Shens or the deal of a lifetime?

[burntfish]

But I still emailed the guy for the hell of it. The guy lives in Edmonton Canada and he recently got promoted and his company provided him with a new car. He doesn't want or need 2 cars so he is selling this one. If Im serious about the car, he'll setup an eBay transaction so that we're both covered under the eBay's Buyer Protection Program. I asked for a vin number and he responded with this 2HNYD18205H518965. I ran a few checks and all came back clean except for the last entry

05/22/2008 39,328 Auto Auction Sold at auction
in Southeast Region
Listed as
a fleet vehicle


What's a Southeast car doing in Canada is beyond me. From the pictures he sent me, it looks pretty decent. The speedometer reads 39,353. I'm skeptical but what's the worst that can happen? 4 grands out the window? Maybe less since I hope American Express have some form of buyer's protection. Over all he doesn't sound like a Nigerian. No excessive honorifics, no death in the family or distant cousins, or any family inheritance.

I was thinking of getting him to take another picture with a piece of paper with my name and date on the dash of the car. How do you guys think I should proceed?

 

[PandaBear]

It's auction, so it is just the starting bid.

 

[burntfish]

no he offered it to me for 4000 flat.

 

[OS]

katrina flooded car

 

[ViviTheMage]

phone call

 

[krunchykrome]

If it's too good to be true......

Come on, why would anyone sell a car as you described for that price?

 

[BassBomb]

shens

Downpayment probably

 

[alkemyst]

I have some extra speakers from a DJ install they didn't need and told me to get rid of. Worth $4000, I can sell you them for $400 if you have cash.

 

[Mermaidman]

I wouldn't even be bothered unless you can check it out in person first. In fact, I wouldn't even be bothered, but do go on and make him list it on eBay for our entertainment

 

[thomsbrain]

Scam.

Someone tried to pull that on me with a Honda Insight for, you guessed it, $4000 through "ebay seller protection service." Needless to say their return email went straight to my spam folder.

These ads for late-model Japanese cars for $3000-$5000 are popping up all over CL. They are all scams, and luckily the community is flagging most of them very quickly. The return emails are getting relatively smart, in that they include information about the car, attempt to answer questions, etc, but there are tip-offs. "You made the right choice! we will proceed with ebay protection program..." when I only asked about the title and transmission. And they answered every question EXCEPT when I could come see the car.

I even got a call from a local number. When I called back, it went straight to voicemail of the seller's "name." But the area code didn't match the location of the car, they didn't leave me a message, and the caucasian name was not consistent with the woman's heavy latina accent on the message. I think they probably use Skype or another service to spoof local numbers across the country.

You need to understand that the "seller" probably does not even have the car. He just took pictures off of someone else's ad or elsewhere on the internet. Many sets of car pics (including dealers) include shots of the VIN number or have the VIN number in the ad. All they have to do is take an ad from one part of the country and repost it somewhere else. Then they set up a fake web site that looks like one of the common escrow services, and you're out your money.

 

[burntfish]

^ Much oblige for your wonderful insight.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
I have some extra speakers from a DJ install they didn't need and told me to get rid of. Worth $4000, I can sell you them for $400 if you have cash.

I'll give you $500 if you include the van.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: alkemyst
I have some extra speakers from a DJ install they didn't need and told me to get rid of. Worth $4000, I can sell you them for $400 if you have cash.

I'll give you $500 if you include the van.

Sure, just so you know you need to use a screwdriver to start it...I was um, going to get this fixed soon.