Selling a car and buyer seems too keen what’s the scam?

[LemonTart]

So son working abroad for probably the next 12 months so we thought we would sell his car rather than store it.

It’s an old Polo he’s had 6 years, 2011, and it’s got some scuffs and dinks so not worth much, I have said this in the advert.

My daughter has a Facebook account so we’ve put it up there for £2500 with my phone number on it, had a few cheeky texts but one guy seems ok, spoken verbally via WhatsApp wants it for his daughter and we’ve agreed a little reduction in the figure but as he can’t collect it today he wants to pays deposit to secure the car.

I have sent him a video just so he knows what he is buying and he can share with his daughter.

He is super keen to pay a deposit / get my bank account and sort code to pay this deposit.

Am I being over cautious here or is it a scam somehow?

Cheers

[foccer]

if you have online banking, set up a new deposit account and give those details to the person that way if it is a scam, all they can get is the £1 you opened the account with.

[renmure]

If it’s a fairly genuine car with a decent advert at a fairly reasonable price it might just be the buyer has made the judgement that you’re not a scammer and doesn’t want to miss out on an honest purchase.

[Armitage.Shanks]

I wouldn't be unduly worried passing over basic bank account details as that's how most people operate. If you've wary and have PayPal let him pay the deposit through that and then the balance by cash or transfer when he turns up.

Or, just assure him the cars is reserved for him provided he turns up and collects by a certain date. That said there do seem to be a certain amount of idiots on Facebook which you can usually work out from the txt spk - innit bro.

I've had people pay me the full amount for a car in the past before they've even turned up and seen it in the flesh. £36k was the drop. A few days later I collected him from the airport. He was easy to spot, he was the only one carrying trade plates!

[Sway]

renmure said:

If it s a fairly genuine car with a decent advert at a fairly reasonable price it might just be the buyer has made the judgement that you re not a scammer and doesn t want to miss out on an honest purchase.

This. Buying at this end of the market is a bloody nightmare - so if there's any hint of a decent human being at the other end of the transaction then I'll make damned sure I'm buying from them!

[costsmonkey]

renmure said:

If it s a fairly genuine car with a decent advert at a fairly reasonable price it might just be the buyer has made the judgement that you re not a scammer and doesn t want to miss out on an honest purchase.

I agree with this too and have adopted exactly the same approach as a buyer - and I can assure you I am not a scammer!

[Terminator X]

I'd not worry about getting a deposit paid, money in the bank so surely a no brainer. The full value though of course paid before anyone takes it away.

TX.

[ATM]

Make sure they know its a none refundable deposit because some people nowadays think the opposite - if they change their mind their want their deposit back - well then thats not a deposit in my book

[PoorCarCollector]

Sounds like the poor guy is just trying to buy a car for his daughter!?

[LemonTart]

Thanks for the responses.

I liked the idea of setting up a deposit account with just a few quid in, thanks.

I sent him a decent video showing it in detail, he was happy with that and forwarded to his daughter. It sounds like she is very excited so I have said no deposit is needed and they are coming over Friday to collect and will pay in full before it’s taken away.

Let’s see… hopefully he’s a straight guy buying a cheap car for his daughter.

[macron]

Out of interest, how were you expecting someone to pay?

Would you prefer cash and their being photocopies?

[ATM]

Exactly

Have a plan how to accept payment

I bought a car a few years ago and the seller suddenly got very worried when I tried to pay them

Anyone with less patience would have walked away

[bennno]

LemonTart said:

Thanks for the responses.

I liked the idea of setting up a deposit account with just a few quid in, thanks.

I sent him a decent video showing it in detail, he was happy with that and forwarded to his daughter. It sounds like she is very excited so I have said no deposit is needed and they are coming over Friday to collect and will pay in full before it s taken away.

Let s see hopefully he s a straight guy buying a cheap car for his daughter.

Presumably you will simply get him to transfer the payment and confirm it’s in your account? Like you’d have done with the deposit?

[BangGoesAnotherDay]

Sway said:

renmure said:

If it s a fairly genuine car with a decent advert at a fairly reasonable price it might just be the buyer has made the judgement that you re not a scammer and doesn t want to miss out on an honest purchase.

This. Buying at this end of the market is a bloody nightmare - so if there's any hint of a decent human being at the other end of the transaction then I'll make damned sure I'm buying from them!

