I've been hunting around the classifieds quite a lot recently and i keep seeing some very strange looking adverts. The car in question is often suspiciously cheap - ie. a 2006 Focus or a 2004 Mini for £4,000. The seller always claims that his or her phone is out of action and that they are only contactable by email. Additionally, the same vehicle can appear in the classifieds in two separate adverts - in two entirely different locations.
Example is the Mini One D seen twice on this page:
tinyurl.com/6l42vg
Do i smell a scam?
Edited by Pugugly on 04/05/2008 at 20:03
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No, that MINI is being offered fir £159.00 p.m. on a PCP - No scam.
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PU, I think wjh2 is refering to the £4001 MINI
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yes, that mini!
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You may wish to see my thread Selling Stolen Cars, this is a perfect example of a car which is dubious. No phone number ? Contact only by email ? What sort of person who would own a Mini does not have access to a telephone ?
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Ah - second time today that, must be olde age.
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Don't know if its been reported before but a Policeman was telling my lad last week that a scam had been used in the West Midlands where a car was advertised and sold.
Apparently the criminals had somehow selected an expensive house where they knew the owners were away on holiday.
The car was waiting in the drive and a man was pottering in the garden.
The car was a clone and had forged documents.
You can guess the rest including the fact that the buyer lost a good deal of money buying a stolen car.
wemyss
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i've seen quite a few like this recently too. a focus st-2 for about five grand? telephone number not available at the moment, email only. its very suspicious!
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Report them to Autotrader. When I did the advert was removed within the hour and I got a nice email thanking me for reporting it. I think they also block the advertiser and remove any other adverts they have. Doesn't stop them coming back with a new email address/phone Number of course.
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On Autotrader a few months ago, I came across a ridiculously cheap Jaguar XK8 (£5000, excellent condition, low mileage & only few years old). There was an e-mail address but no telephone number.
This was an obvious scam so I reported it to Autotrader. This was quite awkward to do but the advert was removed a couple of days later.
My suggestion is: Have a "Report this Advert" button by every advert.
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I once phoned about a bargain priced Polo in autotrader, the foreign sounding voice at the other end asked me to call later, it wasn't till after i put the phone down that i wondered if i'd been duped into phoning a premium line.
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Take a camera. If you do offer buy it, ask to take a picture of the car with the person selling it - sure way to test if the seller is honest and up front - if seller declines - well, why should they?
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My suggestion is Auto Trader wise up to these very obvious scams which can be spotted a mile away. Presumably a human being reviews the ads before they are published/posted so could check for irregularities. Auto Trader have a responsibility to protect buyers even if it is to decline only the most obvious scams.
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>>wise up to these very obvious scams which can be spotted a mile away>>
I used to know someone who worked for one of the biggest regional editions of Auto Trader, bringing in and collating the advertisements.
She was one of just three people (one was the photographer) who undertook the preparation of the entire weekly edition - the chances of her or anyone else at that time spotting such scams would, I feel, be virtually impossible.
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The only time I was caught on a car was when I broke my 5 'golden rules'
These are based on what a normal person does in life, and this is important as every good car I have bought has come from a 'normal' family.
The man must live in the house on the log book (you go inside to see the paperwork (if not, why not?)
The car must have a log book at that house.
It must be registered at Swansea.
The car number plate, VIN number, and engine number are in that log book.
Have an HPI check done on the car in the sellers presence.
So car, house, man, log book HPI, all must marry.
Usually two kids also say 'Dad is OUR old car going?
That is normal.
Ignore it and problems arise
Edited by MW on 25/03/2008 at 19:13
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What happened?
Edited by perleman on 25/03/2008 at 20:04
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Where's there's money there's always a fiddle......
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I had 'car fever'.
I had been looking for a car for ages with no luck. I saw a good cavalier and just wanted it, and wanted it, and wanted it.
All rational went. When the chap said he was selling it for a friend with a lost log book I said to myself, 'its not normal, but not so bad'.
Eventually I found out he was a private dealer. I eventually got my money back after telling him I had been duped and that I would ask the inland revenue and VAT to check if I had paid VAT on it. It was all very unplesant, and the embarrasment is still with me, 20 years on.
Now I establish if it is a 'normal' sale over the phone before I even look at it. If anything is odd, I never bother because there are two million second hand cars for sale. Maybe 30% of them are from nice families, and that is where you want to buy from.
Remember the asymetric information present. The seller knows 5 times more about the car than the buyer. You do not need anything abnormal on top of that.
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i have discovered how to easily spot the scam adverts on autotrader in particular
filter search by
under 3 years old
£1000 minimum to miss out lease and monthly figure deals
private ads only
then search by lowest price
amazing what you can buy for 2k odds, o8 polo or a number of "cheap " bmw 1 series, 55 plate for 5k, two different ads with same photos
all the dodgy ads say " please email me as phone not working at the moment
try it , its an eyeopener, have emailed autotrader to alert them!
I have worked in the car trade and know about values, but anyone could spot these
only cars that seem legitimate in low prices are the forlorn looking rover city cars which dont seem to be worth much!
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But people still fall for it!
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The reason the Rover Citys are being given away is that even mundane parts are now impossible to obtain.
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The reason the Rover Citys are being given away is that even mundane parts are now impossible to obtain.
>>
Having driven one, I could list dozens of other reasons - it was the only truly dreadful new car I've ever driven.
I speak as a Rover supporter in other respects - a decent spec Rover 25 I had was tremendous vehicle.
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We had the dubious pleasure of delivering these city rovers to the dealers when they were released, memorable for the fact that many bonnet cables snapped or pulled out of their fittings when we had to jump start them (regularly), and numerous other parts would fall off during the delivery process, doorhandles mainly if i remember.
The dealers hated the fact that tata was specced on the paperwork, i hated the fact they had the gall to put the union flag on the boot lid.
TBH they didn't run too badly though.
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I know this is an old post. but I'm guessing people still land here... I did! Essentially I would keep reporting these cars (which are still prevalent on autotrader). I do and I also always ask for the site to make it easier for me to do so by putting a 'report this car' button on the website.....
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Hello this is an old thread but the scam continues
Check out this posting:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/motoring/1390621-ridiculously-cheap-cars-autotrader-whats-scam.html
The same technique is in use today(I admit I replied to an advert)
If anyone can be bothered, I would like to know how the scam works and if anyone knows it would be good to complete the details
Thanks
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