Selling car and....

[Sammyp123]

Good evening all,

Apologies if this is in the wrong section. I have recently put my rs3 up for sale on this site. I have had interest from someone who is away on business, but is back tomorrow and wanting to come see the car. However, he has requested sight/pictures of the v5 and mot.

I don’t really sell cars often and have never had this request. I am just a bit cautious given the sums of money involved and mot history can be found on line. It could be completely genuine and I will gladly send picture of documentation if he can tell me why he needs them, but I am yet to receive a response.

Am I right in been cautious or am I been a pain in the ar5e?

Thanks in advance

[Sammyp123]

Thanks for the replies. The car has been my pride and joy, hence been cautious. I’ve sold a few cars, never had this request, so thought I would ask others.

I have not been an ar5e in my response and explained why I am reluctant to provide the information. Everything with the car checks out as it should, so i don’t have anything to hide.

[Sammyp123]

eltax91 said:

He’s possibly trying to make sure it’s not stolen, given how likely these things are to go missing at the moment.

As suggested by others, cover up address and ref numbers etc and then send it. He can check MoT online.

I’d also be tempted to avoid giving out an address. Perhaps meet him locally and then drive to yours? I know that seems like a fuss and possibly a big red signal to the buyer, but if he gets a v5 pic and then asks you for your address so he can come look at it, he knows exactly where to tell his crew of t leafs where it lives.

That’s exactly what I was thinking of doing, or even meeting at the parents house and only showing the log book with my address if a deal is done.

[Sammyp123]

Wooda80 said:

I sympathise with the OP's predicament. As a dealer handling similar cars to his I get asked this kind of thing several times a week.

Some time ago I made a post on here asking if this kind of anonymous "Sherlocking" about a car's data was reasonable and I was assured by several others that it was, and it was a necessary part of their pre-purchase research.

Trouble is, many of the suggestions in this thread, such as meeting away from your home address, can lead to you looking shifty yourself "Buying a used car, the seller wants me to meet him at a petrol station down the road / address doesn;t match the reg doc,what do we think?"

To be constructive, I'm much more happy to provide this kind of info if I can verify the enquirer's identity. So an email from [e-mail] with no phone number will get treated with caution. An initial phone call will allow me establish the enquirer's credentials either by a casual conversation or asking directly. Sometimes a just a full name and a town will allow you to corroborate someone on facebook, linkedin or companies house.

If he is any way concerned, I'd suggest the OP does the same. Rather than playing games, explain to the enquirer that you are concerned about security and can you have for example
a landline tel phone number to talk on
a work email address
ask for a email copy driving licence

Bear in mind too that some genuine buyers may be of a different race or social class from you, may be driving a car that you might not expect, won't know or care what or where Ingolstadt is, and be more interested in whether or not you have privacy tints on the windscreen than in your ringbinder full of garage bills

Exactly this. Thanks for the input. I have explained my concerns and asked why he wants . I said I will gladly provide it if he can tell me why. All my emails come from works email, from which he can check who I am. I am on the website etc.

His has come from a gmail with nothing further than he wants pictures of the documents. Luckily, I am in no rush to sell as I am only selling due to doing more miles for work. I will keep the car if necessary.

Thanks again Everyone .