Too good to be true?

[beemer328]

I e mailed about an slk a few months ago from a simular ad, the reply said the car was in spain, if i paid up front they would have it delivered and if i didnt want it they would send my money back, when i said i will come to spain to see the car and pay then they became very busy and did not know when they would be home. Auto trader should look into these scams because some poor trusting bugger will get caught.

 

[D1gger5]

I spotted them because they seemed "Bargain".

DavidSL - that is the same as my earlier post - cannot seem to get hyperlinks to copy/paste.

I should be from Scotland due to my tight-fisted nature but I'm from south of that border, but have worked up there for a few years in the past.

Anyway, I did not know that you could report the scams. Why don't Autotrader "VET" the ads before they are posted as there are so many tell-tale "key" words/phrases in each advert.

Diggers

 

[teddycatkin]

Before we all write off these as scams --a little story !
Many years ago a small group of "young entusiastic and penniless mechanics" myself inluded scanned the local papers and E/Mart each week (no internet or Autotrader in those days)
We bought cars that were none broken down non runners --repaired them and sold them on in local auctions (also now all gone) it made a nice little earner / sideline to our weekly wages.
One night Manchester evening news ran an add " Mercedes for sale £100 cash -no offers" on arriving at a large detatched house in Pownall Park Wilmslow an elderley and very eccentric lady answered the huge front door. "We have come about the car "
All she said was "have you got the money "--to that the £100 in used fivers was flashed -- She held out her hand for the cash.
--but where is the car ? we asked --in the garage round the back said the woman -here are the keys I cannot drive -here is the log book give me the money--do you need a reciept ?I will write you one now --a glance at the log book showed a 2 year old S class saloon ?
Moving swiftly round to the wooden doored garage held closed with a wooden peg in a massive garden all overgrown and covered in ivy and hanging willows.
Prising the door open revealed the car covered in a layer of dust -just 2000 miles on the clock- it fired up straight away --drove to the front of the house --collected the reciept and sped away--I was home at the old farm in Mobberley -1/2 an hour before Tommy in the moggy 1000 traveller too.
It turned out the womans husband ( a very wealthy buisiness man from Manchester ) had "eloped" --ran off with his secretary it was later found that she sold off all his possesions including the car for as little as possible and sued him for divorce?
( the car was too good to auction -too expensive for us to drive and was sold to the local butcher --who had it for many years later. )

 

[Andrew23]

It's Gone

Seems Autotrader have taken action as the "page cannot be found".

 

[davidsl500]

Interestingly, the SL in my link earlier has gone up to £25,000 and the description has changed as well..

I reported both ads to Autotrader as well yesterday.

The link to contact Autotrader about suspicious adverts etc., is

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/safety_and_security/contact_auto_trader.jsp


Their reply

Dear David,

Thanks for your E-Mail - The advert has now been removed.

If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Mark Weaffer
Legal & Compliance Officer
Autotrader Digital
01925 294 614 - TEL
01925 294 604 - FAX

 

[PanzerMcGrory]

I spotted them because they seemed "Bargain".

DavidSL - that is the same as my earlier post - cannot seem to get hyperlinks to copy/paste.

I should be from Scotland due to my tight-fisted nature but I'm from south of that border, but have worked up there for a few years in the past.

Anyway, I did not know that you could report the scams. Why don't Autotrader "VET" the ads before they are posted as there are so many tell-tale "key" words/phrases in each advert.

Diggers

I you worked up here im surprised you didnt realise this tight fisted crap is just a myth spouted by little englanders,
ah well suppose some will never see past stereotypes as we are actually some of the most genorous people you could find unlike some i worked with down south.

