Where to go from here?

lesserspottedchloe

Hi All,

I don't know if this is the right forum for this but I need a bit of advice..My Dad bought a car earlier from a man off donedeal that lives in the same city as us-everything seemed fine (he knows quite a lot about mechanics) and himself and my brother gave it a good test drive. Dad payed cash and the guy left. Dad then went to unlock the car only to discover the key wont work? He rang the man back, got no answer but recieved a text message reply saying he 'must have the wrong number' even though he has a message from said number from earlier in the day organising where to meet! He screen printed the ad and went into the garda station straight away only to be told there was nothing they could do and it was a 'civil matter'-no advice what so ever. He thinkd the guys address might be in the log book but he has to get into the car first and that will either cost money/damage the car. Anybody know if there's anything he can do?
Thanks.

MugMugs

It's buyer beware really. Id be getting his address and paying a visit.

Muckie

Jesus thats a nasty shock.

Is this not thief by deception.

Dondeal is starting to sound like a scary place for buying cars!

x in the city

Muckie wrote: »

Jesus thats a nasty shock.

Is this not thief by deception.

Dondeal is starting to sound like a scary place for buying cars!

too much junk on donedeal, id say 40/50% of the cars are f****d or dodgey as f***

CharlieCroker

Its only deception if it wasn't the sellers car to sell.

It is a civil matter, not a criminal one. As mentioned, buyer beware unfortunately.

CiniO

Where is the car now?
Is it still where it was left, or the seller took it already with the right key?

Muckie

CharlieCroker wrote: »

Its only deception if it wasn't the sellers car to sell.

It is a civil matter, not a criminal one. As mentioned, buyer beware unfortunately.

Your probably right, but it does suck beans!

So it's gonna be an up hill struggle for th OP posters Dad.

Who can you trust to buy cars off any more.

If its not dodgy gits on the side of the road, its dealers who have clocked

cars or not servicest them at all.

Chimaera

The problem now is you've no proof you've purchased the car and no access to it. If you attempt to get into the vehicle now to get the logbook, the guy the car was bought from could claim you're breaking into his vehicle, and you've nothing to prove this is not the case.

Where did you do the 'handover'? Any cctv cameras in the area? If you can get footage of your father handing over the money and receiving the key, you at least have proof that a transaction was completed and you're not going to be on the hook for criminal charges if you try and access the vehicle.

It would probably be worth paying the fee to have it trucked to a safe location.

Did the Gardaí give you any advice on how to proceed from here?

Anan1

Does the key work in any of the other locks on the car? I take it your dad checked that the details on the logbook matched the car? Did he see the logbook being posted, or is it in the car?

mickdw

I would record this with the gardai. Its only a civil matter if the buyer has title to the car. If this is a scam where owner comes back to drive away car or claim it back, it is straight forward fraud. Record it at garda station, move car to private location and see what can be done from there.

lesserspottedchloe

Hi lads-thanks for the advice,

Well got through to the number used and a different guy answered (thick country accent) said he only allowed the seller to use his number to sell the car and it was nothing to do with him. He said his 'friend' was moving to New Zealand and when I said 'today?' he said 'no he's still around' but wouldn't give me any contact details-wouldn't budge. When I mentioned Guards getting involved he asked 'did he get a warranty?-no because the car was under 5k'..he knows we've no legal leg to stand on and if you ask me this is'nt the first time they've done this due to how ballsy he was on the phone-practically gloating the scumbag.

They're selling the 'wifes' car too-a corsa..buyer beware.

Some poor lady got caught for 10k the other day after handing it and her old car over for a new Audi to two guys off donedeal, one of them said he just needed to get something out of the glovebox and drove off leaving her at the side of the road. The guards have said they reakon these guys have conned people out of 90-100k over the last few weeks and because they keep changing plates they can't catch them.

listermint

A car isnt checked over until you check over everything.

I dont hand someone over more than 1000 Euro or whatever with out poking proding opening clicking switching hearing everything. I dont care how long it takes me they can poxy well wait.

On top of that background checks are a must. And never commit to meet someone in a carpark.

There are very simple things to prevent this type of thing happening but people tend to get very caught up in the 'sale' and all of a sudden they are like a rabbit in the headlights when the seller start waffling off some crap sales speak.

Best thing is to ignore what they are telling you and let your head do the checking.

scoobymunster

Laylah, get a friend to ring about the "wifes corsa". Whenever they arrange a meet, if the original seller is there block the corsa in until they sort out the key switch. They'll be a lot more cooperative if they know the Guards have been notified and you've blocked them in.

Buffman

laylah wrote: »

Dad then went to unlock the car only to discover the key wont work?

When you say the key won't work, in what way? Will it not physically fit the locks? What type of car is it? Is the car still at the location where this happened?

dr.fuzzenstein

How did they take it for a test drive without a working key?
How did they end up with the wrong key?
Why can't the seller just give them the key?
I don't get any of this, please explain.

Absurdum

laylah wrote: »

They're selling the 'wifes' car too-a corsa..buyer beware.

give us the number, I'm interested in buying it

Berty

scoobymunster wrote: »

Laylah, get a friend to ring about the "wifes corsa". Whenever they arrange a meet, if the original seller is there block the corsa in until they sort out the key switch. They'll be a lot more cooperative if they know the Guards have been notified and you've blocked them in.

DO NOT DO THIS. :eek:

You could put yourself in harms way. Other than that I have no advice about how to get your money back.

dr.fuzzenstein

Beer Baron wrote: »

DO NOT DO THIS. :eek:

You could put yourself in harms way. Other than that I have no advice about how to get your money back.

I'll say!
Agree on this.
If the sellers are criminals, they are used to using violence every day. To them it is a tool of the trade, they are well used to it and they know how to use it.
The only way would be to turn up there with 5-10 big guys who are well used to dishing it out, being able to back up threats and not be afraid to being stalked by potentially violent scumbags.
For that reason the cops won't want anything to do with it, they didn't sign up to get themselves beaten up!
So, sadly, it doesn't look good.
Unless you know this guy:

couldntthink

I wouldn't be able to sleep until I got them back, and got them back good.

Well hung

laylah wrote: »

Hi All,

I don't know if this is the right forum for this but I need a bit of advice..My Dad bought a car earlier from a man off donedeal that lives in the same city as us-everything seemed fine (he knows quite a lot about mechanics) and himself and my brother gave it a good test drive. Dad payed cash and the guy left. Dad then went to unlock the car only to discover the key wont work? He rang the man back, got no answer but recieved a text message reply saying he 'must have the wrong number' even though he has a message from said number from earlier in the day organising where to meet! He screen printed the ad and went into the garda station straight away only to be told there was nothing they could do and it was a 'civil matter'-no advice what so ever. He thinkd the guys address might be in the log book but he has to get into the car first and that will either cost money/damage the car. Anybody know if there's anything he can do?
Thanks.

I don't understand one bit? Were is the car? How did u take it for a test drive? Am I missing something?