Ok, this may sound a bit irrational but I need another opinion.

Put my car up for sale on Sunday, got an email 4 hours later from a girl called Jane saying she as very interested in the car and would I take a slightly lower price etc Negotiated and agreed a price we are both happy with. A bit odd though given she’d not seen or driven the car.

Anyway, said she’d come on Thursday (tomorrow) to get the car, fine with me and gave her my full address. Got an email saying she’d be getting public transport and could I pick her up from the train station instead? Yes fine. Got another email saying her granddad is ill and is it ok for her other half to pick the car up (and pay) and could I collect him from the station instead? Err. yes ok. This is all due to happen tomorrow evening.

Is this some sort of ‘sting’ operation which results in me picking some heavies up from the station swiftly followed by a gun to my head and no car or cash?

Opinions pls.

Sounds properly dodgy.

Park away from the station and walk there with some mates if you are concerned

Ask to see the money before going to the car?

Not sure tbh ask for a sizable paypal deposit ?

Doesn’t sound too bad to me.

I’ve picked people up from the station before to buy a car I was selling.

Doesn’t make any difference who you are picking up, male or female, young or old, if they turn up with cash and want the car, they can buy it.

If they try and fob you off with some bank cheque they happen to have brought with them, walk away and tell them to come back with cash.

Trust your instincts. If you got interest in 4hrs chances are you’ll get another buyer along.

Person looking to buy a car currently requires to use public transport. I wouldn’t be overly concerned myself.

How much is involved here? If the car is £500 then it’s unlikely to be a. Sting, but if you are talking £5k upwards you need to be careful. Maybe take a mate or something. Don’t leave the keys in the car when you swap drivers, keep the paperwork in your pocket with the second key, take innocent looking photos of the buyer etc.

You need to run 5 minutes late to pick the dude up, giving you enough time to figure out if you could take them in a knife fight or not. 😀

Only talking £1000. What seems unusual is the keenness to buy the car having not seen it in the flesh, not that there’s anything wrong with it of course, but just not something I personally would do.

Hopefully I’m misinterpreting naivety as something more sinister!

is it priced cheaply? tbh if someone was willing to drop their pants on the phone, I’d assume they had more room to move in person.

Seems a good reason to be keen 😉

Odd not to view or test drive a car. On one extreme if it’s low price there’s more to go wrong so you check it out a bit more as a buyer. If it’s a very new car there is an outside chance that you might not expect any issues, but it’s stupid not to make sure given the price.

So, options are they are
– they’re looking for a heist car
– rip you off by getting the car without handing over some or all of the cash
– something really convoluted
– a genuine sale

But it stinks!

Is there a police station near the railway station? Perhaps you could meet there instead?

FWIW Gumtree car ads have a ‘make offer’ button, so that’s what people do. Seems daft to me, I kept telling folk to come see mine first before discussing money, some of them were pretty insistent, just don’t expect to haggle any further once you come to pick it up…

Maybe not surprisingly, mine did not sell. 😀

Gumtree is 85% timewasters. Most stuff does go eventually though.

Lad’ll turn up, see the car and start bargaining you down and will turn out to have only £750 on him

… if you’re lucky

Could just be a new driver/first time buyer?

I sold a classic Mini along the same lines a few years ago and the cash was handed over before the test drive!

If in doubt, take some backup and keep your phone on speeddial and check the notes carefully 😉

How far from your house is the station and will there be anyone home while your out ?

CheesybeanZ – Member
How far from your house is the station and will there be anyone home while your out ?
POSTED 36 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Good call that post! They know your address so think possibly trying to get you away from home!

Very iffy to me – trust your instincts.
We sold a car last year and had two similar scam attempts, from Gumtree, with same back story and excuses.

The real buyers phoned or emailed to arrange a viewing. The came, looked at car, made offer, went to get money transferred at bank, then came back next day when the money went through. They and I insisted on seeing all documents, history etc, and had a full receipt from me and we did v5 together.

Rather different from the ah but, it’s not me, I am ill, but can someone, maybe, etc.

Google her name, email or phone number, as these folk spend all day trying this on and tend to be on Internet througn others who have been scammed.

Lad’ll turn up, see the car and start bargaining you down and will turn out to have only £750 on him

… if you’re lucky

Yes thought that, made it very clear I won’t be accepting any less than what has been agreed. If they don’t like, they’ll be getting the train home. 😛

Good call that post! They know your address so think possibly trying to get you away from home!

Good point!

I’ve asked and have been picked up from the station before. I bought the car, it was ok and the cash I gave him wasn’t monopoly money.

I’ve sold most of my cars privately. It sounds fine. I’ve been picked up from the station a few times by private sellers after the deal has been done by emails/pictures/calls.

Only one thing to look out for- bloke wants to knock you right down on price because it has a slightly scuff etc.

You NEED to print a receipt from the internet though (especially as its a cheap car) that is a disclaimer ‘signing for/no comeback etc’

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/car-buyers-guide/cbg_sellerscontract.html

My most recent sale has almost put me off for life on a Xsara Picasso (great car too) couple turn up. She asks if she can test drive (sure) – so she rides the clutch the whole way round. My teeth are grating at the wear that shes probably doing. She gets out. Bloke then jumps in and starts testing the clutch- third gear stall. Then handbrake and revs. I stopped him at this point.

He then said ‘right I’ve got to see an older and higher miler car (for more money- I asked) tomorrow from a indie with warranty and might call you back’.

They called the next day a few times and I ignored. I’d decided there and then they could **** off.

