Almost got scammed by car buyers

[Spiedhermonkey]

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.

 

[DJ_26]

Sounds like you did the right thing by declining tbh, although I'm sure in hindsight, you probably wished that you didn't accept any viewings so late in the evening. Totally normal to be fuming, I know I would be if I was in this situation. At least you still have your car and provided the head gasket is ok, any water in the combustion chambers should hopefully have burnt off. As for the cooling system, it may be a good idea to have it flushed. If the garage confirms that your head gasket is fine, what will be your next step?

 

[Spiedhermonkey]

As I was typing it, I was thinking how obviously dodgy it sounds, as I tell the story.

The car will need flywheel & clutch doing before that long, but if I do all the work it needs, I probably won't recoup the money in sale price. So I'll probably re-list it as is, but be more cautious about who I agree to see. I don't really know is the honest answer, lots to think about. Ideally sell both cars & buy a newer model.

 

[DJ_26]

As I was typing it, I was thinking how obviously dodgy it sounds, as I tell the story.

The car will need flywheel & clutch doing before that long, but if I do all the work it needs, I probably won't recoup the money in sale price. So I'll probably re-list it as is, but be more cautious about who I agree to see. I don't really know is the honest answer, lots to think about. Ideally sell both cars & buy a newer model.

Yeah it's understandable mate because you are in a position where you just want to sell your car and move on, so will be jumping at the opportunity for someone to come and see the car. If I were you, I wouldn't bother with the clutch and flywheel, because like you said, you won't recoup the money. Better to put it towards a new car. I suppose all you could do, is notify the police of it, like an FYI (really depends on how much resources they can put towards finding the blokes) with whatever info and description you have of them. Other than that, let's just hope you can get a genuine buyer now! Only agree to a time that actually suits you and have that extra person there with you.

 

[Gazwould]

There is strange behaviours when buying cars of people of foreign lands .

Two polish chaps walked around a car for twenty minutes continuously opening and closing doors .

Thinking they were having a laugh , they bought it without test driving .

I guess in their land if the doors don't fall off it's a good un .

 

[DJ_26]

There is strange behaviours when buying cars of people of foreign lands .

Two polish chaps walked around a car for twenty minutes continuously opening and closing doors .

Thinking they were having a laugh , they bought it without test driving .

I guess in their land if the doors don't fall off it's a good un .

LOL

 

[desertstorm]

I have heard of that scam and to be honest I personally wouldn't have been out at that time of night trying to sell a car like you were.
The scam I read about when the owner refused to sell the car at a knock down price the people demanded money for the fuel that they had wasted on the trip. Claiming the owner was trying to rip them off.

 

[mikep99]

You've done the right thing.
Can't be too careful these days.
I've always agreed on a price over the phone subject to the condition of the car so there's no haggling to be done.
Always good to have backup / neighbors or be in a public place just in case...

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Spiedhermonkey]

Yeah, you can plan as much as you want, to guard against being ripped off, but they're tricky swines that come up with well organized routines.

In future, if I get a whiff of something being wrong, like a 23:30 viewing, I'll just say no.