Buyer wants to come from Spain to buy my car. Should I be concerned?

Chomeur

I have a buyer who wants to come to London from Spain to buy my car and immediately drive it all the way back. It seems very odd. It's only worth about £1000. Should I be concerned about it? Apart obviously from the concern that he simply doesn't turn up.

Aylesbury_Duck

As long as they pay you genuine cash in person before you hand over the car, and you have been entirely honest about the exact condition of the vehicle, you'll be fine.

I'm sure it's an attempted scam, though. You'll never meet this person and there'll be all sorts of correspondence about how they can't pay in cash, how they need to send you money via some sort of online payment, etc. Depends if you want to have some fun with it or not.

stator

Two possible scams spring to mind


Fake escrow company (unlikely given the value of your car)
or
My friend owns me money, he'll pay you and then you send the rest on to me. His money appears, you send the rest, then the money vanishes from your account and you're left in debt.

facade

Might be legit, if your car is rare. I had a buyer from France come to collect my MGB, arrived with a trailer, paid cash and disappeared into the distance. Probably organised a weekend break in the UK or something and picked up the car on the trip.



Wasn't a lot of money either, £1500 or so.


If it is a car you can buy anywhere, likely a scam.

AdrianC

Is he British or Spanish?

A lot of the "ex-pat" crowd prefer driving RHD cars on UK plates, under the fond belief it somehow makes them immune from Spanish traffic law. It's entirely possible that he's trying to beat the looming Brexit date.

A grand will certainly buy a far better car in the UK than it would in Spain, too. Perhaps he's got a lot of stuff to move from the UK to Spain, and buying a cheap car to fill and then break/sell on may well be more economical than driving a car or van both ways.

Chomeur

AdrianC wrote: »

Is he British or Spanish?

A lot of the "ex-pat" crowd prefer driving RHD cars on UK plates, under the fond belief it somehow makes them immune from Spanish traffic law. It's entirely possible that he's trying to beat the looming Brexit date.

A grand will certainly buy a far better car in the UK than it would in Spain, too. Perhaps he's got a lot of stuff to move from the UK to Spain, and buying a cheap car to fill and then break/sell on may well be more economical than driving a car or van both ways.

He's Spanish. I do start to see some sense in him doing what he's suggesting.

foxy-stoat

As long as you get a photo of his licence so you have a record of his address I wouldn't be too concerned, I would only accept British pounds. You will probably have to fill out the export bit of the V5, not sure if you can do that online like a UK sale. Keep a photo of the receipt incase of future fines or speeding tickets.

m0bov

Make sure you pay the cash into a bank, then hand the keys over.

Chomeur

Can I get an agent to handle the sale for me? It turns out he can only visit when I'm not around.

Browntoa

What do you mean by "agent" ?

nick74

Chomeur wrote: »

Can I get an agent to handle the sale for me? It turns out he can only visit when I'm not around.

Of course, but are the fees they charge likely to be worth it for a £1000 car? You'd be better off sending it to auction or selling to someone like Webuyanycar.