A warning to anyone selling a car

[Defcon5]

My friend is currently selling his A3 on PH

Got a phone call yesterday asking about the car, and also when he would be in/when would the car be there. he gave them all the details they asked for and they said they would be there in an hour, and were coming from Bradford. They didnt show up.

He arrived home 12 hours later after a night shift to find the locks on both house doors had been snapped and attempts made on the windows of the house. He has a summerhouse that has a flatscreen TV and other electrical items on show in it and not attempt was made on that, only the house.

It is only advertised on PH so people are evidently using the classifieds to target cars.

[hesnotthemessiah]

Might need flagging up in the 'General Gassing' section as well?

[gemini]

Warning too to anyone with euro locks.
They snap easily.

Replace them asap with the recommended locks. See google etc!

[cheddar]

So what do you do instead then?

Meet them at a petrol station?

[Mr Overheads]

cheddar said:

So what do you do instead then?

Meet them at a petrol station?

You tell them the postcode but not the house number. Park the car on the street and not outside your own house, so they don't know which house to break into.

[pah250]

gemini said:

Warning too to anyone with euro locks.
They snap easily.

Replace them asap with the recommended locks. See google etc!

Only use barrel locks with the British Kite mark on them - they cost a bit more but they have a sacrificial outer end - see your local lock smith about them.

This means that when someone tries to force the lock, the outer end of the barrel will snap off but the important inner part of the barrel remains intact and thus the door remains locked. Of course it doesn't stop them smashing through a window, but lock-snapping to gain entry to steal car keys is rife right now and a good quality barrel will stop this.

[Davel]

Was it a blocked incoming call and could the Police get the number somehow?

Although I guess if PAYG it won't be any use.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

gemini said:

Warning too to anyone with euro locks.
They snap easily.

Replace them asap with the recommended locks. See google etc!

Unless I'm reading it wrong - they didn't actually gain entry?

Still - it's not really a warning to 'anyone selling a car', it's a warning to anyone selling a desirable car

[mercfunder]

it's a crap situation, but still pretty naive to tell someone you don't know when you will be out.

[RobCrezz]

Im sure there are some lovely people in Bradford, but I have heard so many tales I wouldnt buy a car from there, or sell the car to someone who gave the information that were come from there.

[Mermaid]

Defcon5 said:

...
...Got a phone call yesterday asking about the car, and also when he would be in/when would the car be there. he gave them all the details they asked for and they said they would be there in an hour, and were coming from Bradford.

Bradford & cars always rings alarm bells for me.

[DoubleSix]

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

gemini said:

Warning too to anyone with euro locks.
They snap easily.

Replace them asap with the recommended locks. See google etc!

Unless I'm reading it wrong - they didn't actually gain entry?

Still - it's not really a warning to 'anyone selling a car', it's a warning to anyone selling a desirable car

No, no, you need to read the OP again, it was an A3.

[BHML]

Sound advice about not letting the buyer know where you live. But as a buyer, I'd be suspicious if the seller agreed to meet me somewhere other than their property as the car could be stolen. In fact I remember Quentin(?) from Top Gear specifically warning buyers to make sure that the V5 address was where the seller actually lived...

[Terminator X]

Wtf is he doing revealing his home address to internet strangers, crazy imho. I get people near the house (local landmark), take the car to them & if it feels right & they're still interested only then will we go back to mine to see paperwork.

TX.

[steve singh]

Whilst I wouldn't touch a car from Bradford with a barge pole, they would have to be pretty dumb thieves to give someone their 'real' city of residence - so not sure what the subsequent Bradford comments are about???

[rallycross]

'ello bruv I iz callin about thee audi wot is your address, init?

At that point he probably should have hung up.

[Gizmo!]

As above: park it on the street. They can give you a buzz when they arrive. Then if it's all good, count the cash indoors, proves you live there.

But FFS don't tell them when you WON'T be in, only when you will.

[12gauge]

Mr Overheads said:

You tell them the postcode but not the house number. Park the car on the street and not outside your own house, so they don't know which house to break into.

Jesus, its a minefield out there...

[66comanche]

Pistonheads - paranoia matters.

Unless you have a recent high spec BMW and live in London, you're probably overthinking.

[OldSkoolRS]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but thinking ahead to when (big IF) I sell my RS2000 I'm thinking in terms of only arranging to meet at some local landmark (eg a supermarket). If they don't turn up then at least they don't know my address to come back later to steal it. Even if they do turn up, do all the viewing there and then only give them the address when they return with payment to confirm that the car is actually mine/sold from the address on the V5. Of course they could be equally paranoid about knowing where the car is registered, but I'd rather risk a non sale than have it stolen.

I'm probably a bit paranoid, but I also make a point of not mentioning on forums when I'm going on holiday/away on business...to me it just seems sensible not to put my family at risk.