men of motors.. i need opinions quickly please

ah what a great tv show that was.. :P


right, my mum is thinking about buying this car

http://search.autotrader.ie/www/cars_advert?country=IE&modelexact=1&make=Mercedes-Benz&model=C-Class&keywords=&min_pr=&max_pr=15000&min_year=2007&max_year=&source=&currency=EUR&county_list=&sort=20&SUBMIT.x=51&SUBMIT.y=2&id=200914192364186

it's actually in manchester but he said he's pay for the flight over. she's getting the vrm now so i can run a hpi check.

what do i need to look out for, this has to be either bought or forgotten about very quickly..
so if the HPI check is ok, it's 11k roughly for vrt.. is this a good purchase?


thanks.

colm_mcm

bit of an unusual choice of car IMO. has she actually driven one yet? has she test driven the competition?

price is pretty low though (based soley on the VRT vs. purchase price)

red menace

That seems really cheap ... really too good to be true cheap.
Also the is in Manchester you say? it says Antrim in the ad?

she's not much interested in competition.. she thinks it's a nice ladies car.


i've had enough trouble talking her out of getting a lesser brand new car, i'm kinda hoping she goes for this and it works out.


just want to check here first..

red menace

red menace wrote: »

That seems really cheap ... really too good to be true cheap.
Also the is in Manchester you say? it says Antrim in the ad?

his brother lives in antrim and put up the add for it apparently..


i'm skeptical too about the price but after a free flight and a clean HPI check, is there much else to look out for?


he said the childs buggy wont fit in the car and he needs to change asap.. apparently he sounds just lovely on the phone aswell. :rolleyes:

Padraig Mor

WAY cheaper than similar UK cars.......alarm bells ringing here!

Padraig Mor

Padraig Mor wrote: »

WAY cheaper than similar UK cars.......alarm bells ringing here!

yea me too.... i don't want my mum to get fleeced.

he said he needs it gone in the next few days though so I'm hoping that's why.. i really don't want to tell my mum to forget about it.


so again, if HPI is good, should she take it or is there other things that could be wrong?

cabrwab

Seems really cheap i would be worried of the ad. I don't understand why he advertised the car in antrim if its in manchester.
Don't go traveling to manchester with 9000 in cash on you anyway/ transfer any money to him

CharlieCroker

there's a huge amount of those for sale on the Autotrader.co.uk site so make sure you look at those.
Couple of electrical issues pop up with these and the odd turbo failure so Full history essential.
Well wear

he said he's got service history.. it's at 12k miles now, was serviced at 9k.

my aunt lives close to manchester so she could maybe check it tomorrow or monday to make sure the car even exists, see if the wife and kid story rings true..

that would be a good thing before getting a flight surely?

oh yea, there's a year left on the warranty so she could get it serviced and that in northern ireland

podger456

Seems crazy price, even these days.
Presume he hasn't looked for the western union transfer yet?:)
Have you got a scan of the logbook yet?
Would suggest asking for a picture of the car that's not on the website to see if he really has the car, or just ripped it from another site. e.g. ask for a pic of the engine bay or inside of the boot or whatever.

that's good advice about the picture yea.. i'd nearly ring him myself, act interested and see if his story is the exact same as the one he told my mum.

Thoie

1 lady owner on the ad, but his brother put the ad up? Where's the woman? (If she's in the boot, don't buy it).

Free flight or not, I wouldn't send my mother over alone - if no-one else can go with her, at least get the uncle/aunt in Manchester to meet her at the plane and accompany her.

No, I'm not paranoid, they're just all out to get me.

hmmm.... how does this plan of action sound?

step 1: i ring him to check that his story is exact same as the one he told my mum. request more pictures.

step 2: if that rings through, say i'm not interested and back to my mum. then i run the HPI check.

step 3: if that's ok, see if my aunt and uncle who are over there can go check car and story out.

step 4: if after all that, it should seem legit and say to mam to buy it..

step 5: ???????

step 6: profit.




thoughts?

Thoie

Deleted User wrote: »

hmmm.... how does this plan of action sound?

step 1: i ring him to check that his story is exact same as the one he told my mum. request more pictures.

step 2: if that rings through, say i'm not interested and back to my mum. then i run the HPI check.

step 3: if that's ok, see if my aunt and uncle who are over there can go check car and story out.

step 4: if after all that, it should seem legit and say to mam to buy it..

step 5: ???????

step 6: profit.




thoughts?

