Used car buying: Where to best avoid scams or a dud?
Discussion
Just wondering what PH think about the relative merits of:
- EBay
- Gumtree
- Facebook
- some bloke in a car park with a Portacabin and a mobile phone
... to minimise risk of being scammed (no real car at all) or getting an awful deal (unreliable / stolen / cut-and-shut etc).
Asking for a friend of course .... and they are talking about the bottom end of the market (a shopping car for about 2 -3K).
- EBay
- Gumtree
- some bloke in a car park with a Portacabin and a mobile phone
... to minimise risk of being scammed (no real car at all) or getting an awful deal (unreliable / stolen / cut-and-shut etc).
Asking for a friend of course .... and they are talking about the bottom end of the market (a shopping car for about 2 -3K).
Nowadays that sort of budget almost feels so low that it's better to ask around friends / extended family / colleagues etc if anyone's got a random car they're selling and take whatever you can get from someone you can trust, rather than buying on the open market.
Otherwise I'd be looking to buy privately from someone who's had the car at least a year (can check last V5 date online with the reg), at least with a genuine private buyer you have a fair chance of a decent car. It feels so low budget that any dealer is relatively unlikely to be able to meet their legal obligations with it.
The other half of it is, buying any old car you have to expect to pay out for work soon after purchase, unless you're unusually lucky. If you can't afford to pay ~£500 or so for tyres, brakes, suspension arms or whatever then probably best not buying an old car.
M4cruiser said:
Just wondering what PH think about the relative merits of:
- EBay
- Gumtree
- Facebook
- some bloke in a car park with a Portacabin and a mobile phone
... to minimise risk of being scammed (no real car at all) or getting an awful deal (unreliable / stolen / cut-and-shut etc).
Asking for a friend of course .... and they are talking about the bottom end of the market (a shopping car for about 2 -3K).
Autotrader, all the others obscure written off car info - so specific questions and answers in writing and a hpi is even more essential than normal.- EBay
- Gumtree
- some bloke in a car park with a Portacabin and a mobile phone
... to minimise risk of being scammed (no real car at all) or getting an awful deal (unreliable / stolen / cut-and-shut etc).
Asking for a friend of course .... and they are talking about the bottom end of the market (a shopping car for about 2 -3K).
I’ve used all of them for budget track cars in the past, I normally favour small hot hatches with a decent MOT
You have to be confident in what you are looking at and treat every car as sold as seen regardless of who is selling it, dealers at that price point are likely to be very uninterested in sorting out any issues regardless of legal rights.
People like to quote the CRA but enforcing it is very different so buy on the basis of sold as seen and anything more is a bonus
You have to be confident in what you are looking at and treat every car as sold as seen regardless of who is selling it, dealers at that price point are likely to be very uninterested in sorting out any issues regardless of legal rights.
People like to quote the CRA but enforcing it is very different so buy on the basis of sold as seen and anything more is a bonus
and dont be talked into leaving a deposit on something you view online
have the funds ready and travel to see it straight away if it sounds good , i think many of these scams are tricking people to deposit or pay in full before seeing a car that doesnt exist
ask do you have v5 in your name /address
have the funds ready and travel to see it straight away if it sounds good , i think many of these scams are tricking people to deposit or pay in full before seeing a car that doesnt exist
ask do you have v5 in your name /address
Avoid car dealers as they'll be selling you a £2K car with a £1K gross mark up.
Buy privately. Off an actual private seller selling their own car.
Harder than it looks. A lot of cars on FB are small time driveway traders masquerading as private sellers. Whilst i dont begrudge them a bit of profit, most arent beyond hiding known faults to get the car down the road.
You should be buying the car off the person who is registered on the V5C. The name should match, the address should match. They're not selling it for their uncle, mum, granny, friend - if they say they are they're a trader. Dont meet them at Tesco's car park of wherever. Someone doing that is a trader. See through the fake reasons why they're selling a car thats not registered to them - just bought it but have to sell this week as just found out my wife is pregnant (well unless she has the gestation period of a mouse you probably dont need to sell it for quite a while yet), just bought it but have to sell it as i need an auto (i saw one guy flip flopping on gumtree with previous adverts "selling as i need a manual"), wife doesnt like it, etc. All of those are almost certainly driveway traders.
If looking at FB, do a bit of due diligence on the seller. You can see what else they're selling, you can check they have a real profile not just a new one created that day.
Look at the wording in the advert. Traders tend to be factual. So - 108K miles, MOT'd to Feb 24. Private sellers tend to be a bit more wordy - i've owned this car for 3 years now and in that time i've done XYZ.
Buy privately. Off an actual private seller selling their own car.
Harder than it looks. A lot of cars on FB are small time driveway traders masquerading as private sellers. Whilst i dont begrudge them a bit of profit, most arent beyond hiding known faults to get the car down the road.
