Urgent Advise - Buying CAR

avi_3

Hi - I have recently bid and won (just over reserve price), a 2 year old car 5 series BMW for £26000. The seller contacted me the same day , came over to my house to show me the car, has shown me all the documents i.e V5, Service booklet. I like the car, but there is something I don't feel right - I am not sure what.
On the V5, the owner's name is someone else's. He tells me he bought the car in Aug 05 as a part exchange when he sold his car, wants to sell this as he cannot afford it. I have done a HPI check, which has come clear(checked VIN and engine no with the V5 and the car).I also called the BMW showroom (Glasgow) where it was purchased to make sure the sepcs were right, about the service history - which were fine.
He wanted me to pay in cash, but accepted to take a banker's check tomorrow.

HAVE I MISSED SOMETHING?
I am nervous about something going wrong with such a big transaction, as i will be doomed if thing's go wrong

Oh! one more thing - Sometimes when i try to ring his mobile, it gives a dead pause, and the other times it rings normally. Anything to suspect?

PLease advise.

gcn504

Don't HPI offer a warranty that if for example the car is stolen and they don't know about it you are covered to a certain amount: not sure how much this is currently (check the website).

If the car was on finance I think you are covered by something call the Innocent Purchasers Act, however, if the car was stolen I think the police can come and take it away with your recourse the above HPI claim or possibly the courts.

I'm afraid I can't verify this 100% as it was from information some years ago when I used to work for HPI - it's probably changed by now.

I'd think about giving the CAB a call or possibly HPI customer services a call before you part with any hard earned.

avi_3

Thank you. Looking at their website, They only cover £10000 as indemnity

audirob

Have you got the listing number so i can have a look at his add.. if not whats his feedback like,,
If you decide to go ahead and buy pick it up from his house so you know where he lives and try to gather as much info on him as you can ie. work place etc..
Hope this helped

5bellies_2

If he's taken the car in part-exchange, then surely he is a dealer - and will be registered as such with the DVLA.

Give them a call in the morning giving the V5 name and address, and his name and address and explain the circumstances. Also contact the registered V5 name - if you can't contact him I'd be very wary about proceeding.

avi_3

item no -4579521916

Vic_980

Nothing obviously dodgy about the listing or his feedback.

But as suggested above, contact the registered keeper on the V5 and find out the story behind the car.

If your gut feeling tells you to walk away then I'd trust your instincts. The worse you will end up with is a neg, and that's better than flushing 26 grand down the pan!

Malestrom

audirob wrote:

If you decide to go ahead and buy pick it up from his house so you know where he lives and try to gather as much info on him as you can ie. work place etc..

Good advice but make sure he actually lives there, he could just be standing outside some random house when you turn up. With £26,000 at stake though he could be renting the place and could disappear easy as pie anyway. Does his phone number on Ebay tie up with the one that you're calling? Definately contact the previous owner shown on the V5 and check out the story.

Instincts are there for a reason, you might be wise to trust yours in this case, who cares about the neg!

windym_2

You could do some more checks on him via https://www.192.com

Check his name against the electoral roll to ensure that is where he lives/is registered.

It does seem odd that he has only ever sold stuff for a few pounds on ebay before, if you look at his selling history, it is car orientated but not quite in this league.

The registered keeper of a vehicle is not necessarily the legal owner. Try and do some background checks on the previous keeper as per the log book. Look through phone book, electoral roll etc to track them down. They will be your best bet on information.

Good luck.

And yes, if it is stolen, the police will take it and you have absolutely no recourse via them. You would either have to sue HPI or the 'seller' if you could track him down.

shelly

avi wrote:

I like the car, but there is something I don't feel right - I am not sure what..

Gut feelings are there for a reason.

We was looking to buy a nearly new car in Feb. Went to look at it and kinda done a deal with the garage and was going to collect it the following week once they had put an MOT on it. All week hubby said something didn't feel right and he wasn't sure he still wanted the car. I talked him into waiting to see the car again and lo and behold when we got there the next weekend they informed us the car needed a new catalytic converter and we had to pay for it not them!!! We hadn't signed any paperwork (even though they wanted us to the previous weekend) or handed over any cash so we just walked away.

If something doesn't feel right go with your feelings.....£26,000 is a lot of money to lose.

shelly

windym wrote:

You could do some more checks on him via www.192.com.

I would take details on 192.com with a pinch of salt. I just had a look on there as Iv'e never used it before and I'm registered at my address but in my maiden name! I've been married nearly 5 yrs! Also looked at someone elses name and he's registered as living with my friend and at his new home. They have been separated 3 yrs or more. So I wouldn't trust details on there to be up-to-date.