Suspicious E mail

[Smudgo]

Afternoon all! New boy in today.
Just wondering,I've got my Scooby up for sale in the PH classifieds and i've received an email (which even my hotmail admin thought was suspect,so they will held certain parts of it) from France,interested in the car. I have the dudes e mail (obviously) but don't want to post it on here just in case its perfectly innocent but the e mail name was Melanie and Cyril.Has anyone else received e mails from a similar name?

Cheers
Smudge.

[Matt UK]

I'd delete it without a second thought.

[joewilliams]

Will they send you lots of money so you can ship the car to them, by any chance?

[crankedup]

Don't write them off to quickly, but be extra careful how you deal with the enquiry. I had a enquiry earlier this year from a guy in Japan - he bought my car with a couple of weeks.

[Risotto]

With the current state of the pound, enquiries from the continent have been fairly common over the last couple of years. Plenty of people have made successful sales. Nigeria is a different matter

As above, don't discount it immediately but equally, don't get your hopes up.

Edited by Risotto on Monday 29th November 16:30

[Smudgo]

Hi guys,thanks for all the advice.......i'm going to put it in junk folder and see if he tries to contact again.This was his e mail below,i've witheld the email address.
I personally am very suspicious,but just wanted to see if anyone else had had a similar contact.

Hello,

I'm interested with your ad.
I have some questions:

alloys and tyres are good?
Have you got the full services history?
Where the car come from?
I am french that's why i ask you so much details, if the car is as i hope i can come soon but i have to booked the ferry early.


Where do you live exactly?
Can you emailed me some more pics?
Thanks
My Email Address:

[Zod]

Why would a French person want a RHD car?

[Jayho]

Zod said:

Why would a French person want a RHD car?

Why would someone in the UK Drive a LHD car? Its completely irrelevant tbh...

Well shouldnt really be suspicious... He's asking for condition to understand the car to see if its worth while for him to travel to the UK to pick it up... from what i can see he's not asking you to send him any money or send him the car... More or less the same as if I wanted a car from Wales, i'd want to undesrtand the car a lot more before travelling down to get it.

[Smudgo]

Fair point Jayho,but he's not really asking questions i'd ask.And i already mentioned in my ad it has full Subaru service history,which he's asking about.
Hmmm,not sure,i'll give it a day or two.
Thanks though.

[Matt UK]

How much is it up for?

[soad]

Not too badly worded, and he's getting on a ferry> sounds okay so far.

[declasm]

don't be too quick to dismiss it - I sold my RX-7 to a girl who flew from Barcelona, it took us about 50 emails to get everything sorted (neither of us spoke the other's language) but she ended up paying the full asking price (in cash!). Just set your own terms and see where it goes.

[redtwin]

I would be hesitant to give my exact address to a stranger via e-mail. However, if that stranger was in a foreign country and there wasn't much chance of them popping over to steal the car I might be tempted.

France seems a bit convenient if you get my drift.

Answer questions, but he doesn't need to know exactly where you live until phone contact has been made and a deposit paypaled etc.

[Zod]

Jayho said:

Zod said:

Why would a French person want a RHD car?

Why would someone in the UK Drive a LHD car? Its completely irrelevant tbh...

It's not irrelevant. It's evidence thatthis is not a serious attmpt to purchase the car. It is far more likely that someone in the UK would buy a LHD car than that a Frenchman would buy a RHD car.

[Smudgo]

redtwin said:

I would be hesitant to give my exact address to a stranger via e-mail. However, if that stranger was in a foreign country and there wasn't much chance of them popping over to steal the car I might be tempted.

France seems a bit convenient if you get my drift.

Answer questions, but he doesn't need to know exactly where you live until phone contact has been made and a deposit paypaled etc.

MattUk its up for £5,500.

Redtwin,some good points you've made above.I think i'll reply back to him but ask his name and where in France he is coming from,to see if he will give me some details,and there s NO WAY i'd give my address out without some of his details first.Town yes but address no.

[ShadownINja]

Smudgo said:

And i already mentioned in my ad it has full Subaru service history

Have you posted many decent-sized pictures? If so, he's probably sent the same email to a hundred sellers...

Besides, someone called Melanie or Cyril would have a better grasp of the English language. While that in itself is not enough, it's everything else put together that makes me suspicious.

[thinfourth2]

Smudgo said:

Hi guys,thanks for all the advice.......i'm going to put it in junk folder and see if he tries to contact again.This was his e mail below,i've witheld the email address.
I personally am very suspicious,but just wanted to see if anyone else had had a similar contact.

Hello,

I'm interested with your ad.
I have some questions:

alloys and tyres are good?
Have you got the full services history?
Where the car come from?
I am french that's why i ask you so much details, if the car is as i hope i can come soon but i have to booked the ferry early.


Where do you live exactly?
Can you emailed me some more pics?
Thanks
My Email Address:

it doesn't come across as a scam e-mail, they are normally more along the lines of generic questions and offers of cash easily. the easy cash draws in the stupid.

I'd say thats 95% legit

[2L8]

I currently have my impreza up for sale on eBay an I'm recieving around 3 of these emails a day, usually asking the condition of the car then insisting they pay by paypal. Morons.

[Daston]

Sold my last Supra to a couple of nice chaps from Germany, picked them up from the airport, test drove the car the next day - went to the bank and paid me more than I expected and off they went.

[*Al*]

I sold my Lotus Elise 111S to a French guy via PH, he phoned me and said 'Hi Al i want to buy your car' and he did! Came over on the Eurostar, then Paddington to Swindon and i met him at the station.We paid the cash into my account at the bank, came back to my place to do the paperwork and off he drove! Emailed a couple of days later saying thankyou. Don't alway write off an enquirey, just be careful.