You NEED to print a receipt from the internet though (especially as its a cheap car) that is a disclaimer ‘signing for/no comeback etc’

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/car-buyers-guide/cbg_sellerscontract.html

Good shout on that! Printed. Thanks.

Also make sure that you cancel your insurance as soon as the car is sold. There was a story recently of someone who kept their motorbike insurance running so they had full no claims. The new owner crashed without his own insurance and it was put back on the sellers insurance!

For me it’s not the station thing, it’s the moving goalpost of who is coming to buy etc…

The receipt. Time it too as technically speaking its not taxed at point of sale either. Its entirely the buyers responsibility to arrange tax/insured of vehicle.

For me it’s not the station thing, it’s the moving goalpost of who is coming to buy etc…

Yes, I agree. The emails have all been very naive, this is my first car, I really want it, I’ve already got my insurance sorted etc. If I was to guess, I’d say they are going to try and negociate down from the already agreed price, which isn’t going to happen. Given they’re coming by train it’s a dam sight more inconvenient for them to leave without the car than me not selling it!

I remember when I bought my first Forester from a Police Inspector. I turned up £30 short (I’d spent it on the way) – he was adamant that I was going home without the car. 😆

So he drove me to the nearest cash machine.

can you google the email text as you may be surprised.

As above it’s the “ah, but” constant shifts that’d make me wary TBH..

I’d ask for a £100.00 deposit through PayPal , this will give you their address and show a degree of commitmentoyour buying your car .

As long as the deal is conducted for cash under the watchful eye of station CCTV in the car park, I wouldn’t be too alarmed.

I had the ‘further haggling’ thing with someone who had travelled up on the train to view an already pretty cheaply priced KA. I called his bluff and he managed to find the agreed amount rather than have to buy another train ticket.

OP- remember this you are selling a car. Not interviewing someone for a cherish post.

I was selling a frame once- felt dodgy about the seller. Met up with him and he’d brought a mate as he too felt uncomfortable. We were laughing about it – it swings both ways.

Girl- naive, first car. Bloke ‘look at least let me look at it/it could be a rip off mechanically at that price plus going there with 1k in cash on you’?

The ill bit is probably a white lie. Not a problem.

Relax. No ones going to carjack you. Also – if you feel nervious. Go to a stationary shop or big supermarket(?) and buy a note-pen and test a few of the bank notes. Should be fine though.

Don’t read a novel into this. Its someone looking for their first reliable snotter.

I remember when I bought my first Forester from a Police Inspector. I turned up £30 short (I’d spent it on the way) – he was adamant that I was going home without the car.

So he drove me to the nearest cash machine.

More evidence, were it needed, that Inspectors are bastards.

Sounds like a sting, I nearly got done like that when I was selling my 65 bug, guy wires the money over to me and made all the excuses for not viewing the car, I later found out that the money showing in my account was not traceable and could not be collected.
So I nearly lost out on 5k!!

Be careful

But no money is wired though. Its cash. If someone was looking to nick a car they’d pick from the many S3, GTI, Audi’s etc on sale privately at 10k+.

Not a snotter.

Sounds as dodgy as hell to me. “Jane” is just the bait, her pal is the scammer.

But no money is wired though. Its cash. If someone was looking to nick a car they’d pick from the many S3, GTI, Audi’s etc on sale privately at 10k+.

Not a snotter.

Yup, a lot of effort for £1k.

and gave her my full address

dont!

Arrange somewhere neutral to meet, car park etc Dont give your home address away. ‘Hi, I think your a scammer so here’s my address and I have something to sell, please dont come and rob’

I wouldnt buy any car away fromthe V5/sellers address.

Lets look at it from the point of being a buyer.

Sometimes shit happens, and that may be what has happened in this case. Perhaps her male friend knows more about cars and so is better qualified to come look at it. £1000 is a lot of money to some people, and perhaps after making a rash decision of ‘yes i will buy it’ her friend told her he will go look at it, as he may be more comfortable with saying no deal if he thinks its not worth it.

3 years ago, i needed a new car, and didnt have a lot of cash to play with. Cars up here in northern scotland are so iverpricced compared to England. So even after factoring in trainfare, i thought it might be cheaper or better value to buy in England. So saw a car on Pistonheads, in Bradford. Expressed an interest and asked for more photos, particularly of known problematic areas on the body etc. Said i was interested, but guy wanted £200 deposit to keep it for me, paid by bank transfer. Obviously alarm bells rang a bit, but he obviously had the car as he had been able to supply exact photos as requested.

I asked for his address as i said the bank needed it along with account number etc for the transfer.

Once i had it,aling with his name, i used the electoral role to check he lived there, then google streetview, and the street matched that of the one in the car photos.

This gave me a bit of assurance, but obviously still a bit cautious.

Anyway, bought the car, 3 easy mot passes later it is still going strong, and has never missed a beat. £1000.

It does sound a bit odd. However, for context I sold my 3 year old yeti for 10k on Gumtree. Guy turned up with his lad, started it (didn’t open the bonnet), didn’t look at service book (in fact forgot to take it!), didn’t test drive it, didn’t really do much that have a quick look round. Rang his daughter who tx’d the money into my account, we filled out the V5 and he drove off in it!

Lovely bloke tho. Emailed me afterwards to say how happy he was with it. Probably sold £300 – £500 under book as I wanted it off the drive. Definitely felt strange way to buy a car tho. Never wrote a receipt.

Having said all that tho, I’d probably still walk away. £1000 for a car is going to attract a whole number of perfectly legit buyers.