Car buying advice - potential scam?

speedypete2022

hi
I have found a car (alfa romeo gt) online on Gumtree which looks like a good deal. It is quite cheap and is priced at 2800 with 67k miles and all the usual stuff like full service history. The ad said birmingham but when I got in touch the person aelling the car said they were in Scotland. The advert did say that they were selling on behalf of a friend and that the owner was away. So far they have said they can deliver the car at their cost for 7 days and if i'm not happy then they will have it collected again also at their cost. They want me to make payment through Ebay and Paypal where i can presumably use a credit card and possibly get S.75 protection but i am not sure if it applies to Paypal.

Its a keen price but just seems a bit odd. I was wondering if this is a scam/stolen car?

any advice would be great.

Quentin

There is no buyer protection if you pay for a car with PayPal via ebay

xapprenticex

imo avoid gumtree, granted its subjective though.

Its not like I've had the best of luck outside of gumtree though...

facade

I would be very surprised if it wasn't a scam.

Best to miss out on a possible "bargain" than to get stung for £2800.

Marvel1

speedypete2022 wrote: »

The advert did say that they were selling on behalf of a friend and that the owner was away.

Scam to me.

forgotmyname

Who will deliver a car to you at no cost to yourself? Especially selling for a friend.

Is there a picture? A quick google should bring up the real advert at probably double the price but using the same pictures.

martinthebandit

Wow that sounds too good to be true...........




...... and that's because it's not true! Of course it's a scam

Nodding_Donkey

Only really stupid (or greedy) people get taken in by this scam.

motorguy

speedypete2022 wrote: »

hi
I have found a car (alfa romeo gt) online on Gumtree which looks like a good deal. It is quite cheap and is priced at 2800 with 67k miles and all the usual stuff like full service history. The ad said birmingham but when I got in touch the person aelling the car said they were in Scotland. The advert did say that they were selling on behalf of a friend and that the owner was away. So far they have said they can deliver the car at their cost for 7 days and if i'm not happy then they will have it collected again also at their cost. They want me to make payment through Ebay and Paypal where i can presumably use a credit card and possibly get S.75 protection but i am not sure if it applies to Paypal.

Its a keen price but just seems a bit odd. I was wondering if this is a scam/stolen car?

any advice would be great.

SO...

You give a complete stranger on gumtree £2800 via an online transaction and they'll send the car to you?

And this doesnt seem like a scam to you?

This is right up there with meeting some bloke in a pub who says they have a car and promises you they'll bring you the car next week, if you give them the cash now? Would you do it?

speedypete202

Thought it was. Thanks for the answers!

arcon5

Section 75 doesn't apply when you use a platform such as PayPal. As PayPal are seen as a middle man, in that you pay PayPal then use PayPal to pay the seller, thus no direct link between credit card company and seller. So you never benefit from section 75 if using PayPal.

Also PayPal offer no buyer protection for car sales. So you open a claim and you'll see PayPal close it fairly quickly.

Go see the car and bring it back yourself. The costs will be less than being scammed for nearly £3k.