Was it a scam or have I made a boo-boo?

bris

A bank transfer can be recalled on the same day it was sent and only on the same day it was sent. This scam would have worked by sending the bank transfer and then the pick up truck to collect the car on the same day. The OP would have seen the funds in their account and released the car, a couple of hours later the BT is recalled. This is why there is a hurry to get it all done in the same day.

thenudeone

I would be a bit worried about a stranger knowing that I am walking about with £ks in my pocket - who knows if he's told his friend and he's told another friend ... you get the picture. Perhaps it's just me:p

If someone steals your car keys then your car, your insurance will pay out for theft. If you sell the car and then someone steals £4k, you're on your own.

Just to be ultra cautious - If you go to the bank together then don't agree the sale and hand over the documents until you are inside the bank.

property.advert

thenudeone wrote: »

I would be a bit worried about a stranger knowing that I am walking about with £ks in my pocket - who knows if he's told his friend and he's told another friend ... you get the picture. Perhaps it's just me:p

If someone steals your car keys then your car, your insurance will pay out for theft. If you sell the car and then someone steals £4k, you're on your own.

Just to be ultra cautious - If you go to the bank together then don't agree the sale and hand over the documents until you are inside the bank.

Reminds me of a film where a guy depositing money in a bank during a bank robbery asked the robber if he could deposit it first before the robber stole it as then it would be theft from the bank and not from him.

I think it has scam written all over it but if the guy takes the cash to the bank and pays it into your account (he need never know your account details), then you are safe. If he wants to do it any other way, you are stuffed.

macman

A BACS transfer (i.e from a UK bank) is 100% safe 24 hours after arrival to my knowledge.. An international transfer is another matter entirely.
I have no idea if it was an attempted scam or not though, but if you'd insisted on a working day's interval, you'd be OK.

ROY47

Here is your scam clue

I quote : This bloke is in London (I'm in Lancashire), he's got a client who is desperate for the exact make, colour and model of my car

think about, it how many people are really desperate for the exact make, colour and model of your car ?

SCAM all the way to the bank

Unless it is cash in hand ,taken to the bank ,paid in to verify it's not fake !

Oh and don't fall for the my delivery driver will take you to the bank to verify it !!

Probably force you out of the truck in the middle of nowhere or on the arranged day he can't make it and a bank transfer it will have to be

barbiedoll

Why would you be interested in his client and the wife's illness? And someone who wants a car to visit his sick wife BUT it has to be a certain colour? It's all blah, blah, blah. All he needs to do is give you his name, address and telephone number. All this fine detail is too much embellishment of the story, he's lying, for sure.

Scam, scam, scam!

tsb

A big thank you to all who posted. I think the consensus is I was right to be sceptical and feel confident now I made the right decision. Its better to still have the car for sale than have no car and no money!

Hope the information on this thread helps someone else in a similar situation and prevents a scammer success story!

lizzywig

Nothing wrong with trusting your best judgement. We tried selling a car on ebay a couple of months ago and all seemed ok and then the chap started demanding that we sent him the entire document (can't remember what it's called) where you sign it over. Half should have gone to him and half to us and it would have then be signed over to him. However he didn't want to accept that because he was buying the car for a "friend" and wanted to sign it over to his "friend" from him. The trouble with this is if he "forgot" to send off the paperwork it would still be in my husbands name. So we pulled out....just felt overly dodgy and for us trusting our gut was enough.

Ghostrider

bris wrote: »

A bank transfer can be recalled on the same day it was sent and only on the same day it was sent. This scam would have worked by sending the bank transfer and then the pick up truck to collect the car on the same day. The OP would have seen the funds in their account and released the car, a couple of hours later the BT is recalled. This is why there is a hurry to get it all done in the same day.

Thats not the whole story and not entirely correct.

If it's a BACS transfer, which banks are using less and less now for personal payments, then it can be recalled the day after it was made, in fact I think even on the 3rd day I believe before a certain time. Check with APACS. BACS tends to be used more by businesses who make large volume payments, like salary runs and the like.

A CHAPS payment CANNOT be recalled once the funds are in the recipients account. CHAPS is the most commonly used form of same day payments in the UK, they can be recalled if the actual payment has not be made if you're lucky, some payments will go through in minutes, some may take all day depending how busy the system is. But then if you're the seller you'd have checked your bank account for cleared funds before letting the car go so there would be no risk.

sunnyone

passatrider wrote: »

It does sound like a scam to me to be honest. I'd steer clear of Ebay perhaps and try the Autotrader route or local classifieds perhaps?

blacksta wrote: »

Stick to the autotrader route - It has never failed me -

AutoTrader has as many scam artists trying it on as anyother market for used cars, and the same tale as above is often used.

macman wrote: »

A BACS transfer (i.e from a UK bank) is 100% safe 24 hours after arrival to my knowledge.. An international transfer is another matter entirely.
I have no idea if it was an attempted scam or not though, but if you'd insisted on a working day's interval, you'd be OK.

I bought my latest car (a specialist drive from Wheelchair Accessable Vehicle) by taking the vendor to my bank where we both were their to do the BACS transfer, when you are talking well over £15k both parties are very careful and we had come a long way/waited for a long time to get my extremly rare vehicle.

I did sell a car to someone from London three years ago (Im from Durham so about as far as you can get north while stil being in England) who had religious reasons for not using normal banks so he wanted a cash transaction, we went to the bank and my bank checked and accepted his cash into my account before we exchanged keys and paperwork as I was selling a high value vehicle and he as a buyer did seem too good to be true but it worked out well for us both as he wanted a top of the range Grand Voyager LT XS Stow N Go with the extras as standard to use as private hire vehicle working from heathrow so not every approach from intrested buyer is a scam artist.