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I've agreed to buy a van on eBay.
It's a pretty good deal on a 2 year old van with no vat to pay.
The owner is away on holiday for a few months and his daughter will be meeting me.
Scam? What could possibly go wrong?
How is he signing the V5 from abroad? (might already have signed it, but certainly a question to get answered)
I'd accept that scenario if was a buddy/I knew both father & daughter.
Over the internet, from someone i've never met, nope nope nope.
how does he want you to pay?
Bacs or cash
Too much money to risk on something like that .
Who actually owns the van - V5 is no proof at all.
log book loan ?
if its too good to be true - its not true.
It's not a true good to be true deal.. it's a good price.
tbh, if some bloke turned up and said 'I'm the owner' you've no way of knowing if that's the case or not.
As long as you collect the vehicle from the address on the V5 I'd feel comfortable.
I bought a car off a (recently) dead person... Their son just signed the V5 didn't cause me any hassle
Dads on holiday
Didn't take me
Ill show Him
You need to establish if the daughter is fit.
Who sells their van while they are away on an extended holiday?
Take a knife.
away on holiday for a few months
Shooting tigers?
With a machine gun?
Turns out he was the local landlord and is registererd to a pub where he's just retired.
Gave me the number of the pub etc and reckons everyone knows him around the village
Seems honest to me - backstory is better than typical scam - go with your eyes open and not on your own, do every car check for finance - not a lot you can do about unregistered claims about the ownership.
FFS.. just HPI checked it and its come out as finance owing.
I'll phone the finance company tomorrow and check on the status...
You'd have thought it would be illegal to try and sell a leased vehicle....?
I wouldn't even bother ringing the finance company. Whoever is selling it has already proved they're a liar so just walk away.
Seller reckons he bought it out right originally from the main dealer in Swindon..
could be a mistake but a quick call tomorrow will confirm.
Any finance on the van could have been settled long ago.In my experience it's usually the HPi companies who are the last to be informed!!
Contact the finance company to be sure.
He can transfer the vehicle online.
The hpi was just an old marker from when it was first registered and was removed when I spoke with the finance company that was listed on the hpi alert..
Is there anything else I can check or do to cover myself?
Check it's value against other similar vehicles on the auto trader website?
Get a mechanic to give it the once over?
Well I bought it.. I turned up with cash and they didn't even count the £8k in sealed bags from the bank... I could have scammed them with dodgy money or left them light! Log book came back this morning..
Nobody got scammed, no baby robins died. Happy ending.
8 bags for a 2 year old van with no VAT ?
Go on, what is it ?
It was _£11k but some of the money was loose.
It's a lwb Vauxhall vivaro sportive, 25k miles.