SCAM WARNING! - ExpressCarPrices.com / Express Car Prices

gazoakley

I run a little car checking website (which will not be mentioned in this post to play by MSE's rules of no self promotion ) and I've noticed through lots of researching around that the above mentioned website somehow appears to be sending lots of requests for car information to my site. (The techy explanation is I saw lots of requests coming from that sites IP address and used domaintools.com to look up the sites running on that server)

Poking around their site reveals some disturbing terms and conditions - anyone attempting to get a valuation from them will find they'll get the bill for the valuation in the post. It really doesnt make it clear that you're about to agree to a transaction unless you read the T&C's.

Sounds a bit of a scam to me. Anyone here had any experience of them? They've not been around for very long according to their Whois record.

Indeed by burying details of payments in the terms and conditions are they breaking the law? This feels as dishonest as Tele-billing who I've also tried to track down on here in the past. :mad:

tc80tc80

I went to the site with eyes open and frankly I don't see the problem. It is quite clear on the front page that by entering the required information and continuing you are going to end up paying £39 for the valuation.

It is not hidden in any way. I personally think paying £39 for a so called expert valuation is a rip. There are a mess of other ways to figure out what your car is worth for free.

What is suspicious though, is as you say the number of queries coming from their site to yours. Are they using your site to double check their numbers or are are they taking a shortcut to cheap out on the work they have to do?

Without seeing what information they provide to the client, it is not possible to say which way thet are going.

I would check with your website provider to see what can be done to block Expresscarprices IP range from accessing your site. Of course that is not going to stop them from using a laptop on some else's network to keep using your site.

What I do find odd is why they need your plate number. I suspect they are using it to collect your name and address from the DVLA to match up with the billing address you provide for anti-fraud purposes.

omen666

tc80tc80 wrote: »

I went to the site with eyes open and frankly I don't see the problem. It is quite clear on the front page that by entering the required information and continuing you are going to end up paying £39 for the valuation.

It is not hidden in any way. I personally think paying £39 for a so called expert valuation is a rip. There are a mess of other ways to figure out what your car is worth for free.

What is suspicious though, is as you say the number of queries coming from their site to yours. Are they using your site to double check their numbers or are are they taking a shortcut to cheap out on the work they have to do?

Without seeing what information they provide to the client, it is not possible to say which way thet are going.

I would check with your website provider to see what can be done to block Expresscarprices IP range from accessing your site. Of course that is not going to stop them from using a laptop on some else's network to keep using your site.

What I do find odd is why they need your plate number. I suspect they are using it to collect your name and address from the DVLA to match up with the billing address you provide for anti-fraud purposes.

Or they could be using his site to get the owners registered address and sending out 'pro forma' invoices or invoices stating that the owner has requested a valuation and are expecting payment when infact the owner did not request such information

gazoakley

omen666 wrote: »

Or they could be using his site to get the owners registered address and sending out 'pro forma' invoices or invoices stating that the owner has requested a valuation and are expecting payment when infact the owner did not request such information

I don't provide the registered owner details - you need a license from the DVLA to access them and they charge you each time. Considering entering a registration doesn't itself cause a post back to my site I'm guessing its coming from some kind of admin area they have.

Anyway, I've blocked the gits IP address and added a CAPTCHA (one of those things where you type in a word or what you can hear). I'd like to sneak in some terms and conditions that say anyone using my site for commercial purposes must immediately give £50 to charity :rotfl:

stavros111

[ive just received a 39 p ouond bill from this company not once did i see it was going to cost me money my fault for not looking anyway not one piece of info on my car was right not anything .should i pay if they cant even get basics right and if you type in the address now nothing happens
me thinks a dodggy little company
i shall wait for the enevitable final demand and threats

gazoakley

stavros111 wrote: »

[ive just received a 39 p ouond bill from this company not once did i see it was going to cost me money my fault for not looking anyway not one piece of info on my car was right not anything .should i pay if they cant even get basics right and if you type in the address now nothing happens
me thinks a dodggy little company
i shall wait for the enevitable final demand and threats

Sorry to hear that stavros. It looked a bit dodgy to me - I'd suggest you contact Consumer Direct (http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/) or your local Citizens Advice Bureau (www.citizensadvice.org.uk).

If you're OK I'd also be interested in finding out what they sent you - I'd like to know if they just copied and pasted from my site!

bootneck1

stavros111 wrote: »

[ive just received a 39 p ouond bill from this company not once did i see it was going to cost me money my fault for not looking anyway not one piece of info on my car was right not anything .should i pay if they cant even get basics right and if you type in the address now nothing happens
me thinks a dodggy little company
i shall wait for the enevitable final demand and threats

I think this is a rip off. i checked 4 FREE sights for a car valuation just before the New Year and then got an invoice for £39 from Carexpressprices. You cant find the site on Google in a general search and have to type in their full web address so i know i didnt enter the site. In any event, when you do enter,it states quite clearly the charge, so why would I want to pay £39 when i can get the valuation for free!!! I have written to them and await their reply.

ABH7775

I'm new to this forum but I am in dispute with this company called Express Car Prices. I recently sold my car privately through E-Bay Motors and prior to the sale I sourced various used car valuations (FREE OF CHARGE) from a variety of companies on the web. I kept their details and the valuations on an excel spreadsheet to work out and average price of what I should be looking for. I never accessed this companies website as the price is unbelievable and you don't even get an instant valuation by the sounds of things. On saturday (31st Jan) I was shocked to get an invoice for £39 and a valution certificate from Express Car Prices (The valuation was incredibly inflated!), they didn't even have the correct spelling of my forename. I can categorically state I never ordered this valuation and I even tried to call them to challenge the invoice but no telephone number is supplied on their website. I have been communicating with them via an e-mail address of [EMAIL="info@expresscarprices.com"]info@expresscarprices.com[/EMAIL] and a chap called 'John. They are now stating that they are referring matters to a fraud department and the police. Can anyone offer any advice to me on this? Thanks in advance.

lucid2008

Their website was set up on 28th oct 2008.Their domain seems to be registered to a swedish guy at some Regus offices in northumberland avenue,central london.

lucid2008

Am i missing the point or does it quite clearly say you have to pay £39 on the top right of the front page ?Where does it say free ?

bootneck1

ABH7775 wrote: »

I'm new to this forum but I am in dispute with this company called Express Car Prices. I recently sold my car privately through E-Bay Motors and prior to the sale I sourced various used car valuations (FREE OF CHARGE) from a variety of companies on the web. I kept their details and the valuations on an excel spreadsheet to work out and average price of what I should be looking for. I never accessed this companies website as the price is unbelievable and you don't even get an instant valuation by the sounds of things. On saturday (31st Jan) I was shocked to get an invoice for £39 and a valution certificate from Express Car Prices (The valuation was incredibly inflated!), they didn't even have the correct spelling of my forename. I can categorically state I never ordered this valuation and I even tried to call them to challenge the invoice but no telephone number is supplied on their website. I have been communicating with them via an e-mail address of [EMAIL="info@expresscarprices.com"]info@expresscarprices.com[/EMAIL] and a chap called 'John. They are now stating that they are referring matters to a fraud department and the police. Can anyone offer any advice to me on this? Thanks in advance.

I am having a similar problem with these people. I have received a car valuation (unasked for) after visiting some (free) car valuation sites. I have wriiten to them by recorded delivery but to date have not received an answer. I suppose they are waiting for the 30 day payment date to expire and then try on the heavy stuff. Check my reply to Stavross111.