Having just purchased a similar age car for my daughter I 100% agree, it is a nightmare. It took me three weeks to find something that I was happy to buy and I was spending a couple of hours per day searching, and all weekend looking at cars. The amount of decent looking cars I would find and call only to get "It's sold, but I do have a (insert car that is 3 door and a completely different colour to the one I called about) as well" got very annoying quickly.

It has got to the stage now where rightly or wrongly I know exactly what the car is going to be like just by talking to the person on the phone. I nearly did put a deposit down over the phone for one car, but after one eBay experience years ago where I did this and hated the car I will never do it again, I will only buy if I have driven it. In the end I paid about £500 over the odds because it was the best thing I had looked at by far, had both keys, low mileage, book pack, didn't smell, drove well and I was sick of looking.

I would say if your Polo is five door, has working air con, has remote central locking and is White or Silver then I am not surprised someone has offered a deposit. I suspect they are sick of looking and have been given the above list of criteria by his daughter.

[Armitage.Shanks]

Getting to talk to a buyer is a bonus! I sold a car earlier this year to a young chap (nice guy actually) who did all his inquiries through messaging. He made an offer and I said I'd rather any negotiations be done verbally but he wanted to know if I'd accept it. It was actually slightly above where I wanted to be so agreed. Without any verbal discussion he turned up, checked the car out, paid by bank transfer and took the car away same day after arranging insurance and VED on the drive.

I think the younger generation would rather communicate by message/text rather than in person given they've grown up via social media comms, less confrontational.

[Skyedriver]

Sounds OK , if you have spoken on the phone and he doesn't sound a t**t, hasn't an accent in broken English, doesn't live 500 miles away you should be OK
I've bought cars value about £10K without seeing them before hand (ebay, Historics auction,C&C auction)you pays yer money and takes yer chance.

As said above the buyer is likely fed up at looking at trash, there's a lot of it about, and has spotted your car at a decent price, spoken to you and is confident it's OK. Giving the guy your bank details is normal, remember when you paid for something with a cheque, all your details were on that cheque. Including your signature.

Just beware of the current crop of buyer scams, two people turn up one distracts you the other drops oil in your radiator and claims headgasket failure etc.

[BangGoesAnotherDay]

Armitage.Shanks said:

I think the younger generation would rather communicate by message/text rather than in person given they've grown up via social media comms, less confrontational.

Not just the younger buyers, I recently sold a house and one of the interested buyers were a downsizing retiree couple who insisted on doing everything over email to the point where they refused to answer the phone.

Utterly ridiculous, they were £25K under what I wanted and refused to go any higher as "the figures just didn't work out for them". I was so desperate to sell that I stupidly let them come over with an electrician friend (I had just had a full EIRC done) and they were there for two hours just looking over the house.

It had been going on for over two weeks by this point and they still hadn't made me an official offer. It was with much delight that I got a full asking price offer a couple of days later from someone else and the estate agent told them to do one. If they had made an offer I would have probably accepted it, but looking back they would have done my head in and no doubt pulled out or wanted another £25K off "because of the market"

In my experience messages and emails are the tool of the time waster, I personally think anyone is a messer until they are standing in front of me looking at the car. Make an offer when you are in front of me, don't do all this "what's your best offer" nonsence over message.

[3din]

BangGoesAnotherDay said:

In my experience messages and emails are the tool of the time waster, I personally think anyone is a messer until they are standing in front of me looking at the car. Make an offer when you are in front of me, don't do all this "what's your best offer" nonsence over message.

I agree with you, but people aren't prepared to travel unless they know they're getting it for. Nobody wants a wasted journey. There have been many times that i've turned up and a car hasn't been as described. You have to watch out for the Welsh especially, they sound thick AF, but they're all lying cheats.

[LemonTart]

Thanks for the responses folks.

I am happy he seems a straight guy just looking for a decent car for his daughter, much the same as me looking for a decent car for my son when I bought it six years ago.

We have updated the advert as deposit paid but haven’t taken an actual deposit believing he and daughter are credible and they are coming over Saturday.

If it doesn’t work out then we will just advertise it again, it usually lives in my garage all winter long so a week or two extra won’t hurt if they let me down… but I am hopeful they don’t.

[Panamax]

BangGoesAnotherDay said:

In my experience messages and emails are the tool of the time waster, I personally think anyone is a messer until they are standing in front of me looking at the car. Make an offer when you are in front of me, don't do all this "what's your best offer" nonsence over message.

^^ Absolutely this.