For step 5 I suggest asking him why there's no number plate on the car in the pic, and what's with the photoshopped bit in the middle (around the door opening. There's a straight line wodge - look at the window sill on the house behind (to the left of the white door) that doesn't match up at that spot. I've blown the picture up a bit here.

Thoie

Thoie wrote: »

For step 5 I suggest asking him why there's no number plate on the car in the pic, and what's with the photoshopped bit in the middle (around the door opening. There's a straight line wodge - look at the window sill on the house behind (to the left of the white door) that doesn't match up at that spot. I've blown the picture up a bit here.

hmm, mam rang again there.. it's actually an 07?!

Thoie

I think it's time for you to have "The Talk" with your mother. The one where you explain that sometimes there are bad men with sweeties, and that sometimes the bad men with sweeties lie about things over the internet. Follow it up with training her never to get into cars with strange men.

yea... i'm thinking it's time to give her a call.


it's very easy to get sucked into it when she's on the phone so excited but realistically, it all seems a little bit dodge.


thanks boardsies..

Thoie

Deleted User wrote: »

yea... i'm thinking it's time to give her a call.


it's very easy to get sucked into it when she's on the phone so excited but realistically, it all seems a little bit dodge.


thanks boardsies..

I feel bad now

Maybe go with your plan of phoning him first?

EPM

call the dude and see if you want. Personally, i'd run a mile at even the slightest whiff of doubt to be honest. Plenty more out there

coolbeans

If it seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Yours,
Skepticus.

broke her heart earlier tellin her kinda feel like ringing now to 110% make sure it's not legit..


now i know what it's like tell a daughter she can't have a pony

Thoie

Deleted User wrote: »

broke her heart earlier tellin her kinda feel like ringing now to 110% make sure it's not legit..


now i know what it's like tell a daughter she can't have a pony

Now I feel really bad, but I wouldn't like them to run away with someone's mammy.:(

Give him a ring for your own peace of mind, but it really does look dodgy.

-Chris-

It's a 2008, but it's really a 2007.

It's in Antrim, but it's really in Manchester.

He won't show you the reg on the car, but he'll tell you the reg over the phone that you should do a HPI check on.

Run away, very fast.
Don't look back.

shows how impressionable i am that my opinion is swayed so quickly between posts.. :P


i know you're right, i can't see her happy in 6 months driving that car..

El Guapo!

In case your interested I have a brand new 09 ferrari for sale for 10 grand. I dont have the car with me but my dads friends uncles cousins dog-walkers sister is minding the car for me in timbuktu so just wire me the money and ill send the car to you then!!!:D:D

Update: He rang her back and she said her sister would go up to check the car.. And he hangs up.


Thanks again lads.

Thoie

Hopefully she'll get over it.

Does anyone know what the scam would have been here? Stolen car, steal her cash, sell her the car then steal it back? Obviously the whole thing was suss, but what would the aim have been?

colm_mcm

get her on a plane with a wad of money, then take it off her would be my guess.

Darragh29

If it seems too good to be true OP, it usually is and that I imagine is the case here. I'd run a mile from this, it's priced too low.

Blazer

The old adage is always true "if it looks too good to be true then it's not true".
And this is why Ireland is in the ****ters....greed of people who ignored their first instincts and just thought of money.

colm_mcm

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

The old adage is always true "if it looks too good to be true then it's not true".
And this is why Ireland is in the ****ters....greed of people who ignored their first instincts and just thought of money.

The country is the way it is because of internet scammers? or people falling for internet scams?

stevenmu

Glad she didn't go through with it.

There's a fairly well known scam where someone in the uk pretends to have an irish car, lures someone over to see it, then just takes their money and dissapears (at best). There's been a few threads here about it, in fact iirc there was even one where somebody was asking if it was a scam and it turned out that the car pictured belonged to somebody here.

Blazer

colm_mcm wrote: »

The country is the way it is because of internet scammers? or people falling for internet scams?

No because of people's greediness..I could explain it to you but then I'd have to kill you.