 

[PanzerMcGrory]

Before we all write off these as scams --a little story !
Many years ago a small group of "young entusiastic and penniless mechanics" myself inluded scanned the local papers and E/Mart each week (no internet or Autotrader in those days)
We bought cars that were none broken down non runners --repaired them and sold them on in local auctions (also now all gone) it made a nice little earner / sideline to our weekly wages.
One night Manchester evening news ran an add " Mercedes for sale £100 cash -no offers" on arriving at a large detatched house in Pownall Park Wilmslow an elderley and very eccentric lady answered the huge front door. "We have come about the car "
All she said was "have you got the money "--to that the £100 in used fivers was flashed -- She held out her hand for the cash.
--but where is the car ? we asked --in the garage round the back said the woman -here are the keys I cannot drive -here is the log book give me the money--do you need a reciept ?I will write you one now --a glance at the log book showed a 2 year old S class saloon ?
Moving swiftly round to the wooden doored garage held closed with a wooden peg in a massive garden all overgrown and covered in ivy and hanging willows.
Prising the door open revealed the car covered in a layer of dust -just 2000 miles on the clock- it fired up straight away --drove to the front of the house --collected the reciept and sped away--I was home at the old farm in Mobberley -1/2 an hour before Tommy in the moggy 1000 traveller too.
It turned out the womans husband ( a very wealthy buisiness man from Manchester ) had "eloped" --ran off with his secretary it was later found that she sold off all his possesions including the car for as little as possible and sued him for divorce?
( the car was too good to auction -too expensive for us to drive and was sold to the local butcher --who had it for many years later. )

You should have offered something for his clothes aswell

 

[rpe2]

Here we go with our starter for 10. Nothing predictable here

I already have many emails so I hope you'll understand that I need to sort them.

My name is Laura Costelli I have 31 years old and I was doctor for 3 years in Preston. I am glad you are interested in my car Mercedes CLS .

First, I want you to know that I lived in Preston until 2 months ago, but now I'm in Greece because I am pregnant and I have decided to give birth in my home country so I want to sell my car and move back in Greece .

The car is in perfect working condition. It's in showroom condition, no scratches, no dents, full service history, HPI clear, no outstanding finance, non-smoking, never involved in any accident and it has 70000 miles.

The car is still UK registered and now it is locked in my garage. If you decide to buy it you will receive the original invoice, logbook, keys and all the documents to register it into your name .

Genuine reason for sale: unfortunately I can't register the car here because you know it is very hard to drive a Right-hand car here.

I want 5,000 GBP including the shipping to your door for the car.

Due to amount involved and due the fact that I am not located in the United Kingdom, I only accept third party transaction mediator.

I have chosen the eBay Shipping Center Program to take care of all the proceedings, so the car will be shipped by eBay.

Beside shipping the car, eBay will act as the middle man - holding the payment until you receive and inspect it. You will have one week inspection period.

Regarding the payment method i would like to use eBay like a third part for the payment because in my opinion this is the safest way to handle the transaction. You will have the car for inspection and test drive BEFORE any money is released to me.

Look how this work:

1. I will contact them , and I will send your shipping information to eBay to open the transaction.

2. They will send you a payment invoice for the car (the invoice will be from customer support team) about how to make the payment.

3. The invoice contains all the info about this transaction and you must follow the steps written there to complete the deal with me.

4. After all that will be done, the car will be shipped by eBay, and the car will arrive at your address in 3 to 5 days..

5. Buyer accepts delivery and informs eBay to tell them if he is satisfied or not

6. Ebay will release the money to the seller(in case the buyer is satisfied) or to the buyer(in case that he is not satisfied).

This means a 3rd party.

You will receive a tracking # in the same day when the car will be shipped from eBay.

I am using the protection and shipping program offered by eBay Shipping Center because this will protect both of us and also it is the fastest way to complete this deal.

If you want to go on with this deal, please email me back to let me know if you are interested ...

 

[PanzerMcGrory]

Here we go with our starter for 10. Nothing predictable here

I already have many emails so I hope you'll understand that I need to sort them.

My name is Laura Costelli I have 31 years old and I was doctor for 3 years in Preston. I am glad you are interested in my car Mercedes CLS .

First, I want you to know that I lived in Preston until 2 months ago, but now I'm in Greece because I am pregnant and I have decided to give birth in my home country so I want to sell my car and move back in Greece .

The car is in perfect working condition. It's in showroom condition, no scratches, no dents, full service history, HPI clear, no outstanding finance, non-smoking, never involved in any accident and it has 70000 miles.

The car is still UK registered and now it is locked in my garage. If you decide to buy it you will receive the original invoice, logbook, keys and all the documents to register it into your name .

