dodgy practice?

RLJ

You ring a mobile number re a car for sale and he says that he will meet you where car is parked rather than giving his address. Sometimes it is a dealer who instead of giving his address will arrange to meet you somewhere. Is this dodgy practice and what is the reason?

Gumbo

for a first off meeting i dont wana be meeting some stranger outside my home.
i have met all the buyers of my cars or bikes in a local supermarket car park or somewhere public where they have looked over the car and drove it etc etc

if the buyer is serious, then ive done the cash deal and signing over of everything at my home or a location that the seller is happy with.

what car are you going to see?
have you got a link?

why would you think its dodgy?
is it a dealer or private?
also the guy selling could be in work that day and cant meet you at his home.

if its a dealer he could havea small premise on a busy road but keeps hiss stock in a yard or warehouse away from the premise as the rent would be cheaper as he may not have enough room at the sales premise, but i would ask the dealer to bring the car to the forecourt at a particular date and time that you are comming to view it.

RLJ

kceire wrote: »

what car are you going to see?

one a friend is looking at buying

have you got a link?

not on web

why would you think its dodgy?

i have read somewhere, and i cannot remember where, that sometimes it is a dealer posing as a private and does not want buyer to see all the cars. I do know some dealers who pose as private sellers parking cars in supermarket car parks presumably to get out of warranty

is it a dealer or private?

he says "he sells a few cars " and i am not sure if that makes hima dealer legally

BlackWizard

I think it's very hard to sell a few cars not be classed a dealer in this country. It came up before in a discussion. Someone wanted to start buying UK imports and selling them down south for a profit. Only talking about 3 or 4 cars but he couldn't legally do it and got an earful from a few people in the trade on these forums.

Gumbo

RLJ wrote: »

one a friend is looking at buying
not on web

i have read somewhere, and i cannot remember where, that sometimes it is a dealer posing as a private and does not want buyer to see all the cars. I do know some dealers who pose as private sellers parking cars in supermarket car parks presumably to get out of warranty
he says "he sells a few cars " and i am not sure if that makes hima dealer legally

sounds like he is just one guy, with a few cars selling them on for profit, so technically he is a dealer but you would be buying privately if that makes sense.

i doubt you would get an invoice, receipt or warrenty etc

RLJ

kceire wrote: »

sounds like he is just one guy, with a few cars selling them on for profit, so technically he is a dealer but you would be buying privately if that makes sense.

i see what you mean but disagree that he can be both

i doubt you would get an invoice, receipt or warrenty etc

i would not buy a car from anyone who would not give a receipt

run_Forrest_run

i was meeting a lad to look at a car he was selling at the local Statoil station, that was grand I thought. However when I looked into the back seat I could see one of those roof stands/signs, you know the ones saying something like "Car of the Week"!
The lad must have been a garage/commercial seller but he was advertising as a private seller in the free ads..I was just annoyed with his lies so I left.

RLJ

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

i was meeting a lad to look at a car he was selling at the local Statoil station, that was grand I thought. However when I looked into the back seat I could see one of those roof stands/signs, you know the ones saying something like "Car of the Week"!
The lad must have been a garage/commercial seller but he was advertising as a private seller in the free ads..I was just annoyed with his lies so I left.

i once rang as number on a carpark car for sale and wasa told it was a private seller/no warranty. But when i put it to him that i knew the phone number, that he was a dealerand wondered out loud what would hapen if consumer folk found out there was suddenly a warranty. That is one reason i am wary . i would not buy from that sneaky prat now

Kartale

google his number to see if it shows up anywhere else

RLJ

Kartale wrote: »

google his number to see if it shows up anywhere else

i did

Gumbo

RLJ wrote: »

i see what you mean but disagree that he can be both

i would not buy a car from anyone who would not give a receipt

bad practice if he is a dealer selling as private but you never know, we dont know all the facts.

if your buying private you get no receipt either. best you can get buying private is a letter wrote by one of you that both of you sign.

have you ever bought a car before?

