Buyer paid in full for car - Now vanished. Suggestions?

[Osinjak]

KrazyIvan said:

Getting da-ja-vue

At least have an idea about what it is that you want to post.

[Trailhead]

Keep money until he returns. Resell car. Sorted.

[andburg]

I'd speak to action fraud and to my bank.

Someone must be able to contact the owner of that bank account to see if its legitimate and attempt to make contact and return funds. I would also record dates and times of trying to make contact, advising that your friend will be issuing a storage fee for every day the vehicle remains uncollected if the name ties up and the buyer still wants it.

6 months to collect a car with no contact is very strange.
I don't see any court giving you grief for refunding the buyer and selling the car on.

[dingocooke]

If he paid by bank transfer, pay it back into the same account, then sell the car to the other buyer. Simple

[LaurasOtherHalf]

160 said:

wasnt the other time a buyer from france who would buy a few cars send the money and then pick them up when he had enough for the transporter? iirc wasnt it 'lauras other half' or something like that.

One thread was mine, but it wasn't the one everyone is talking about that involved finance
my thread

buyer pays off finance thread

Google, as always, is your friend

[anonymous-user]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

One thread was mine, but it wasn't the one everyone is talking about that involved finance
my thread

buyer pays off finance thread

Google, as always, is your friend

At least yours had a sensible ending Craig, although this one is bizarre... Nearly 7 months!

The car can't stand outside either so it's talking up valuable storage space.

[Swervin_Mervin]

dingocooke said:

If he paid by bank transfer, pay it back into the same account, then sell the car to the other buyer. Simple

Surely this?

[Old Merc]

Could it be a "shipping agent scam" and a dopey crook in Nigeria has cocked it up and really HAS paid for the car?

[anonymous-user]

Old Merc said:

Could it be a "shipping agent scam" and a dopey crook in Nigeria has cocked it up and really HAS paid for the car?

The guy came from Glasgow to view the car in person the day before he transferred the money and seemed completely genuine.

I have recommended to my mate that he sells it again and keeps the original payment ready to hand back to the purchaser if he surfaces.

He doesn't want to simply refund the money to the account it came as who knows whose bank account it came from in the first place. It might not even exist anymore. It could be the account of a business that has since gone bankrupt. Who knows?

He would much rather just hand over the cash in person or actually get an email confirming the definite bank details to pay it into.

[jjr1]

dingocooke said:

If he paid by bank transfer, pay it back into the same account, then sell the car to the other buyer. Simple

This is what I did, when somebody did exactly the same to me with my Gt86. He transferred the money and then disappeared. I gave him plenty of chances to reappear but the bugger had gone completely awol.

So I sold it to the next person who wanted it and returned the money to the bank account it came from.

Finally the original purchaser, remembered where he had left his phone after 2 weeks of no contact and despite me still having the advert up, so my contact details were still available.

He went a bit mad about it but I told him where to shove it. I imagine he was only really pissed off because the money wasn't his and he had transferred from an illegally acquired account and had laid low to see if there was any police activity.

Stupidly had he turned up the night he transferred the money he would have had my car and I would have been 15k poorer when the Police turned up looking for stolen funds.

[Variomatic]

NinjaPower said:

Well hopefully this one will be a lot more straightforward than the one that involved finance.

As I pointed out earlier, the only real worry is that legally the car belongs to the buyer as it has been paid for in full, and therefore what would be the repercussions of selling it again, even if you intended to refund the original purchaser.

He might not want the money back, he may just demand the car.

Google Torts (Interference with goods) Act 1977 (or just follow the handy link below ). Section 12 explains all.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/32/crossh...

[anonymous-user]

Variomatic said:

Google Torts (Interference with goods) Act 1977 (or just follow the handy link below ). Section 12 explains all.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/32/crossh...

That is fascinating. Never heard of that Act before.

Thanks for sharing

[lbc]

I wonder if the ops buyer had less than 10 feedback?

I sold a HiFi item to someone in London a few months ago, where they paid via Paypal, but then vanished off the planet. I raised a case with ebay and refunded the money but had to wait a couple of weeks in case the buyer responded.

Relisted the item with wording that buyers with less than 10 feedback would be removed, and had no problems with a cash buyer.

[carinaman]

Funkycoldribena said:

Ripper Johnson will want his car when he gets out.

When he's finished hunting Tigers in India?

[Variomatic]

NinjaPower said:

That is fascinating. Never heard of that Act before.

Thanks for sharing

You're welcome It comes up occasionally with watches and clocks in for repair. To be honest, in a commercial sense, disposing of them legitimately is so much potential aggro that it's easier to tag them, put 'em in the back of the safe, and forget about them in case the owner ever returns. That's not quite so easy with a car though!