Possible fake advert on Autotrader...

[jazzyjeff]

Obviously I won't attach a link since one of the mods might think I'm advertising (?!)

Basically, in my quest for a good < £40k Vantage I've come across an ad on Autotrader which doesn't look quite right.

The car is being held up for sale for £34,495 (not a bad price for starters but there are a few issues which have made me wary, namely:

1. The car is stated as having a two-tone grey interior when the car in the accompanying photos does not;

2. The car is stated in the listing as having Cruise Control but the car in the accompanying photos does not;

3. Whoever has posted the advert has stolen, word for word, the advert from another advertiser (I won't name them but they are based in Hagley and I went to view that particular car just over a week ago), just substituting different mileage; and

4. Autotrader have assigned a Telesafe number. Which is odd, since the seller has included a different number to ring in the advert text. If they wanted their number protected, why print it in the advert??!


I've emailed Autotrader to report my concerns and they don't seem overly bothered (I did this middle of last week and the ad is still up).

So this is basically a warning to people out there of a possible scam (or maybe a selling agent phishing for victims?)

Alternatively, if I've got it all horribly wrong and this is a genuine (but poorly advertised ) car, and the seller is on here then perhaps they would like to PM me as I might be interested?

Cheers

JJ

[cragswinter]

i was dealing with a scammer in italy proporting to be selling some genuine porsche 911 RS parts on pistonheads. everything was going according to plan when in my searches on the web brought up some of the same photo's that the seller had sent me of "his" items.

it was pretty obvious he'd just cut & pasted some images from a long ago thread & was sending them of proof of his "mint condition" items.

i emailed pistonheads & the advert was took down within 24 hrs & everyone who had contacted the seller through pistonheads mail got an email to state it was a possible scam.

seems a shame autotrader can't act as swiftly.

must be to busy collecting revenue from those annoying adverts that pop up in the middle of the screen when you're waiting the ages it takes for their clunky website to load up.

[brakedwell]

Apart from the lack cruise control buttons it looks OK to me.

[clarky5150]

Without wishing to slander good old autotrader there are often suspiciously cheap looking prestige cars advertised with them that always seem to have the telesafe numbers and never seem to be available. It strikes me of the company 'padding out' the numbers to keep us mugs paying daily homage to their (and their sponsors) site. in my opinion obv...

[jazzyjeff]

brakedwell said:

Apart from the lack cruise control buttons it looks OK to me.

Sorry, just read over my initial post and it should have read "two tone grey and green".

I'm sure you'll agree the interior in the pics is in no way green (if you do you have a contrast issue on your monitor!).

The fact it 'looks okay' doesn't mean it is ok. That is the point of a decent scam after all...

[jazzyjeff]

cragswinter said:

seems a shame autotrader can't act as swiftly.

must be to busy collecting revenue from those annoying adverts that pop up in the middle of the screen when you're waiting the ages it takes for their clunky website to load up.

[Shmee]

Shmee is here for some investigation!!

Here is the Autotrader advert we are discussing:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2011...

A quick google search for Aston Martin Parliament Green finds these pictures of a car with said colour, up for sale at Hagley Cars for £39,995, also a 2006 coupe with a surprisingly similar description (read that as an IDENTICAL description)

http://www.hagleycar.com/cars/car695.html



Now I think the pictures in the first AutoTrader link are in fact a green interior, just with slightly washed pictures so it's not obvious.



Make of this what you will...

ETA: It's also quite easy to write your own mobile number in the description but putting then ticking the box for Telesafe therefore ending up with 2 different numbers. No excuse for the mistake with Cruise Control though so very confused about that.

[jazzyjeff]

Shmee said:

Shmee is here for some investigation!!

Here is the Autotrader advert we are discussing:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2011...

A quick google search for Aston Martin Parliament Green finds these pictures of a car with said colour, up for sale at Hagley Cars for £39,995, also a 2006 coupe with a surprisingly similar description (read that as an IDENTICAL description)

http://www.hagleycar.com/cars/car695.html

Yep - that's the car I've been to see. And the interior is VERY green! (I expressed an interest, but the dealer must have been scared by my part-ex expectation since he meant to ring me back last Tuesday but never did

[jazzyjeff]

Shmee said:

Now I think the pictures in the first AutoTrader link are in fact a green interior, just with slightly washed pictures so it's not obvious.



