Blokes asking if my van is for sale

zagmund · 17-04-2008 12:59PM #1

Has anyone else had 'random blokes' calling to the house, asking if the campervan is for sale ?

Some bloke came to the house earlier this week asking if the van was for sale. When I told him it wasn't, he asked were there any others for sale on the road since he had seen one on carbuyer.ie or some other site. There is only one other van on our road, and there aren't any other similar named roads in the area so I pointed him at the other van but when he left he drove off in the other direction. I also checked carbuyer.ie and couldn't find anything listed for our area, but the search function is a bit flakey so I may not have been searching correctly.

I work from home about 2 days a week and over the last two years I must have had 3 or 4 of these types of visits - and this is only on the days I am at home during the day. The road we are on is not exactly the Stillorgan or Malahide road which would have a lot of passing traffic, so I very much doubt our van just happens to catch the interest of a small number of the already small number of people who might see it as they pass by.

Anyone else have people calling to the door to see if the van is for sale ? As it happens there was a car parked in front of the van, so if he was scouting the van out with a view to driving off in it he wasn't going anywhere in a hurry anyway. Also, after he left I went to check to see if I had left the doors open after unpacking the day before and true to form the drivers door was unlocked, yet nothing had been lifted from the van. It looks like he actually was looking for a van in the area, but over the years there just seem to be an awful lot of people calling to the door.

Sorry, I'm rambling again . . .

z

pickledfish · 17-04-2008 03:14PM

Yup....and like you I was suspicious. In my case it has happened twice and both times was during normal office hours.

There have been reports of people having their van robbed from them. In one case I heard that two people turned up one stayed with the owner while other started it up to give it a test run. Once yer man took off for his test run the other guy legged it and the owner was left high and dry.

Since hearing this I have been very wary and there is no way I'd let anybody else drive my van if I was selling it. Guess the best rule of thumb is suspect the worst.

stapeler · 17-04-2008 04:43PM

Make sure your insurance is up to date !!! This sounds very dodgy. I've heard of a couple of instances recently where windows have been removed from a motorhome without permission. In one case a door was taken!!!!
Ensure you've got some security and consider some form of an alarm/wheel lock or dog. Another thing is to to have a few good photos of your motorhome as you never know when you might need them for insurances purposes.

KoNiT · 17-04-2008 05:19PM

Quiz them up, don't let them go away easy..

"no my vans not for sale... where you from , mate of mine has one, I'll give him your no. is that your car? Reg no..."

bido · 17-04-2008 07:06PM

"no my vans not for sale... where you from , mate of mine has one, I'll give him your no. is that your car? Reg no..."

Very good advice;)

peasant · 17-04-2008 07:58PM

Have had all sorts inquiring, from geniune & respectable to not so much.

The former are disappointed when I tell them no, the latter when they see the three dogs

2 stroke · 20-04-2008 01:06AM

Over the last ten years I've had several unsolicited attempts to buy my van, some were genuine others suspicious. Watch out for the ones that park so that you can't see their number plates. Also beware that someone willing to steal your van could be driving a stolen car. One guy called to a house last year,van was for sale, parents not home, teenager handed out keys of van.

TigerTim · 20-04-2008 07:34PM

My parents have a touring caravan parked by the side of their house & regularly get callers "Hi Boss/Maam, is the van for sale?". As there are getting older , they often feel intimidated but other than some of the "buyers" having a good look around, nothing else has happened. They have also got the story that there is a "van" for sale in Buy&Sell" in their area.

T.

cir287 · 25-04-2008 02:16PM

I had something similar happen a few years back, it seemed a spate of people called to the door of my folks house asking was my old car for sale. The car, a peugeot 205 gti was well in (about 40metres) off a quiet road, I'm guessing they probably thought they would pick it up for little or nothing, anyway I got a bit paranoid at the time but it seems that no one ever touched the car. The callers stopped after about 10 months.
The road used to be a rat-run / shortcut but new roads mean that its quiet again. so not so much passing traffic.could have been one bloke who didnt want no for an answer and so sent his mates in one by one to ask aswell !

Whatever it was nothing or no one came to any harm.

boatbuilder · 05-05-2008 01:06AM

Send some of them my way. I've been tryin to sell my 68 VW camper for a few months now and have had nothing but time-wasters. (see my adverts!)

zagmund · 08-05-2008 11:58PM

Had another one around today . . . appeared to be 'legit' since he had his van outside with name and phone number on it. He came to the door to hand in his flier for garden services and asked in passing whether the van was for sale. He also went next door, so it does look like he actually was doing the flier thing anyway and just was interested in the van.

The weird thing is that none of these guys ever ask to have a look inside (not that I would give them so much as a sniff - if it's not for sale, it's not for sale). As soon as I say it's not for sale he just dropped it and didn't pursue.

z

Blokes asking if my van is for sale

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