Owner away with the army, am I being scammed here???

[Mark300zx]

Hi,

The car checks out with HPI, but the seller claims to be selling a car for his friend who is serving with the Army!!!

Will discuss this with the sellers tonight and will potentially be paying them with a bankers draft, but what proof do I need that this person in the army wants to sell his car and is there a bona fide route through the army to contact this person, to confirm this?

[completetangent]

Must be a very hard to find car to take such risks?

[JordanTurbo]

Im in the army and currently away in Afghanistan. Its not uncommon for us to get a close friend to sort things out back home as as a lot of us normaly plan to buy a nice new car as soon as we get back. Recently I viewed and later collected a friends Audi S5, then bought it onto camp for him to have as soon as he got off the coach ready to drive home to his family.

Have you been told when the owner is getting back?

Have you been to see the car? If so where? While the guy is away id expect the car to be kept safe on the base (thats where mine is) instead of at home.

[Mark300zx]

Will be quizzing the seller tonight, but at this point I think he is a family member as he has had use of the car.

[R8Steve]

completetangent said:

Must be a very hard to find car to take such risks?

What's the risk? If all the paperwork is present and correct what difference does it make who sells you it?

My dad has sold countless cars/bikes for me from his house if it wasn't convenient for me to be there at a time that suits the seller - not one of which has refused to buy because of the 'risk', for that matter, none have even mentioned it.

[Paraicj]

My brother sold mine at home in Ireland, there was no problem at any stage. Not necessarily a scam, but doesn't hurt to be careful I suppose.

[danyeates]

I sold my brother's car whilst he was on deployment (Don't worry, he knew I was selling it!) so it does happen. But I'd view and pay for the car in person.

[Mark300zx]

My only worry is I am not buying a car from the owner, what proof do I have the person selling it to me has authorisation to do so and I am not potentially buying stolen property?

[completetangent]

R8Steve said:

What's the risk? If all the paperwork is present and correct what difference does it make who sells you it?

See the OP's latest comment. If you buy a car from someone who is not the registered keeper, view and collect it from a house other than the address on the V5, you open yourself up to buying a stolen car. Unlike the risk of buying, say, a stolen TV, the car registration thing makes it easy for the real owner to get the car back from you, leaving you out of pocket.

Of course, there are people who sell like this, and people who buy like this, but it is a risk. I'd only do it for something rare, and where I could independently verify that the seller really was letting someone sell it on his behalf.

[Mark300zx]

It is slightly worrying, the person could be selling the car and nabbing the cash before the guy comes back serving, they do seem trust worthy but it is a risk, unless there is some way of communicating with this guy in the Army?

[Monkeylegend]

Mark300zx said:

It is slightly worrying, the person could be selling the car and nabbing the cash before the guy comes back serving, they do seem trust worthy but it is a risk, unless there is some way of communicating with this guy in the Army?

The army guy must have family in the UK. Get their details from the seller and contact them to verify the sale and ownership?

[Mark300zx]

Isn't there some official liaison organisation that assist serving military resolve administrational problems whilst they are serving abroad?

[Taita]

Get some details about where he is in AFG and me and others will check if it is gen.

Name of FOB/PB. Unit. Name of CO / OC.
What job he does.

[Mark300zx]

Thanks

[Mark300zx]

OK asked him to supply the above information and he pulled out saying that he wouldn't want to disclose that information, so I said get your cousin to email me with what he is willing to disclose and he said he can't be bothered and he will relist it, looks like I may have had a close shave, thanks for everyone's input!

[Engineer1]

Or the guy wants an easy sale and the few extra questions and requests put to him make him twitch, there may be reasons the soldier isn't keen to advertise his details.

[Seventy]

Seen this many times before. Usually with cars/vans than are too cheap to be true.

[BusaMK]

Mark300zx said:

OK asked him to supply the above information and he pulled out saying that he wouldn't want to disclose that information, so I said get your cousin to email me with what he is willing to disclose and he said he can't be bothered and he will relist it, looks like I may have had a close
shave, thanks for everyone's input!

Sounds fair enough to me- shouldn't expect hin to give info out like that. Especially to a third party forum member no matter how legit he seems...

[AdeTuono]

BusaMK said:

Mark300zx said:

OK asked him to supply the above information and he pulled out saying that he wouldn't want to disclose that information, so I said get your cousin to email me with what he is willing to disclose and he said he can't be bothered and he will relist it, looks like I may have had a close
shave, thanks for everyone's input!

Sounds fair enough to me- shouldn't expect hin to give info out like that. Especially to a third party forum member no matter how legit he seems...

Why wouldn't he get the owner to e-mail the potential buyer? That's not exactly giving out classified info, is it?

[hornetrider]

Mark300zx said:

OK asked him to supply the above information and he pulled out saying that he wouldn't want to disclose that information, so I said get your cousin to email me with what he is willing to disclose and he said he can't be bothered and he will relist it, looks like I may have had a close shave, thanks for everyone's input!

Difficult one. I understand your caution, however if legit I wouldn't be giving out that.info either.