Worried about strange dealings wrt selling my chim

[chasod]

Hi,
After some advice. I have just my 93 4.0 chim on autotrader and I've had some what I think is strange interest.

I've had several emails from people in europe offering me the full asking price. Most of them want me to hand over bank details so they can wire me the money, this seemed abit dodgey so I have ignored them. However one Danish chap said he was willing to send me a cheque that I could wait to clear before handing over the car to his shipping agent. He left a phone number so I spoke to him and he confirmed what he had said in the email. The bit I am concerned about is that he said that he was going to send me a cheque for £15500 ( the asking price is £10000) so that I could pay the shipping agent, he didn't really give any good reason why he couldn't pay the agent himself. Is this above board, I feel like there is something dodgey going on but am I being over cautious. I've told him to send me the cheque and the contact details for this agent. I'd be grateful for any kind of advice

Yours
Getting a strange feeling I'm being had!

Charlie

Ps the reason I'm selling it is so I can get a 5.0 chim

[mongoose]

its a scam.ive read about it somewhere recently.what happens is you put the cheque in the bank and when its apparently cleared,you part with your car,only to find that the credit showing in your account is not accessable yet as the cheque hasnt actually cleared.all cheques show on your balance before being cleared.think about it,anyone would be mad to pay that much for a car without seeing it wouldnt they?ok,i know it does sometimes happen,but anyone with that kind of money should be able to afford a cheap ticket to come and see the car!

[ntel]

IMHO this is a scam and you should be very carefull. Personally I would ignore any forign interest and concentrate on only domestic enquiries. I mean, who would buy a TVR without even seeing it.

[ChimBungee]

£5500 for shipping to Denmark?
No way.
If he's willing to cough up 15 Grand, he can also get a plane to the UK, give you the cash and take it back himself.

Faster, safer and cheaper.

This way, it obviously is a scam.

[bugsy]

I think you will find that the scam is the £5500
going to the agent before your cheque is properly cleared, they express your cheque

[flintstone]

This a well documented con. Bargepole material.

Does anyone ever actually report these to the police. If so, what happens?

[chasod]

Brilliant thanks,
I'll tell him its off.

Thankyou for the advice

Charlie

[Jeff Miles]

Had similar experience when I advertised a couple of very nearly new 15" SO3 front tyres in the TVRCC mag. Very convoluted story about money with a transport agent in UK - wanted to pay overprice and then send him the surplus cash - Couldn't understand all the fuss for just a couple of tyres - all terribly dodgy.


PS still got the tyres - if anyone interested pls email me direct

Cheers

jeff

[T88CAN]

chasod said:

Brilliant thanks, I'll tell him its off. Thankyou for the advice Charlie

Yep good idea, if you look at the piece Ted did in the classified section all will become clear

[filos hippos]

Hi,

i've also read that these guys offer more than the asking price for "double" profit.

They will come up with a story to convince you to pay them in cash the difference between your asking price and the amount in the cheque.

So you might end up losing 5.500,- quid (15500 - 10000) PLUS your car !!!!, as the amount of the cheque will never reach your account.

Stating that everyone in Europe making enquiries about a TVR is a thief might be a bit over the top really . there are some honest TVR enthousiast aswell.

But indeed, when spending 15500 or more on a rare handbuilt sportscar, the least one could expect is some urge to see and drive and talk about the car...

An european enthousiast,

cheers

[mr grumpy]

This is a total con. If you look on autotrader there are some warnings about this con somewhere. Usually they will offer you a bankers draft. The bankers draft sounds pretty solid so most people are happy to let the car go. Wht happens is the bankers draft is a forgery.

The advice of the powers that be is do NOT under any circumstances until the money is definately in your bank. To check this ask your bank if the bankers draft has been "Given Value" this is the key part of the transaction not the clearing. For more info on some car scams try this

www.autotrader.co.uk/CARS/sell/cc/carcrimecentre.jsp

Long and short of it - In your case tell them where to go in no uncertain terms.

[M@H]

www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/warnings.asp

Cheers,
Matt

[over_the_hill]

Although, a friend of mine sold a Rally Car - admittedly only about £2k - in a similar way but with cash. Chap from Ireland calls, says he will send cash by secure courier, and get his brother-in-law (or other relative over here) to collect the car. All on an unseen car. Cash arrived, relative arrived, trailered car off, everyone happy.