Felt it was important to post the following advice here as it is a scam that we are increasingly seeing and although on the face of it you would say "who would fall for that", naivety and a bargain can blind the astutest of people. This scam is prevalent on line, on all the car selling sites.
The vehicle is offered for sale at a significantly reduced price, potentially 50% of value, possibly less. The vehicle is a UK car, but the owner is now living abroad, often Portugal or Spain, they need to sell the car to buy a LHD. They will include shipping costs in the price and offer that you pay the amount into Escrow, with the shipping company, who will only release the cash to them when the car arrives.
Of course the car never arrives and further investigation shows that neither does the shipping company, despite what appears to be a flashy website. As for the vehicle, the ID is taken from a car that does exist, one that has often only recently been sold via an online site, therefore if you carry out a status check, everything will appear to be in order. Of course this is a paper car and they have simply lifted the pictures and the reg number.
We have seen a number of customers scammed this way recently, many of them bright people who just couldn?t get past ?A Bargain?. One gentleman even went to Dover on the day in question to pick up his £20k car which he had bought for £10k, despite our advice against it?..
Few points to think about here when buying?.
1. These days there is no such thing as a bargain, in our experience any vehicle that is for sale at more than 15% below market value probably has something to hide
2. If you advertise your car for sale, make sure the VRM is hidden and at least make it more difficult for these people to get the ID in the first place?
If in doubt, walk away, a £20k car is not a bargain at £10k if it doesn?t exist !
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IIRC there was another Backroom member posting about a similar experience - I think about a VW Caravelle?
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What is noticeable is the number of greedy people who don't think things through, and I'm talking about the buyers here, not the sellers. Quite a few seem to think they are "in control" and will be able to make a few thousand pounds re-selling the non-existent vehicle immediately.
The idea that anyone will part with serious money for an item they have not seen/inspected/tested defies belief, and confirms to me that greed is a major motivator.
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The idea that anyone will part with serious money for an item they have not seen/inspected/tested defies belief and confirms to me that greed is a major motivator.
Plenty of people purchase sight unseen from respectable dealers such as DriveTheDeal.com and they get nice cars at nice prices. I guess the important bit is to research the company and if no-one has heard of it, walk away.
And I disagree that there are no bargains. Dagenham Ford were recently doing Ford Ka's for £5K compared to £6K+ at most other places. Most of you know that dealers might sell at cost price to get a bonus from the manufacturer for selling more than a set number of cars in the year. Mike Rutherford in the Sat. Telegraph details these 'steals'.
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Leif - they go to DriveTheDeal because they have a reputation, for a start. The buyers know that if they have a problem, then they can go to Trading Standards and the courts - not possible when dealing with the Autotrader/Ebay scammer. There's no company for the same reason as there is no car!
The "bargains" I'm describing are cars at 50% of book, not £1k off dealer rrp.
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