Make of this what you will...

ETA: It's also quite easy to write your own mobile number in the description but putting then ticking the box for Telesafe therefore ending up with 2 different numbers. No excuse for the mistake with Cruise Control though so very confused about that.

Still not convinced...

I may have to bite the bullet and call the seller to find out what they have to say.

Of course if it turns out the car is currently in storage because he's emigrating and he wants payment via Western Union I'll come back and let you know!

[mjk1]

Looks like the same car being advertised both privately and SOR with a dealer. Nothing unusual about this, when I bought mine 6 months ago, it was on both with the private seller and an official AM dealer. Went to the private seller and saved £5k. Looks like you can do the same.

[cragswinter]

for what it's worth i've seen that ad & i think that is parliment green, just poor photo's

[krisdelta]

Shmee said:

Shmee is here for some investigation!! No excuse for the mistake with Cruise Control though so very confused about that.

Often, when you put an ad in AT, it appends some random text with what it thinks is (or should) be specced on your car.

[jazzyjeff]

mjk1 said:

Looks like the same car being advertised both privately and SOR with a dealer. Nothing unusual about this, when I bought mine 6 months ago, it was on both with the private seller and an official AM dealer. Went to the private seller and saved £5k. Looks like you can do the same.

In which case, how do you explain:

- the location is different;
- the declared mileage is different (by some margin);
- the photo of the steering wheel is of one WITHOUT cruise (the car I PHYSICALLY SAT IN at the dealer definitely does have cruise).

Oh, and sorry, no matter how hard I look it still looks like two-tone grey, not grey and parliament green (the difference of which can be clearly seen in Shmee's second pic, which is from the dealer's ad...). Plus the dealer's car has green carpet as well.

[Shmee]

jazzyjeff said:

In which case, how do you explain:

- the location is different;
- the declared mileage is different (by some margin);
- the photo of the steering wheel is of one WITHOUT cruise (the car I PHYSICALLY SAT IN at the dealer definitely does have cruise).

Oh, and sorry, no matter how hard I look it still looks like two-tone grey, not grey and parliament green (the difference of which can be clearly seen in Shmee's second pic, which is from the dealer's ad...). Plus the dealer's car has green carpet as well.

Location - if I was putting a car with a dealership mine too would be quite a long way from where I would put it if it was a private listing so can't be too sure on that.

Mileage - that's a big one, if it's the same car then something very odd is going on.

Steering wheel - All we know is that neither of these pictures have cruise control!

Colours - I do however think both the Hadley and AutoTrader cars are identical in interior terms, both have the same colours in the same places.

[jazzyjeff]

Shmee said:

Location - if I was putting a car with a dealership mine too would be quite a long way from where I would put it if it was a private listing so can't be too sure on that.

Mileage - that's a big one, if it's the same car then something very odd is going on.

Steering wheel - I'm confused, hadn't realise that you had sat in the car from the listing that you think this is for? Now I've actually just made myself even more confused! I guess all we know is that neither of these pictures have cruise control!

Colours - I do however think both the Hadley and AutoTrader cars are identical in interior terms, both have the same colours in the same places.

Actually, looking at your pic again, you're right - that one doesn't have cruise either?! Plus when I go to the dealer's web site the car doesn't appear to have cruise there either...

All I know is the car I went to see had cruise and the dealer confirmed the mileage as 28k. So unless he's fibbing about that I doubt the same car would have driven 10k in the space of ten days???

I think I need a lie down...!

[Shmee]

jazzyjeff said:

All I know is the car I went to see had cruise and the dealer confirmed the mileage as 28k. So unless he's fibbing about that I doubt the same car would have driven 10k in the space of ten days???

That would be due another service! I would expect that it's the same car and the writer of the Autotrader advert hasn't done a very good job of it.

[jazzyjeff]

Shmee said:

That would be due another service! I would expect that it's the same car and the writer of the Autotrader advert hasn't done a very good job of it.

Well, if it is the same car I'm not sure I'd want to buy it from the private seller without a few issues being sorted first, namely

- fixing the driver's electric seat (was inoperative);
- replacing the front discs and pads;
- sorting the kerbing on the alloys;
- dealing with the slight dent on the n/s wheelarch;
- taking me for a test drive so I can at least hear/feel what it sounds like