Hello Robert,
I dropping you a note to alert TTAC readers about a growing problem in the autoblogosphere. There’s been a marked increase in fraudulent collectible car ads posted on www.trader.ca. Normally, the bogus ads are easy to spot: they tout pristine classics at firesale prices. In many cases, the “seller” only provides an e-mail contact. If they list a phone number, it’s usually a fax. But even buyers who forget that “too good to be true” means just that should caveat their emptor. Some of the ads offer desirable cars at prices that seems good but not great. I recently inquired about a Mustang. I became suspicious. When I asked for close up snaps (to see if the seller could provide them), the seller became indignant. When I stated flat out that I wouldn’t pay a cent without these “proof of life” pics, the “seller” disappeared.
In short, be careful out there! You don’t have to be a complete fool to be parted from your money.
Nicholas
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The boards are filled with these scams. Few people have actually engaged the seller, and it’s usually a woman who is suddenly divorced or widowed and doesn’t drive. One guy said he was in GA and wanted to see the car. The car was located in NY, so, with a separate email, he said he was in NY and wanted to see the car.. which was suddenly located in WI.
The other thing to watch out for are the dealers that are delivering cars and then calling back a week or two later claiming the financing fell through and to bring the car back. Oh, and your trade in has already been sold at auction.
Wait a minute… are you sure you weren’t just talking to the author of “Hammer Time” postings? He’s just driving a hard bargain!
(Just kidding)
;-)
These come up on ebay as well. Anywhere really. The recycle ads/pictures from previous auctions and just change the seller info.
Besides, you should never buy a classic/collector car without either inspecting it yourself, or having it inspected by a “marque expert” nearby. Those are easy to find in any online community. I just inspected an E-type Jaguar for an out-of-state buyer this past weekend.
Remember: If it is too good to be true, it usually is.
–chuck
Reminds me of a story about someone checking out ebay ads to get a feel for the market price of his own bright red Porsche. He found a close match on ebay … turned out the pictures were of his own bright red Porsche parked in his driveway! Would be fun to contact the “seller” and send him/her some more pictures.
There are plenty of these on Craig’s List too. Not even collector cars. Things like 2004 Accords for $3000. When you contact the seller, he has this story made p about being from the military, and that the car is in Europe, and a military transport will drop it off to the nearest base in your area. It’s always the same post. The spammer doesn’t even realize he has multiple inquiries from the same e-mail, about different cars.
I saw a nice-sounding Boxster several years ago probably on Ebay, although I don’t remember for sure. Cheap price. I began corresponding, and it quickly became clear it was bogus. There’s a lot of this stuff.
MBella: “When you contact the seller, he has this story made p about being from the military, and that the car is in Europe, and a military transport will drop it off to the nearest base in your area.”
Which may be one reason my local Craigslist always has a warning in big, all cap letters: “Offers to ship cars are 100% fraudulent.”
But if the seller says he has a car that’s being held by a bank in Nigeria, you’re probably safe.
I’ve seen same adds for sometime on Canadian Autotrader. But prices are way to low and you can spot it by ‘contact seller by e-mail only’. I wouldn’t do it even for fun, since I’m already receiving enough SPAM from Nigerian banks/sheiks/princesses/princes/rich refugees and so on. If e-mail comes from same service as my e-mail provider, I’m forwarding it to their anti-phishing division.
Number one rule:
If you can’t touch it, don’t buy it..
The quickest way I ever got a scammer to disappear was to ask them to take a picture of said advertised vehicle with a copy of that day’s local paper on the hood. Poof…instant vanishing act. Oh, and the idiots that are claiming to be military folk…that one REALLY pisses me off. Do NOT play on the sympathies and pride we have (well, at least I do) in our military in order to scam folks. Besides, anybody who has ever served knows that the military (gov) will not simply load up a POV and send it Stateside for free.
threeer :
April 22nd, 2009 at 7:15 am
Besides, anybody who has ever served knows that the military (gov) will not simply load up a POV and send it Stateside for free.
Not entirely true. The US Navy loaded up a couple of dozen cars on the aircraft carrier I was on at the end of a WestPac cruise in the 70’s. Our last port of call was Hong Kong and the military had an amazing deal worked out on Land Rovers and a few other vehicles.
I brought an LR back for half the cost of purchasing one in the States.
I have no idea if they still have any of these deals worked out. I also think it might have been at the Captain’s discretion to do this. He brought back a sailboat himself so that may have had something to do with it.
On a somewhat similar topic:
CBC (Canada) did a show on “The secret life of cars” on their Marketplace show. Bottom line: you cannot trust Carfax alone. Their data is very often out of date or incorrect. It behooves you to use multiple data agencies.
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/vehicle_history_reports/main.html
It is amazing that people fall for this kind of thing? But they must, sad to say.
Besides, anybody who has ever served knows that the military (gov) will not simply load up a POV and send it Stateside for free.
Actually they do. As long as you are stationed overseas say, in Germany, like I’ve been. You are allowed one car to shipped to Germany at the beginning and one car at the end of your tour back home. This does make for the occasion where a service member will leave their classic car in the states and decides later he/she wants to sell it for some extra scratch. The military will not pay for the shipment of this car EVER, regardless of the sob story the scammer may provide.
I’ve had Soldiers over the years get tangled by all kinds of scams. The bottom line I’ve always told them is if the person is asking for money up front you should be looking them in the eye and reading everything twice before you sign it. Money up front is always a warning sign and too good to be true settles it.
To back up what Dolorean said, if you PCS OCONUS to certain countries, you get one car shipped there, one car shipped back. Doesn’t have to be the same car. Don’t know what the rules are now but a lot of guys used to buy cheap BMWs and have them sent back.
They still ship to Hamburg? That’s a loooong train ride from Bayern to North Sea.