Am I being paranoid - Contacted about my classified ad

[WannabeMKII]

I received the following with regards to my advert and wondered if this is normal or not, as I don't know anything about the car market is Southern Ireland;

[i]"Hi, my name is *****, I'm from Southern Ireland, I've been looking for a well minded st like yours a while now, but can't find one here do I've decided to go to uk...
Any chance you would send me on chassis no. Of your car so I can work out vrt and tax??"[/i]

Does this seem legit, or should I be suspicious? Is a VIN number needed for this?

Thanks in advance and apologies if I'm asking an extremely basic question.

[brillomaster]

seems a bit strange to me - is your reg number visible in the advert?

i had to ask a guy for the reg number so i could check tax and mot status, but dont know why you'd need the VIN number.

[Birdster]

This may help.

https://www.motortax.ie/OMT/welcome.do;jsessionid=...

[WannabeMKII]

The reg no isn't visible on the advert.

Would it be best to provide the reg no rather than the VIN?

[PositronicRay]

Quite reasonable, unless things have changed recently he will have to pay import duties as well. How Ireland get away with this under EU rules is astonishing though.

[PositronicRay]

WannabeMKII said:

The reg no isn't visible on the advert.

Would it be best to provide the reg no rather than the VIN?

Anyone can get a VIN by running an experian check.

[RobinBanks]

PositronicRay said:

Quite reasonable, unless things have changed recently he will have to pay import duties as well. How Ireland get away with this under EU rules is astonishing though.

Surely they disguise it as a registration fee rather than duty?

[loskie]

You need a VIN for a proper valid HPI check along with reg doc issue no.

[TooLateForAName]

Seems odd that the first question is about that rather than anything about the condition of the car.

Is there anything that could cause confusion about tax costs ? Like engine/emissions changes around the time of your car manufacture?

Do you have the headers from the email? check them to see where the email actually came from.

[jimmyt1202]

I really don't see how this can be dodgy? Anyone that walks past your car in the street can get your VIN number.

[Osinjak]

PositronicRay said:

Anyone can get a VIN by running an experian check.

Eh? An experian check is for credit rating?

[Badgerboy]

Osinjak said:

Eh? An experian check is for credit rating?

They also provide car data checks similar to HPI. HPI is a trading name, not a specific 'concept'.

[Ian82]

if it is a 2008 registered vehicle that you are selling that may change the road tax as we changed from an engine cc basis in July 2008 to road tax based on emissions. More reading on the tax rates can be found http://www.vrt.ie/roadTax.php

The buyer will be liable for vehicle registration tax which is a percentage of the open market selling price and not the price paid for the vehicle howev this figure is given to the buyer after it is inspected by the NCT centre

Vin number would be a standard request to ensure that any cartell.ie information matches the vehicle I would imagine

Best of luck with the sale

[Osinjak]

Badgerboy said:

Osinjak said:

Eh? An experian check is for credit rating?

They also provide car data checks similar to HPI. HPI is a trading name, not a specific 'concept'.

I don't think they do or at least not in the way that's being suggested. It would seem that Experian offer a vehicle check system solely for businesses as opposed to Joe Public.

[WannabeMKII]

Thanks for the feedback all! Although not 100% on the message, providing the VIN seems harmless.