You should be buying the car off the person who is registered on the V5C. The name should match, the address should match. They're not selling it for their uncle, mum, granny, friend - if they say they are they're a trader. Dont meet them at Tesco's car park of wherever. Someone doing that is a trader. See through the fake reasons why they're selling a car thats not registered to them - just bought it but have to sell this week as just found out my wife is pregnant (well unless she has the gestation period of a mouse you probably dont need to sell it for quite a while yet), just bought it but have to sell it as i need an auto (i saw one guy flip flopping on gumtree with previous adverts "selling as i need a manual"), wife doesnt like it, etc. All of those are almost certainly driveway traders.
If looking at FB, do a bit of due diligence on the seller. You can see what else they're selling, you can check they have a real profile not just a new one created that day.
Look at the wording in the advert. Traders tend to be factual. So - 108K miles, MOT'd to Feb 24. Private sellers tend to be a bit more wordy - i've owned this car for 3 years now and in that time i've done XYZ.
any bonus points like cam belt /full major service just done etc , only believe it when you see invoices
many will claim all done by mate thats ex head technician at the main dealer, but zero proof
basically treat everything your told /read as lies unless you can see it with your eyes
many will claim all done by mate thats ex head technician at the main dealer, but zero proof
basically treat everything your told /read as lies unless you can see it with your eyes
On a car you're quite set on (ie, not every car you look at the advert for), do a vcheck.uk check on it before handing over your hard earned.
It checks salvage yard records, taxi records as well as a full HPI check for finance, mileage etc.
And when doing the VOSA MOT check, check the miles are all consistent over the years. Not unusual for a car to get a hair cut at some point in its life.
It checks salvage yard records, taxi records as well as a full HPI check for finance, mileage etc.
And when doing the VOSA MOT check, check the miles are all consistent over the years. Not unusual for a car to get a hair cut at some point in its life.
Even at only £3k I'd still go with autotrader. Too many rats and scumbags on the other platforms. I'm agnostic about whether to go private or trade, good stuff can be found in either place if you look.
I'd go for something like this Honda Civic 1.8 i-VTEC
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202309081...
I'd go for something like this Honda Civic 1.8 i-VTEC
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202309081...
Facebook, I like but some points.
Check the other items, ideally only one car being sold.
The search engine is a bit pants for subject/name, eg BMW 645 and BMW 645i will bring up different results, so you can use this to your advantage by being more thorough/varied and taking more time to search.
Facebook you can stalk and see if it's a long standing profile and often the type of person selling it.
It's free so private sellers like it, so the lower value cars particularly get thrown on it.
I am currently a few hours post buying a facebook car, some encouraging messages, and facebook stalking, the guy is an RNLI volunteer which rightly or wrongly gave me some good vibes. He did a video call walk round and various additional photos etc, loads of good info, it was a long distance from me and I think that possible if it had been advertised elsewhere I may have missed it (ebay dealers I'm sure have ebay notifications for certain makes and models and snap up any bargain private sales).
Check the other items, ideally only one car being sold.
The search engine is a bit pants for subject/name, eg BMW 645 and BMW 645i will bring up different results, so you can use this to your advantage by being more thorough/varied and taking more time to search.
Facebook you can stalk and see if it's a long standing profile and often the type of person selling it.
It's free so private sellers like it, so the lower value cars particularly get thrown on it.
I am currently a few hours post buying a facebook car, some encouraging messages, and facebook stalking, the guy is an RNLI volunteer which rightly or wrongly gave me some good vibes. He did a video call walk round and various additional photos etc, loads of good info, it was a long distance from me and I think that possible if it had been advertised elsewhere I may have missed it (ebay dealers I'm sure have ebay notifications for certain makes and models and snap up any bargain private sales).
seems every other car on fb is a scam when i look , given away by slightly too good to be true prices and often American's spellings like tires and mention of a title, seems they hack dormant accounts so a quick look and yes Maureen has been on there 12 years and keeps a poodle
im sure the next step would involve paying without seeing it or sending a deposit , so stick by paying nothing until you see it and the v5 and that scam would fizzle out
im sure the next step would involve paying without seeing it or sending a deposit , so stick by paying nothing until you see it and the v5 and that scam would fizzle out
steveo3002 said:
seems every other car on fb is a scam when i look , given away by slightly too good to be true prices and often American's spellings like tires and mention of a title, seems they hack dormant accounts so a quick look and yes Maureen has been on there 12 years and keeps a poodle
im sure the next step would involve paying without seeing it or sending a deposit , so stick by paying nothing until you see it and the v5 and that scam would fizzle out
I look at cars on there daily and there are hundreds of scam ads, you can tell a mile off though as the prices are way off not just a grand or two.im sure the next step would involve paying without seeing it or sending a deposit , so stick by paying nothing until you see it and the v5 and that scam would fizzle out
People will still fall for it though.
Paid good money for a used car from a dealer, test drive lovely and after a couple of weeks, auto gearbox playing up and ended up paying £1200 for a rebuild.
I just couldn't be bothered with the ball ache of arguing with the seller, but at the end of the day, these gearboxes have this known issue that i now know is sorted and will last the life of my ownership.
No used car is going to be risk free, but even new cars arent either!
I just couldn't be bothered with the ball ache of arguing with the seller, but at the end of the day, these gearboxes have this known issue that i now know is sorted and will last the life of my ownership.
No used car is going to be risk free, but even new cars arent either!
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff