What scam is this guy trying to pull?

[RayPike]

Got a call from a buyer who's interested in my car. Lives an hour and a half drive from me, has only seen pictures. My asking price is £7,950 and he's offered £7,800. Says he's been looking for this spec for a while and wants to buy it asap. He then says when he comes to pick it up he can pay cash of £1,000 and the rest will be direct bank transfer, but the finance company he's using want MY details! When enquiring further this turns out to be copy of driving licence, V5 document, god knows what else. I pointed out that I only wanted cleared funds in my account and wanted nothing to do with a finance company that wanted my details. He says he'll check with them and get back to me as it sounded a bit weird to him too.

Is this something that anyone else has heard of or has an inexperienced buyer got the wrong end of the stick from a misheard conversation with a finance company do you think?

[RayPike]

R8Steve said:

You're going to end up paying for your own car, the loan will be in your name.

Quality. Like that one. Without a signature? I suppose banks do accept "electronic signatures" these days so you may be right.

[RayPike]

MDMA . said:

Just tell him to have his loan paid into his account, withdraw when cleared and turn up with cash. That or he looks at it, leaves a deposit, payment before collection. You withdraw the cash and put into another account.

I told him I wasn't interested in how he got the finance sorted but I wanted nothing to do with his finance company, just wanted cleared funds in my account. As he knows my name and, should we agree a deal, my address, and he'll get my bank details to arrange the transfer... he kind of already has the details he needs if he's going to pull the scam mentioned in the first reply, surely?

[RayPike]

10penceparalyzed said:

sounds similar to this? Zuto? http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=159...

Sounds very similar. So could actually be legit. I'll ask him the name of the company and see what he says. Ta.

[RayPike]

I checked out the zuto website and it seems fairly legit so if it is them, it seems worth pursuing. Apparently I send proof of ownership directly to them, the buyer doesn't see it fwiw.

[RayPike]

It is Zuto apparently. We'll see how it goes then...

[RayPike]

Zuto are closely linked with Autotrader now apparently. They get an outrageously high "trustpilot" rating too. I'm yet to see any evidence of anyone having a problem with them, so if my buyer agrees to the deal on the table and wants to proceed with Zuto, I cannot see a whole lot of reason not to do so at present. Once they transfer the money to my account, I can do with it what I will.

[RayPike]

Been out for a while and all this kicks off!

So buyer 1 hasn't been able to get his sh*t together and buyer 2 has appeared. All is good, except he wants to pay me in a wodge of cash (nearly £8K) when the banks will be closed. I've tentatively suggested it's not a good idea to be dealing with this much cash but he's reacted in a manner that leads me to believe he's a tradesman who likes to deal in readies.

I'm now going to be firmer and see what happens. I'm not expert enough with money to know what may be clever forgeries and I'm pretty sure my bank will take a dim view of me trying to pay in a load of cash! I wish someone with a normal bank account and grip on finances would try to buy my car!

[RayPike]

Pretty much every car guide out there says, "don't accept large wodges of cash". And yet some of you seem to think it's ok to accept large wodges of cash. There is a very real possibility that some of the notes could be counterfeit. If the transaction happens on a Sunday evening, I have no way of checking that money. Oddly enough I have neither UV scanner nor "fake detector" pens lying around the house! If I pay it in and the bank accept it happily then find that, say, £300 is fake - I'm screwed out of £300. It may not be likely but it is possible.

Anyhow, I think I've managed to arrange for bank transfer, which I'm much happier with.