Genuine reason for sale: unfortunately I can't register the car here because you know it is very hard to drive a Right-hand car here.

I want 5,000 GBP including the shipping to your door for the car.

Due to amount involved and due the fact that I am not located in the United Kingdom, I only accept third party transaction mediator.

I have chosen the eBay Shipping Center Program to take care of all the proceedings, so the car will be shipped by eBay.

Beside shipping the car, eBay will act as the middle man - holding the payment until you receive and inspect it. You will have one week inspection period.

Regarding the payment method i would like to use eBay like a third part for the payment because in my opinion this is the safest way to handle the transaction. You will have the car for inspection and test drive BEFORE any money is released to me.

Look how this work:

1. I will contact them , and I will send your shipping information to eBay to open the transaction.

2. They will send you a payment invoice for the car (the invoice will be from customer support team) about how to make the payment.

3. The invoice contains all the info about this transaction and you must follow the steps written there to complete the deal with me.

4. After all that will be done, the car will be shipped by eBay, and the car will arrive at your address in 3 to 5 days..

5. Buyer accepts delivery and informs eBay to tell them if he is satisfied or not

6. Ebay will release the money to the seller(in case the buyer is satisfied) or to the buyer(in case that he is not satisfied).

This means a 3rd party.

You will receive a tracking # in the same day when the car will be shipped from eBay.

I am using the protection and shipping program offered by eBay Shipping Center because this will protect both of us and also it is the fastest way to complete this deal.

If you want to go on with this deal, please email me back to let me know if you are interested ...

Poor girls just up the duff and needs a bit of money and you all doubt her

 

[teddycatkin]

You know her then Panzer ?

 

[D1gger5]

Panzer, the steroetypes are alive and well but not always from the country you expect.

Welsh = Sheep, valleys, undecipherable place names and lots of spitting trying to pronounce them
English = Lager Lout, pipe & slippers, etc
Scottish = tight fisted, Tennants can in hand (unless it is the underage Buckkies drinker - brewed in Buckfast Devon).

I'm from:-
Leicestershire Me Duck
Somerset Loike
South Wales butt and, there I was, gone!!!

Back on thread, yes, I picked up bargains in my time but not those sorts of bargains where cash paid before shipping/seeing car - A spares/repair Capri with lots of genuine Ford panels/parts still in the packets for the cost of an average night out, or my 280.

 

[PanzerMcGrory]

You know her then Panzer ?

Aye, she was a snide ride, had far to much body hair and kept smashing all my plates so sent her packing back to Greece.

 

[teddycatkin]

bonny highland lass then ?

 

[D1gger5]

Just reported a 2005 SLK 200K priced up at £3,000 same M.O.

Should be a little more than that but I don't want an SLK myself. Back to my original statement "why can't they vet the ads before hosting them using a filter system?".

 

[davidsl500]

Just reported a 2005 SLK 200K priced up at £3,000 same M.O.

Should be a little more than that but I don't want an SLK myself. Back to my original statement "why can't they vet the ads before hosting them using a filter system?".

Is it because they dont care so long as someone pays for the advert, oops, how cynical am I?

You would think that it wouldnt be too difficult to put some simple filters in place. I would be comparing the book price for the make and year with anything over a 20% variance flagging the advert for manual checking...

 

[D1gger5]

Who's the most cynical person then?

Yes, everyone is out to make money, rip of their granny for a quid but for every quid they make, someone loses a quid (or more).

Lottery don't do, never sign up for anything in a supermarket (Clubcard = shopping habits & targeted advertising. Thus Asda would think I'm an alcoholic, Boots a sex maniac, Morrisons a fruit bat and sainsbury a chocoholic).

If items are on offer and I know my market then buy buy buy BUT if artificially high bye bye bye. Then again with everything increasing on a regular basis then someone is profiteering and I guess its not the farmers!!!

Anyway back to RANT, Why can't they do more to protect their customers by eradicating the scams? People shopping on there are THEIR customers as they are the middle men between vehicle sellers and the buyers.

In my employment career to date, look after the customer and they will appreciate that philosophy whether it be specification writing, requirement definition, query answering, design, integration, maintenance procedures, enhanced functionality, etc.

Enough said for now

Diggers