How a bunch of strangers helped get an impulse purchase from Whitstable to Aberdeen...
As a case study for how NOT to buy a car online PHer Findlay_mx's impulsive purchase of a sight unseen Subaru Brat on eBay looks a pretty comprehensive example. The full story will be appearing as a PH Carpool shortly but, having belatedly realised Whitstable is rather a long way from his home in Aberdeen, Findlay faced a challenge in getting his new purchase home. Assuming the thing even worked of course.
As close as Findlay had got to the Brat... (pic: Simon S)
Now, sensible people will tell you the internet is basically a sharkpool full of scammers, tricksters and conmen out to separate you from your cash in any number of creative ways. And there's more an element of truth in this. Basic precautions would include not entrusting people you've met online with your money, asking them to pick up a car you've just bought without ever having seen it and then drive it for a couple of hundred miles to hand it over to another person you've never met in the hope they'll repeat the process all the way to Aberdeen. But if the internet really is just a reflection of human nature in general it turns out there are some good folk out there. And if you're willing to take a punt and invest in some trust then you may well reap some rewards. Or, at the very least, a Subaru Brat delivered to your door by a bunch of blokes you met on forum.
The Brat with the RAV4 support vehicle (pic: Neil Mac)
The forum in question here is Northloop.co.uk, on which Findlay put out an appeal to see if there'd be anyone willing to drive an old Subaru pick-up from Whitstable to Aberdeen. Perhaps fuelled by Christmas cheer (or whatever they were drinking whilst online) a willing group of volunteers was assembled to relay the car from one end of the country to the other. Usefully a few of them - though not all - were blessed with sufficient sense of direction to know which way north is. Over to Findlay...
"I'm deeply indebted to Simon S who collected the car and moved it from Whitstable to Chessington, Steve M (Chessington to Milton Keynes), Neil Mac and Simon R, who must share my sense of geography and managed to drive it SOUTH from MK to Stansted, Dave G who did Stansted to Chester, Mike R (Chester to Yorkshire), Dave B (across Yorkshire), Stu P (Yorkshire to Carlisle, via Newcastle) and Iain F, who completed the final stint from Carlisle to Aberdeen.
Starsky and Hutch stripe inspired some fun... (pic: Dave B)
"Each one of them also left me a gift (mostly alcohol, maybe they know something) and also tolerated the little oily calling card that the car left on their driveways," he continues. "They gave of their time, and most of them I've never met. Guys, thank-you. I'm only sorry that you couldn't enjoy the Brat for longer as, weirdly, you all seemed to fall for the car's charms."
Would he advise anyone else to do the same? "If you're completely bonkers, you can send someone you've never met a lot of money and they won't run off with it," he says. "Although this may not work with royal family from Cameroon that email you. People are brilliant. Most of them. If you try it and it doesn't work out then, well, don't blame me."
The key handover ceremony! (pic: Iain F)
For the full story on how and why Findlay bought the Brat and how he's been getting on with it since its arrival in Aberdeen check the PH Carpool we'll be posting up soon.
Lead pic: Steve M
