Selling a car to overseas buyer

[Ed Winchester]

I've been contacted by a potential overseas buyer who has made a reasonable offer on our car. I am always a little skeptical when being approached by a buyer from outside the UK but the story seems to hold water.

Here are the details so far:
-The car is being bought sight unseen, the car is mint so I have no problems with this and they have made a decision from the pictures I've taken.
-It will be registered to, and collected by a UK based friend and stored prior to being shipped to New Zealand
-The payment will be made by bank transfer BACS etc prior to collection.

All straight forward so far, however, the buyer has asked for a pre-sale agreement, photos of the VIN/chassis number and a scanned copy of the V5 in order for the bank to release the borrowed funds.

The number prefix starts +46 - New Zealand so it would seem the end location is true but is there anything I should be looking out for?

[anonymous-user]

Scam, scam, scammy, scam scam

[Mastodon2]

Ed Winchester said:

I've been contacted by a potential overseas buyer who has made a reasonable offer on our car. I am always a little skeptical when being approached by a buyer from outside the UK but the story seems to hold water.

Here are the details so far:
-The car is being bought sight unseen, the car is mint so I have no problems with this and they have made a decision from the pictures I've taken.
-It will be registered to, and collected by a UK based friend and stored prior to being shipped to New Zealand
-The payment will be made by bank transfer BACS etc prior to collection.

All straight forward so far, however, the buyer has asked for a pre-sale agreement, photos of the VIN/chassis number and a scanned copy of the V5 in order for the bank to release the borrowed funds.

The number prefix starts +46 - New Zealand so it would seem the end location is true but is there anything I should be looking out for?

Hmmm, beware of cloning if you hand over your plates and VIN. The whole "I will buy your goods through a 3rd party who is a friend of mine before shipping it to me" thing has been used to scam many a man out of his posessions. I've seen a few musicians lose their instruments in such a fashion. Unless you get cash up front I'd be wary about handing over all the details. And check the notes with a fraud pen and a UV light

[DaveL86]

Ed Winchester said:

I've been contacted by a potential overseas buyer who has made a reasonable offer on our car.

Ed Winchester said:

All straight forward so far, however, the buyer has asked for a pre-sale agreement, photos of the VIN/chassis number and a scanned copy of the V5 in order for the bank to release the borrowed funds.

I'd walk away, don't get me wrong it could be genuine but I'd be happier taking a slightly lower offer from a someone I could meet in person.

EDIT:

Possible "hit the fan" scenario... deal "falls thru" later on you find out finance has been taken out on your car and the has been defaulted on, finance company/bank now own your car.

Edited by DaveL86 on Wednesday 21st July 15:26

[Rusty Arches]

Scam.

Never sell to overseas buyers (unless they're flying to your house and dropping off cash etc), there's plenty of people here that will buy it.

[cpl_payne]

Rusty Arches said:

Scam.

Never sell to overseas buyers (unless they're flying to your house and dropping off cash etc), there's plenty of people here that will buy it.

Obviously, as we all know it's the bloody foreigners responsible for all UK's ill's, tut tut.

Ask yourself this question - WHY would the bank be interested in your car's VIN details? Surely if you take out a private unsecured loan the bank couldn't care less what you're buying with it?

On the basis of what you've said about them asking for these details and the justification of asking for them I would say that it's more than likely to be a scam.

[300bhp/ton]

cpl_payne said:

Rusty Arches said:

Scam.

Never sell to overseas buyers (unless they're flying to your house and dropping off cash etc), there's plenty of people here that will buy it.

Obviously, as we all know it's the bloody foreigners responsible for all UK's ill's, tut tut.

Ask yourself this question - WHY would the bank be interested in your car's VIN details? Surely if you take out a private unsecured loan the bank couldn't care less what you're buying with it?

On the basis of what you've said about them asking for these details and the justification of asking for them I would say that it's more than likely to be a scam.

On the basis of this logic. Why not voice your concerns and to the buyer and say. Transfer half the funds, on receipt you release the details. They then transfer the rest of the funds and collect the car there after.

[Rusty Arches]

cpl_payne said:

Rusty Arches said:

Scam.

Never sell to overseas buyers (unless they're flying to your house and dropping off cash etc), there's plenty of people here that will buy it.

Obviously, as we all know it's the bloody foreigners responsible for all UK's ill's, tut tut.

Ohh fk off.

[tegwin]

I sold my TVR to a nice chap from France... I thought it was a scam at first..... but he was happy to wire me the money via bank transfer, let it sit in my account for a week, and then fly over to pick the car up unseen....

I got a LOT of calls from foreginers.... some who couldnt speak much english...

[Muntu]

Rusty Arches said:

cpl_payne said:

Rusty Arches said:

Scam.

Never sell to overseas buyers (unless they're flying to your house and dropping off cash etc), there's plenty of people here that will buy it.

Obviously, as we all know it's the bloody foreigners responsible for all UK's ill's, tut tut.

Ohh fk off.

[ASR1]

Country code 46 is Sweden?

[Ed Winchester]

Thanks for all the replies.. Just the confirmation I was looking for. I think I'll politely back out of this one!

ASR1 said:

Country code 46 is Sweden?

You're right, I actually meant to key +64

[Carfiend]

If you could give me your bank details, passport number, national insurance number we will have a representative pick up the car straight away with the cash paid.

[trickywoo]

300bhp/ton said:

Transfer half the funds, on receipt you release the details. They then transfer the rest of the funds and collect the car there after.

Not as safe as you may think. IIRC our banks have a quirk which allows money deposited from abroad to be 'recovered' at a much later date, even if the funds were 'cleared' in the UK bank.

Edited by trickywoo on Thursday 22 July 10:48

[Muzzer]

Unless I was selling something relatively desirable, that was LHD, I would automatically disregard all overseas buyers regardless of where they said they were from.

The only possible exception to this would be someone who flew over and went to the bank with me to draw their cash.

[cpl_payne]

Rusty Arches said:

cpl_payne said:

Rusty Arches said:

Scam.

Never sell to overseas buyers (unless they're flying to your house and dropping off cash etc), there's plenty of people here that will buy it.

Obviously, as we all know it's the bloody foreigners responsible for all UK's ill's, tut tut.

Ohh fk off.

I will, but not before I eat all your fking swans and cement all of your fking gardens.

[macp]

cpl_payne said:

Rusty Arches said:

cpl_payne said:

Rusty Arches said:

Scam.

Never sell to overseas buyers (unless they're flying to your house and dropping off cash etc), there's plenty of people here that will buy it.

Obviously, as we all know it's the bloody foreigners responsible for all UK's ill's, tut tut.

Ohh fk off.

I will, but not before I eat all your fking swans and cement all of your fking gardens.

What is this Youtube

[anonymous-user]

cpl_payne said:

Rusty Arches said:

cpl_payne said:

Rusty Arches said:

Scam.

Never sell to overseas buyers (unless they're flying to your house and dropping off cash etc), there's plenty of people here that will buy it.

Obviously, as we all know it's the bloody foreigners responsible for all UK's ill's, tut tut.

Ohh fk off.

I will, but not before I eat all your fking swans and cement all of your fking gardens.

fk you, all your base belong to us!

[cpl_payne]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

For great justice!

[tim-b]

Muzzer said:

Unless I was selling something relatively desirable, that was LHD, I would automatically disregard all overseas buyers regardless of where they said they were from.

[pedantic]Why would someone in NZ want a LHD car? [/pedantic]