- Joined
- Dec 19, 2015
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- 296
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So I'm just sharing this to make everyone aware of a scam someone tried to pull, to raise awareness. I mentioned in a previous post how I was looking to sell both mine and the Wife's cars to buy a shared car, as I now use my van for work.
I advertised both on Auto trader & on Friday at 5ish, I got a call from someone in Cambridge who wanted to look at the car, but he was going away the next day, so watching to do the 4.5 hour journey that night. Could be dodgy I thought, but it's his diesel, so his risk I thought.
Three Russian or Eastern European guys arrived at 23:30 (one was the size of a house). They asked me to pull it up under a street light to inspect the car. Asked me to pop the hood after a quick look over the bodywork & at the interior. The big guy asked me to explain the oil around the oil filler cap. Just silage I said. Then the guy who made the appointment asked to check the spare wheel & inside the rear bumper for signs of accidents (meanwhile big guy is still under the bonnet).
Then they ask for a test drive, so, being very cautious not to let the key out of my possession, I get in & take them round the block. They ask me to test the brakes, so I haul the anchors on as we leave. Find somewhere to turn around, remove the key to keep it with me while I'm swapping places & the big guy drives it back to my place. They park it up, call me round the back & the main buyer pulls his fingers out of the exhaust, shows me all the oil on his fingers, saying "turbo, turbo". You always get oil deposits on an old diesel's exhaust don't you I questioned. Then big guy points out how much smoke is coming out of the exhaust, which was more than I'd ever seen it smoke. So he revs it up, waking the neighbours & I tell them, if they want to do that, they'll have to follow me to the garage at the top of the road.
Get to the garage & they get back under the bonnet. Big guy sticks fingers in coolant tank & his fingers are covered in oil. So their summary was that the head gasket was the issue. The main guy vets very animated, saying how far they'd travelled & how much it had cost them. However, they are prepared to take it for parts - obviously not for the agreed price.
At that point I politely but firmly declined, apologised for the wasted trip and said goodnight.
It was only after, while googling oil in the coolant tank' that I saw reports of a scam, where three Romanians (or similar) had turned up in threes, after dark, distracted the seller while oil is poured into the coolant & the head gasket is blamed, leading to an offer to buy for scrap/parts.
I'm waiting for the garage to look at the car, flush the system & test for head gasket damage, to see whether it definitely is them that put oil in the coolant, or whether I have misjudged these fine upstanding citizens & I actually do have a problem with the car (porous head gasket etc).
I'm furious though that I was so careful to check how to spot funny money, not to leave the keys in their possession etc to avoid being scammed & I fell for this instead. I'll now always have two people present when selling & I certainly won't leave the engine bay while the bonnets up.
I advertised both on Auto trader & on Friday at 5ish, I got a call from someone in Cambridge who wanted to look at the car, but he was going away the next day, so watching to do the 4.5 hour journey that night. Could be dodgy I thought, but it's his diesel, so his risk I thought.
Three Russian or Eastern European guys arrived at 23:30 (one was the size of a house). They asked me to pull it up under a street light to inspect the car. Asked me to pop the hood after a quick look over the bodywork & at the interior. The big guy asked me to explain the oil around the oil filler cap. Just silage I said. Then the guy who made the appointment asked to check the spare wheel & inside the rear bumper for signs of accidents (meanwhile big guy is still under the bonnet).
Then they ask for a test drive, so, being very cautious not to let the key out of my possession, I get in & take them round the block. They ask me to test the brakes, so I haul the anchors on as we leave. Find somewhere to turn around, remove the key to keep it with me while I'm swapping places & the big guy drives it back to my place. They park it up, call me round the back & the main buyer pulls his fingers out of the exhaust, shows me all the oil on his fingers, saying "turbo, turbo". You always get oil deposits on an old diesel's exhaust don't you I questioned. Then big guy points out how much smoke is coming out of the exhaust, which was more than I'd ever seen it smoke. So he revs it up, waking the neighbours & I tell them, if they want to do that, they'll have to follow me to the garage at the top of the road.
Get to the garage & they get back under the bonnet. Big guy sticks fingers in coolant tank & his fingers are covered in oil. So their summary was that the head gasket was the issue. The main guy vets very animated, saying how far they'd travelled & how much it had cost them. However, they are prepared to take it for parts - obviously not for the agreed price.
At that point I politely but firmly declined, apologised for the wasted trip and said goodnight.
It was only after, while googling oil in the coolant tank' that I saw reports of a scam, where three Romanians (or similar) had turned up in threes, after dark, distracted the seller while oil is poured into the coolant & the head gasket is blamed, leading to an offer to buy for scrap/parts.
I'm waiting for the garage to look at the car, flush the system & test for head gasket damage, to see whether it definitely is them that put oil in the coolant, or whether I have misjudged these fine upstanding citizens & I actually do have a problem with the car (porous head gasket etc).
I'm furious though that I was so careful to check how to spot funny money, not to leave the keys in their possession etc to avoid being scammed & I fell for this instead. I'll now always have two people present when selling & I certainly won't leave the engine bay while the bonnets up.