Viewing this car - thoughts on the ad?

motorguy

I've reported the seller. Low life scum like that really !!!! me off.

Richard53

OK, I'm thick, but ... how did you find the second and third ads, or rather how did you know it was the same seller? The phone numbers are all different, but I can't see anything else in the ads to identify the seller.

angrycrow

The phone numbers are dummy numbers provided by auto trader to allow the seller to hide their true number. The number stops working once the add comes down.

Finding the adds takes a bit of leg work. I knew it was Blackburn so playing with post codes on Auto trader got me within a mile of the seller. Then an any car search limited to a mile drops it to 20 adds. Very easy to spot the 3 with photos of the same driveway.

A fun game when you are bored is spotting the fake car adds for unusual or exotic cars on ebay. Ebay pull down record after a tip off was under a minute. Ebay take fake adds very seriously.

coffeehound

angrycrow wrote: »

A fun game when you are bored is spotting the fake car adds for unusual or exotic cars on ebay. Ebay pull down record after a tip off was under a minute. Ebay take fake adds very seriously.

How do you identify a fake ebay ad?

Richard53

angrycrow wrote: »

The phone numbers are dummy numbers provided by auto trader to allow the seller to hide their true number. The number stops working once the add comes down.

Finding the adds takes a bit of leg work. I knew it was Blackburn so playing with post codes on Auto trader got me within a mile of the seller. Then an any car search limited to a mile drops it to 20 adds. Very easy to spot the 3 with photos of the same driveway.

A fun game when you are bored is spotting the fake car adds for unusual or exotic cars on ebay. Ebay pull down record after a tip off was under a minute. Ebay take fake adds very seriously.

Ah, right, I had missed the bit about 'seller's number has been protected'. So the usual trick of Googling the seller's number and looking for other ads wouldn't work. It seems like a lot of work doing it through postcodes and distances, though - you'd need time on your hands


Thanks.

motorguy

Richard53 wrote: »

Ah, right, I had missed the bit about 'seller's number has been protected'. So the usual trick of Googling the seller's number and looking for other ads wouldn't work. It seems like a lot of work doing it through postcodes and distances, though - you'd need time on your hands


Thanks.

Can be very worthwhile if you're buying a car yourself to do those extra few minutes of due diligence.

The wording of the advert is usually the big clue though. Traders are usually very factual with their wording, whereas real owners tend to say things like "i've owned this car for three years now"

Richard53

motorguy wrote: »

Can be very worthwhile if you're buying a car yourself to do those extra few minutes of due diligence.

The wording of the advert is usually the big clue though. Traders are usually very factual with their wording, whereas real owners tend to say things like "i've owned this car for three years now"

Yes, sorry, what I meant to say was it was a lot of work to do just for fun. Absolutely worth it if it's your own money involved.


Once you get down to the wording, it is perfectly obvious it's a trader. It's someone with familiarity who deals with cars all the time. I look for phrases like 'drives well for its age', 'monster spec' or 'fully loaded' which are unlikely to be used by normal private sellers. (And especially not old gentlemen with fading eyesight.)

EdGasketTheSecond

'drives perfect' is good trader jargon. They also tend to just parrot the cars spec without actually telling you the cars condition. Selling for a friend or brother-in-law is also a good giveaway. Not actually come across one pretending to be the son of the elderly driver; but should be easy to check from the V5C assuming they have it.


Mileage looks suspect on this one; only done 45 miles in the last year i.e. not much further than its MoT and back. The brake discs must be solid rust if that were the case.

chrisw

It would appear that all the sellers adverts have now been pulled by Autotrader.

Stebani

Wow, I'm shocked! Thanks for all the help, it's been a sobering experience and will hopefully stand me (and others who come upon the thread) in good stead for a future purchase.