Help - has anyone heard of this company

tigrababe

Hi everyone,
Need help on something....posted an ad on Gumtree to sell my car, anyway i got a telephone call from a company call 1st Vehicle Limited. They want to sell my car for me (according to them they deal with finance companies) so are able to sell to buyers directly through them. However, i have to pay £50 (which is refundable) but this still sounds a bit fishy to me - maybe i'm just being suspicious . But it sounds too good to be true.

Whatever help i can get will be really fab - they're calling back.
Many thanks

Paul_Herring

Google doesn't show any firms by that name (First Vehicle Finance, however does crop up.)

However, i have to pay £50 (which is refundable)

How about offering to pay them £50 if they sell your car, rather than having to go through the hassle of trying to get them to refund it if you sell without them?

Heyman_2

I have known people who have tried selling their cars and they would get this type of call a LOT. I would steer well clear if I were you, and just try and sell direct to a private buyer.

It sounds like a scam to me - why the up-front charge? If they're so confident that they can sell your car then they should just take a commission when the transaction actually happens, like most other similar fields (i.e. Estate Agents, Mortgage Brokers etc etc)

thriftymomma

Golden rule, if they want money upfront, ie before they have done anything, it's probably a scam!

qwertyzxcvb

hello,

I got a call from a similar company a while ago when I was selling my car (they wanted to charge £80 though) - my ad was posted on gumtree as well. I did a quick google research and did not find one positive opinion about services like this. What I found though, was tens if not hundreds complaints from people who paid and never heard from these companies before (neither saw their money, although "refundable").

My advise: stay well away from them. It's a scam. If they call you again, offer them that you pay them £100 but ONCE you sell your car through them - and you won't hear from them again (and that's probably the best indication of service quality they offer). And if you want to spend £50, buy an ad on autotrader (~£10 for 2 weeks) and offer £40 off your asking price to the potential buyer - same cost, less stress, better result .

But please do not pay any money to them.

Hope it helps.
S.