Vehicle scams – seller beware!

When it comes to used car scams – it’s not just the buyers that can get taken for a ride. With more and more individuals looking to sell their cars privately, scammers are finding ways to creatively expand their schemes by approaching inexperienced and unknowing car sellers. When it comes to dealing online – it’s buyer and seller beware!

The too-easy sale

You put your vehicle up for sale and within a couple of days a buyer contacts you and says they’re interested. What’s more – they want to pay you right away, without inspecting or seeing the car. There’s a good excuse for this – they say they live overseas and are moving into the area, or they’re just buying the car for a “friend”. (Think about it – do you really hate your friend that much that you wouldn’t inspect the vehicle you’re buying for them?) Either ways, they’re ready to pay now, maybe by PayPal or Western Union. It all seems legit until something goes wrong with the transferring of the money and they ask you for your personal bank details or they need you to get the money from their agent.

And this is where the scam starts to resemble a Nigerian email scheme. However, at this point, many sellers have already been drawn in by the great price and the seeming ease of the sale – nobody else has contacted them about the car or offered nearly as much for it. It seems like much less hassle to pay some agent or a small fee to receive the money from the keen buyer. Of course, there is no purchase and you’re left with your car unsold and money out of your wallet.

The fake “broker” service

Another scam has been noted in the UK by the BBC, and by Australian online classified sites like carsguide.com.au, drive.com.au, ebay.com.au and carsales.com.au. This one offers a service that matches the seller’s vehicle to a buyer – as a broker or real estate agent does. The agency contacts the seller via their online post offering to help find a buyer for their vehicle, for a small fee. The seller pays the fee and never hears from the brokers again.

There are, of course, plenty of legitimate businesses and car buying operations out there – if you are looking to utilise a car buying service, best to engage the services of a reputable dealer or broker who charge only upon the successful sale of the car.

Buyer Beware

When it comes to car scams, there are stories abound of dodgy dealers and private sellers that try to pawn off a lemon as a good value purchase. Buyers can protect themselves by purchasing a REVs check or a car history report to find out more about the vehicle they’re looking to buy.

Meanwhile, whether you’re a buyer or a seller – the best way to protect yourself from fraud is to be cautious and keep an eye out for them. If you suspect something or the transaction just feels wrong – or feels too good to be true – best to abandon it and look into your other options. There are plenty of honest people out there – a few bad apples shouldn’t ruin the experience for the rest of us.