RLJ

kceire wrote: »

bad practice if he is a dealer selling as private but you never know,

he sells a few not sure how many you have to sell to be a dealer

if your buying private you get no receipt either. best you can get buying private is a letter wrote by one of you that both of you sign.

kceire wrote: »

have you ever bought a car before?

i bought mine from a dealer. This is one am helping a friend buy as he does not much about the car game ....and neither do i.

RLJ

Drove it. At first it would notgo with handbrake off and he said it was stiff from lying around. Had to put in reverse,back a little and then forward.Something wrong with handbrake? Is handbrake tested in nct?

RLJ

RLJ wrote: »

i have read somewhere, and i cannot remember where, that sometimes it is a dealer posing as a private and does not want buyer to see all the cars. I

I read it at
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Hot_Topics/Our-booklets/NCA_guide_to_buying_a_car.pdf

Not exactly as I put it but same idea, dealer posing as private

Tragedy

I google mobile numbers and see how many hits i get off carzone/etc, and look at the cached page.

Easy enough to tell if it's someone selling cars for cash in hand.

Thoie

RLJ wrote: »

if your buying private you get no receipt either. best you can get buying private is a letter wrote by one of you that both of you sign.

If I write on a scrap of paper "5/5/09, Received the sum of 2s6d from RLJ for silver blah car reg 45-d-233, including spare tyre, some stuff I left in the glovebox and a used tissue in the door handle, signed Thoie of 123 blah street" is that not a receipt?

Del2005

RLJ wrote: »

Drove it. At first it would notgo with handbrake off and he said it was stiff from lying around. Had to put in reverse,back a little and then forward.Something wrong with handbrake? Is handbrake tested in nct?

Unless the car has been parked up for a long time the handbrake shouldn't lock up. The handbrake is tested as part of the NCT, but if it's sticking they may not notice as the car will be driven there and straight in. If in doubt get a friendly mechanic or AA/RAC to have a look at it.

Or just walk away if it's not a rare car, plenty of cars for sale out there without having to deal with dodgy dealers/sellers. And if more people don't deal with them they won't last long.

seasam

RLJ wrote: »

i did

And ?

KamiKazi

seasam wrote: »

And ?

the point of your post is?

Bondvillain

KamiKazi wrote: »

the point of your post is?

Read back the thread. He wants to know what happened when RLJ googled the chaps number.

So do I , to be honest.

seanybiker

RLJ wrote: »

Drove it. At first it would notgo with handbrake off and he said it was stiff from lying around. Had to put in reverse,back a little and then forward.Something wrong with handbrake? Is handbrake tested in nct?

I used to work at a citroen dealers. All I done was valet the cars but alot of the time when I went to move a car to the cleaning area I would have to go in reverse to unstick the handbrake. Could take a few days to come back and give the car a once over again and it would be stuck again.
Wouldnt worry bout it.

L-M

seanybiker wrote: »

I used to work at a citroen dealers. All I done was valet the cars but alot of the time when I went to move a car to the cleaning area I would have to go in reverse to unstick the handbrake. Could take a few days to come back and give the car a once over again and it would be stuck again.
Wouldnt worry bout it.

+1

As long as he didn't do any damage to the brakes by driving the car off them hard, then they should be ok.

RLJ

Bondvillain wrote: »

Read back the thread. He wants to know what happened when RLJ googled the chaps number.

So do I , to be honest.

only one hit with his first name leads to a donedeal site where he cannot be contacted by email

RLJ

seanybiker wrote: »

I used to work at a citroen dealers. All I done was valet the cars but alot of the time when I went to move a car to the cleaning area I would have to go in reverse to unstick the handbrake. Could take a few days to come back and give the car a once over again and it would be stuck again.
Wouldnt worry bout it.

what if it happened in traffic though? do you mean that once it is sorted once it won't repeat if driven regularly? we are passing on that car -iffy no warranty whatsoever and who can really tell about handbrake? Thanks all