the preparation is ensuring you've got all the necessary paperwork to hand.
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Sun 16 Mar 2003 23:11
Am I being too suspicious ?? - Tom Shaw
With so many cars to choose from on the second hand market, to buy anything like you described would be begging for trouble. I'd run rather than walk.
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Mon 17 Mar 2003 00:41
Am I being too suspicious ?? - DavidHM
If you *know* the car is good, and good value, then it's only £40 for an HPI check, so why not? HPI will insure you against the car having been written off, stolen, or having outstanding finance; I'm not sure what the position is with regard to mileage.

On the other hand, it does sound very dodgy, so unless you trust his warranty company and the insurance you get with HPI, I'd be very reluctant because any problems you get probably ain't gonna get sorted by him.

If there's no V5 forthcoming, don't go there though. It's possible that the guy is a bit disorganised or not used to be people being clued up, but I'd still be using even more caution than usual. If the car is anything less than very special, it's not worth your time and effort.
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Sun 23 Mar 2003 19:17
Am I being too suspicious ?? - zm
As a trader myself, I am at a loss to understand why some other traders have a problem with prospective customers doing HPI checks on cars; I remember (before I started trading) going to look at a Golf Gti at a used car dealer. When I said I wanted to HPI the car he got really shirty about it, many customers in my experince would have walked at this point, but as I was buying the car, not the personality selling it, I did the check and all was fine, as expected. (I would'nt have wasted £30 checking a car that I thought was 'dodgy' to begin with). Anyway I bought it and went on to cover 40,000 very enjoyable miles over the next 18 months. I think some of these guys are just useless at dealing with people, not bent or having something to hide...
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