Foreign replies to adverts?

[stackmonkey]

Is it just me, or does everyone get a certain number of foreign replies?
I've just re-advertised my Chimaera as it timed off the scale.

Thus far, including the first advert, I've had 2 French enquiries, 2 Dutch and 1 German.
all are asking the 'right' questions, asking for extra pics, more details on history etc, and none as yet asking for bank details...

Anyone else getting this?

[pwd95]

Had a fair few when I advertised mine a few months ago. I think you just have to asess each one individually. Got whithin 1 week of having a French guy travel over & he anounces in an email that he didn't realise that my car had been in an accident!!!! Even though I had stated quite clearly in the advert that the car was a cat C write off in 2001, & sent him all the photos etc.
Just be carefull & demand cleared cash 'in the bank' as in, they pay the sterling cash in to your account physically at the bank.
Good luck.

[changingman]

When I advertised mine I had a Dutch bloke, a German and someone in Portugal contact me about it, all seemed genuine, I spoke to the German and the Dutch bloke, in fact the German was almost on his way over with a trailer when I sold it to someone local.

[mack]

I've recently sold my Griff to a guy who lives in the South of France, and encountered no problems whatsoever with the transaction, so it just shows that it can work out fine and be absolutely safe

Just before the sale, I also advertised the car online with a classic car site - this generated a similar response with numerous enquiries from Canada, Australia, France, Belgium and Germany
Having spoken to most of the people, they all seemed very genuine and a few were desperate to travel over to look at the car asap, if the first viewer didn't buy it

After a slow start to the advert, I think I could have sold it several times over in the end!!

I think it must be the marque though, as I've also got a Merc advertised as well, and that's a completely different story - I've had loads of the usual scam emails for that one!!

However, there was one enquiry for the Griff, from Germany, which did sound dodgy though - basically the guy was asking me to send him a copy of the logbook, MOT and insurance certificates as he wanted to check that it would pass a German test first!

This was my first 'foreign' sale and I'm very pleased with the stress free transaction, so don't be put off international buyers completely - there are some genuine ones out there

Best of luck with it

Edited by mack on Monday 5th January 00:39

[changingman]

mack said:

However, there was one enquiry, from Germany, which did sound dodgy though - basically the guy was asking me to send him a copy of the logbook, MOT and insurance certificates as he wanted to check that it would pass a German test first!
Best of luck with it

The German bloke who was interested in mine just wanted to know that it had an E sticker on it as without it he said it couldnt be registered in Germany

[Ryder35]

I sold my Honda converted Elise to a chap from Germany. No problems at all. He actually transferred the money less £50 into my account before seeing the car.

[vdubbin]

I spend more time looking at UK-based cars than I do looking at Irish cars. Vehicle Registration Tax notwithstanding, it's still possible to import a car from UK or Japan for less than the stealers here demand for them. It's starting to become a bit on issue for them though, they have been advised by the SIMI (industry body) to note the details of any "non-tourist" car driving on UK plates.

[Chris71]

Sounds like there is a lot of legitmiate overseas interest in TVRs at the moment, but I'd still treat any of them with a degree of extra cynicism, just in case.

[grahamw48]

It's a global market now, as with everything else.

If and when the buyer appears on your doorstop with (real) cash in hand, just take it.

Don't forget cheques can be bounced weeks down the line and bankers drafts can be fakes.

[RIP_puffsorted2]

Yeap I have had a huge interest from abroad for my Griff.

Got a guy coming over from Sweden on Thursday to take a look and also another guy from Germany is interested in coming over. One call from France and an obvious scammer from the Spanish republic of Nigeria :-)
And finally have an interested UK buyer now as well.

[jimed]

We were at a certain well know independent TVR servicing place just before Xmas and they had sold nearly all the cars they had to people from the Continent - reason being at the current exchange rate they are so cheap so no surprise there then! I hope there are some left for me when/if I change!!
Jim

[patmahe]

I have bought a couple of cars from the UK (I'm Irish) because even with import duty it generally works out cheaper, and the cars are generally in better condition (Our roads are awful) and come loaded with more extras than ours (our ridiculous tax regime on new cars meant most options were prohibitively expensive).

All of this coupled with the current exchange rate makes importing a car even more appealing.

So I guess some are legitamite, some aren't, judge it on a case by case basis.

[jimmyV8]

I must say I am currently having a similar experience, lots of interest from Europe mostly France and Germany, must just be down a a favourable exchange rate!

[stackmonkey]

Thanks all. Glad it's not just me then. I'll still be cautious of course.

[RIP_puffsorted2]

stackmonkey said:

Thanks all. Glad it's not just me then. I'll still be cautious of course.

Got to many buyers now. German guy offered to wire a holding deposit to get the car off the market until he can get a flight over. Swedish guy's flights are all booked for Thursday so I though it unfair on him to take the holding deposit.

Perhaps I am too nice! I should just say whoever gets the Euro's to my bank account (and cleared) first gets the car!

[Daston]

I sold my supra to some German guys. Picked them up from the airport and they stayed at a local hotel then made the deal in the morning in the bank. They paid in cash and I paid it straight in to make sure it was ok. Turned out they ran a Jap performace garage and were off to wales to purchase another one. Got the asking price as well as apparently the Twin turbo supras go for silly money over there.

I would say play it safe and if they offer to pay in cash do it in a back.

[macdeb]

RIP_puffsorted2 said:

stackmonkey said:

Thanks all. Glad it's not just me then. I'll still be cautious of course.

Got to many buyers now. German guy offered to wire a holding deposit to get the car off the market until he can get a flight over. Swedish guy's flights are all booked for Thursday so I though it unfair on him to take the holding deposit.

Perhaps I am too nice! I should just say whoever gets the Euro's to my bank account (and cleared) first gets the car!

Dunno so much bloke. It's nice to see someone has principals in this day and age. I remember when I sold my Yamaha R1, I waited for the first guy to give me a genuine enquiry and he had to travel some distance [from the isle of Mull] to get here. Meantime had two big mouthed money throwing offers from people, but stuck to my guns of giving the first chap first refusal. He duly turned up and his first words were, 'I'll fkin' 'av it'. [as I'd given an honest description of it] Full asking price, no quibble and in cash! I felt pretty good as he rode off with my pride and joy, and I never did get another call from the loud mouth wannabe's. Got to go with gut feeling sometimes.
Anyway, it's not as nice as it used to be either when selling or buying as these days there's always some phucker trying to rip you off., I'm waffling now, but good luck.

[900T-R]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I mean, a nice Taraka 500 for under 10,000 euro... us continentals feel someone needs to pinch us in case we're dreaming!

In fact, if I didn't have one already, I'd be all over Stackmonkey's car as it seems to be well sorted... I spent that amount on improvemnts alone to get mine to a similar standard...

[MiddxTVR]

I sold my Chimaera to a very nice German guy, before Christmas- the falling prices and good/ bad exchange rates makes it very attractive for the Euro Zone, I did also have a couple of enquires from "abroad" which didnt feel right so I didnt reply. So It worked out fine for me, and the paperwork wasnt too much more either!

[brem]

I'm from Switzerland and bought a Tamora advertised here on Pistonheads. I asked for the details of the car and some pics. Then paid a deposit on the car and flew over to Manchester. The guy picked me up at the airport and we drove to his house where I checked the car.
Paid the rest of the price and drove it home!
Thanks to the exchange rate it's very attractive for us to buy cars in the UK at the moment.

Regards....Peter