Presumably somebody is trying to scam me....
Discussion
I have my MX5 up for sale for a few weeks now and in that time I have received three emails from people claiming to be interested in the car. All these emails had odd addresses and their names were French (Lass Benjamin, Romaine Le Courtois and Etinne Vignolles).
Each email was bizarrely worded and stated interest in the car to the point of offering an immediate deposit and agreement the car could be collected.
Phrases such as:
'"WE" can make you a deposit now'
'Accept payment in cash'
'Please confirm you are well North of London'
'How much has you to lower(dim) the price(prize) for young French?'
..got my spidey senses tingling.
Then last nigth I get a phonecall on my mobile from Paris! The guy wants to come over on the 3rd of Feb to collect the car and wanted to put a deposit down. I tried to ask him questions to put him off the "scam script" but he did well to counter them...
I told him to state his intentions via email and he sent me some scanned photo license of some scary looking garlic-muncher.
Has anyone else suffered this Parisian interest in their car before?
Shall I just ignore or email back saying the car is sold?
Each email was bizarrely worded and stated interest in the car to the point of offering an immediate deposit and agreement the car could be collected.
Phrases such as:
'"WE" can make you a deposit now'
'Accept payment in cash'
'Please confirm you are well North of London'
'How much has you to lower(dim) the price(prize) for young French?'
..got my spidey senses tingling.
Then last nigth I get a phonecall on my mobile from Paris! The guy wants to come over on the 3rd of Feb to collect the car and wanted to put a deposit down. I tried to ask him questions to put him off the "scam script" but he did well to counter them...
I told him to state his intentions via email and he sent me some scanned photo license of some scary looking garlic-muncher.
Has anyone else suffered this Parisian interest in their car before?
Shall I just ignore or email back saying the car is sold?
Ask how he intends to pay. Persuade him that cash on collection is the only payment you will accept.
If he comes up with the readies, you're in. If not, bye bye Pierre.
What's the car? I'm guessing something rare and French.
Oli.
ETA: Ignore the last question - sorry, should have read the original post more carefully.
If he comes up with the readies, you're in. If not, bye bye Pierre.
What's the car? I'm guessing something rare and French.
Oli.
ETA: Ignore the last question - sorry, should have read the original post more carefully.
zcacogp said:
Ask how he intends to pay. Persuade him that cash on collection is the only payment you will accept.
If he comes up with the readies, you're in. If not, bye bye Pierre.
What's the car? I'm guessing something rare and French.
Oli.
ETA: Ignore the last question - sorry, should have read the original post more carefully.
I guess it is an option but to be honest if it is dodgy I don't want anyone like that coming near my house and family!If he comes up with the readies, you're in. If not, bye bye Pierre.
What's the car? I'm guessing something rare and French.
Oli.
ETA: Ignore the last question - sorry, should have read the original post more carefully.
Last car I sold was similar to what you describe at first, we arrange a meeting, French guy came, paid cash and was spot on, just his grammer etc on his emails was a little off. If he arranges a meet and has agreed cash, what's the problem?
ETA - he also wanted to put down a deposit so we agreed I would hold it until the meeting date without one and then insisted on the full cash settlement on the day. Worked fine.
ETA - he also wanted to put down a deposit so we agreed I would hold it until the meeting date without one and then insisted on the full cash settlement on the day. Worked fine.
Edited by D_G on Friday 25th January 09:48
I had a recent enquiry from French guy too for my S2000. He said cars are really expensive in France and this is why he's coming to UK to buy, which is weird considering the costs. He asked for a couple more pictures which I sent him (reg plate wiped out) but he never got back to me.
Completely understandable that you're wary OP. Even the least cynical person would be when it's a scenario such as this.
It could be entirely legit - I sold my M3 to a guy who flew over from Norway and drove it home! - or it could be a fairly well concealed scam. If you do decide to satisfy your curiosity and go further, keep your wits about you and you'll be fine.
I can't really offer any advice as such but good luck with the sale irrespective of what you decide to do.
It could be entirely legit - I sold my M3 to a guy who flew over from Norway and drove it home! - or it could be a fairly well concealed scam. If you do decide to satisfy your curiosity and go further, keep your wits about you and you'll be fine.
I can't really offer any advice as such but good luck with the sale irrespective of what you decide to do.
A mate told me about someone he knew that sold a car to someone who came over abroad for it, and was paying them cash for it, they came, but came short claiming something about getting done on the exchange and miscalculating how many £ they needed etc etc, promised to send the rest when they got back, which of course they never did. (buy was a little surprised when the vendor turned up at his doorstep somewhere like holland demanding the rest of the money, but thats another story!). So just make sure that they don't try something similar, and that they have every single penny
Profile of guy wanting to buy...would be more comfortable if he had some post history.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?mem...
Claims he is buying it on behalf of his friend who speaks no English.
Urgh, could be genuine and I don't want to let down an enthusiast buyer just because everything is lost in translation!
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?mem...
Claims he is buying it on behalf of his friend who speaks no English.
Urgh, could be genuine and I don't want to let down an enthusiast buyer just because everything is lost in translation!
Legend83, google his email address. The first result is a word document with what appears to be a CV for him. It's a few years out of date, but there is a photo of (presumably) him, some phone numbers, address, DOB, etc.
A google image search of his photo didn't bring up an exact match.
There's nothing concrete enough that I would say to have confidence, but selling a car privately seems to be a minefield anyway. The guy at least seems to be a real guy.
A google image search of his photo didn't bring up an exact match.
There's nothing concrete enough that I would say to have confidence, but selling a car privately seems to be a minefield anyway. The guy at least seems to be a real guy.
afrochicken said:
Legend83, google his email address. The first result is a word document with what appears to be a CV for him. It's a few years out of date, but there is a photo of (presumably) him, some phone numbers, address, DOB, etc.
A google image search of his photo didn't bring up an exact match.
There's nothing concrete enough that I would say to have confidence, but selling a car privately seems to be a minefield anyway. The guy at least seems to be a real guy.
To be fair, that is the same picture in the documentation (drivers licence and ID) he scanned and emailed me yesterday.A google image search of his photo didn't bring up an exact match.
There's nothing concrete enough that I would say to have confidence, but selling a car privately seems to be a minefield anyway. The guy at least seems to be a real guy.
I will cross refer the information on his CV to the licence details he sent me.
SitCet said:
Yeah.
Check the smallprint, the charge per km is heavy.
Obv you will be wanting to drive Chapsman Peak. Doesn't take long, turn around and do it again in the other direction. It's quicker to get there from West side than East (ie via Hout Bay rather than Fishhoek)
Then visit Les at Wijnlands Auto Museum, having lunch in the nursery nextdoor. You will thank me for this.
Wtf?Check the smallprint, the charge per km is heavy.
Obv you will be wanting to drive Chapsman Peak. Doesn't take long, turn around and do it again in the other direction. It's quicker to get there from West side than East (ie via Hout Bay rather than Fishhoek)
Then visit Les at Wijnlands Auto Museum, having lunch in the nursery nextdoor. You will thank me for this.
I've seen a few wrong thread posts today
Legend83 said:
A google seach of the other email address of Mr Le Courtois thows up 3 results, all of which are blocked at work - filtering: HACKING.
Perhaps the 'watercooling' bit of his email address refers to PC watercooling, and your work's filter is being stupid and thinks PC enthusiast website = Hacking? I'd say that it's more likely to be genuine. If he turns up with cash which you can immediately bank then what could go wrong?
Has he mentioned working on a ship , having it picked up by a third party, western union or any other non cash method?
The pound is still historically weak so it's quite likely that someone from euroland could be interested in something that may well be rare in their homeland.
Has he mentioned working on a ship , having it picked up by a third party, western union or any other non cash method?
The pound is still historically weak so it's quite likely that someone from euroland could be interested in something that may well be rare in their homeland.
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