French Purchaser

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

HI Guys

I have been contacted by a chap in France whio has seen my Tuscan on the vixen register and wants to buy it. I dont really want to sell but have given hima price that I would let it go at ( I am having a lot of work done on my house so the money would be handy!, plus it will help with the racing)

As this approach seemed a little unorthodox I wanted to check to seee if anyone else has recently been contacted in a similar manner.

I will take the relvant precautions when it comes to selling, to cover myself. But I was interested to see if anyone else had been contacted recently.

Thanks

Owen

[heightswitch]

Obiwonkeyblokey said:

HI Guys

I have been contacted by a chap in France whio has seen my Tuscan on the vixen register and wants to buy it. I dont really want to sell but have given hima price that I would let it go at ( I am having a lot of work done on my house so the money would be handy!, plus it will help with the racing)

As this approach seemed a little unorthodox I wanted to check to seee if anyone else has recently been contacted in a similar manner.

I will take the relvant precautions when it comes to selling, to cover myself. But I was interested to see if anyone else had been contacted recently.

Thanks

Owen

I have seen lots of scams involving money transfer etc etc all to often of late.

Deal in cash and insist on cash on Collection with a face to face deal. any serious purchaser will hop on a plane to do the deal. Even bankers drafts have been bouncing of late.

N.

[TonyHetherington]

Absolutely, yes.

I am selling my Exige and had contact form a lot of people in Western Europe. The £ being so weak to the € means that now, more than ever before, our cars in the UK are really viable buys for our european friends.

I asked in the Mod's forum (for fear of offending the guy who e-mailed me in case he saw) and RacingPete (tech guy) recently sold his car to someone on the continent.

Be extra careful, but it's becomingly increasingly viable common.

[djc100]

The wsrning to be carefull is important - deal in cash. However I have been in the market for a TVR for the last 6 month and very surprised how many have gone 'over the water' during that time, very often an offer by phone, followed by man with trailer and cash.

David

Edited by djc100 on Friday 30th January 09:05

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

thanks guys. I am looking to deal in cash and will only do a face to face deal. I just wanted to see if this person had been contacting many people.

i will let you know what happens.

Owen

[Seabass]

Yep - I've sold a car recently on ebay to a Dutchman who thought nothing of hopping on a ferry with his car transporter to collect and pay the cash. He didn't contact me before hand to ask if he could bid but collected the vehicle far faster than UK buyers have in the past. He also bought my spares package when I offerred it to him on the day.

I would be tempted to have a "note pen" or IR lamp to check the notes too + a couple of mates who just popped round for a cuppa.

JC

[mhardy]

Hi Owen,

I'am still after a nice Vixen V8 or a Tuscan V6.... So please mail me more details of yours including price and details?

Thanks in advance...

[e-mail]

member of commitee TVRCC NETHERLANDS

[aerospoke]

Hi Guys

The weak pound really makes buying cars in GB very interesting for us €-buyers. I just bought a 3000M a few month ago and just can´t keep my eyes of the PH-classifieds. I paid cash but there are other safe options like paypal too.
At least nobody will drive or fly over from the continent to kick your tires! But we really appreciate lots of pictures of the cars in question, especially the chassis.

Cheers Jens

[TimmyArt]

Hi Owen.
I sold the Vixen last year to a really nice chap in France.
He just contacted me via a PH advert within a couple of days of putting it up. He travelled over with a trailer.
If you don't mind my asking, how much were you going to sell it for? - might it be worth sticking an ad on here, then maybe someone on here might buy it??

Edited by TimmyArt on Friday 30th January 10:42

[TonyHetherington]

I'm going to move this thread to General Gassing, I trust you don't mind, but I think it's a really good topic and probably important for many people - not just classic owners

[dmax]

I don t get this obession for cash.
I bought 2 cars in UK, last one being the Griffith last winter, everytime i transfered monney by bank.
when the seller had received the monney on his account he just confirmed me it was ok, and i went to take that car, that's it.
i don't see where the risk can be in doing that way.

[paoloh]

Recently I had a young German travel over to buy a Celica I had, nothing really special but he travelled over, Paid in crisp new £50s and went on his way.

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

He said he will getback to me on Monday.

I will let you know if things progress.

[L100NYY]

As mentioned, due to the £ vs Euro situation it really is not uncommon for this to happen. If it helps put your mind at rest I have sold 9 cars this month to Europe so you're not alone!

[nsa]

I sold a car to a Frenchy in Nov 07. He came over on the plane to see it and I ended up delivering it to Calais, where we swapped the car from my transporter to his and he gave me the cash. It was a Fisher Fury registered 1981; I think they get a special import rate or something when the cars are that old.

I have also seen recently a right hand drive Porsche 924 Carrera GT sell at auction here to be resold in France, which seems crazy.

http://florentmoulin.com/fiche.php?num=182&lan...

[Istvan24]

Interesting reading - I'm thinking of flying over and driving back a purchase at some point so to hear how sellers regard European buyers is useful stuff.

Proving that I'm a genuine buyer is one issue - last thing you want is to fly over only to find that the car has been sold to someone else, as is payment if the car is worth more than a few grand - lugging lots of cash across the borders if you don't have a UK account is a pain...

[Captain Ahab]

Sold my Elise here on PH to a guy from Sweden, met him at Heathrow- took him to my bank , international money transfer confirmed by my bank and his - handed over the keys. Had a lot of interest from Italy and Germany too.

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

OK, he contacted me today.

he wants me to take lots of pics and email to him ( which makes sense) Subject to that he has offered to fly in and pay in Euros ( cash)

I am thinking of just taking him to my bank to pay the cash in and have it verified while he is with me. would that make sense?

does anyone have experience of paying euros into a sterling account? how long does it take to credit etc.

thanks

O

[Super Bad]

Obiwonkeyblokey said:

I am thinking of just taking him to my bank to pay the cash in and have it verified while he is with me. would that make sense?

Definitely do that!

[nsa]

If you pay euros into a sterling account your bank will probably screw you on the rate, but it shouldn't be difficult. Alternatively, you can open a euro account at somewhere like Citibank, but the admin charges are quite high. Or you can keep the cash and spend it on your next few holidays / change it with people from work.

If you can get into London, keep the cash and change it in a scruffy bureau de change in Bayswater/Queensway near Notting Hill. There are loads and you will be very surprised at the rates you can get because there is a lot of competition. Go for one of the smaller places, shop around, and don't pay commission. Don't go to a big name because they charge for the brand. I am amazed when people change money at the airport/train stations in London when the charges can add up to 9% of the total.

You should be able to get the rate you receive down to about 2% wider than the market mid-rate.