Is It Easier or Harder to Get Ripped off Now?

[XFS 70]

Thinking of the current thread which was such an obvious scam it almost defies logic that anyone was taken in.

So, in the Internet age is the motor trade more or less honest or just the same? I,m sure motor traders are the same, some good, some bad, but the business as a whole?

Buying cars pre internet and pre-digital was far more hands on and organic. Shady practices were more physical. Cars with haircuts were common and everyone knew the guy who could provide the dodgy ticket or who the local “watchmaker” was. Auctions were less corporate and allowed a lot more dodgy stuff to go on. 

You really had to have your wits about you.

You would think nowadays there is less scope for physical dodgyness, although nobody seems to have told members of let’s say...the itinerant travelling community... that advertising obviously clocked cars with a dodgy service history on AT is very 80’s.

I guess these scams clearly still work on some, but really it’s not that difficult to check the history of a car and a seller very quickly now. 

[David Ayers 171]

"Is It Easier or Harder to Get Ripped off Now?"

To find out send £100 to me now!

[justina3 518]

It is so simple to check anything out these days with the internet, that said no matter how easy you make something you can never replace common sense.

[Scooby who 41]

There have always been get rich quick schemes as long as there has been currency.

I remember about 20 years ago a very intelligent streetwise friend of mine inviting me to 'invest' £3000 for it to 'mature' into multiples of that once I introduced 3 more friends to do the same. When I laughed at him and told him it was a Pyramid scheme and only the first few in would make money he got offended and couldn't see how it was. I later found out family members of his were lured into it, lost money and were no longer speaking.

Since then things have moved on. Everything is internet based as it provides a cover. Scammers are more clever and are finding ways to outsmart us, as is the case with used cars lancs ltd. They were clever in that they cloned another business. If you did basic internet background checks it all seemed fine.

However one thing never changes, the product is usually too cheap to be true

 

[It's me 615]

where theres a will theres a way

where you can play on peoples greed theres a way

going back to original point i think it absolutely disgraceful that you can buy a car under 3 years old clock the hell out of it register it in your name and get away with it because gdpr does not allow you the information from the dvla but if you are a chancer car parking company the details are yours for £2.50

its time mileages were a legal requirement to be noted when log books change hands,its all there but not the legislation

[XFS 70]

I think that legislation is often very lax in relation to deliberate fraudulent practices in the motor trade compared to how severe it is with regards to often, non-deliberate sale of goods related matters.

 

[Rory RSC 596]

I think its still very easy to get ripped.

 I always think there are loads of garages out there that are awful yet people will transfer us £10k /£20k /£30k without ever having met us and get a delivery a few days later.  

[umesh 336]

41 minutes ago, Rory RSC said:

I think its still very easy to get ripped.

 I always think there are loads of garages out there that are awful yet people will transfer us £10k /£20k /£30k without ever having met us and get a delivery a few days later.  

Was thinking exactly the same over the weekend. delivered a car to an elderly couple who sent full money two days before after reserving on line on click engage.!! Sadly many will get taken in but this couple did to my driver, it was the reviews and video that gave him full confidence, sadly both can be fabricated on line these days! 

[BHM 994]

Easier.

[dje494 0]

Worked with a guy many years ago whose motto's was "there's one born every minute, thank f**k" 

[justina3 518]

I dont get how it is easier, i get it is easier with internet fraud hacking emails ect but its also on the flip side just as easy to check things out.

 

[trade vet 701]

With all this cyber crime,the banks ( who are not regulated) are taking every opportunity to cover themselves against claims from their customers.We requested an extra card reader from our bank and they wanted us to sign some 10 page document in unfatherable ‘legalese ‘ beforehand.....So we didn’t bother.

[Tony F 38]

Just last week we had one attempting to scam us. Phoned and wanted to do a card payment over the phone for £4695 on one of our cars. Don't you want to see it first we asked. He explained his wife had viewed the car last week and could he just pay for it now and collect it later. We had not actually shown this car to any customer in the past few weeks so I knew what he was up to. I explained that we do not take cards over the phone for that amount and that he would need to make a bank transfer...at which point he prentended that he could not hear me and his phone then cut off. He never called back. We have it recorded too through Autotrader portal.

F*cker. I really wanted to pretend to have taken his card details and then waited for him to turn up....

[David Ayers 171]

My local Renault dealer got scammed a few years ago.

Customer paid for a car over the phone arranged for a local delivery company to collect it. I think the funds were paid into their bank after 3 days as per usual then removed once the original card holder notified his bank that he hadn’t made that transaction.

Delivery company didn’t get paid either.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

The draw is always greed...... You can pussyfoot around the issue, but greed is the crux. Always people who are just looking for "cheap"

[David Horgan 564]

36 minutes ago, Arfur Dealy said:

The draw is always greed...... You can pussyfoot around the issue, but greed is the crux. Always people who are just looking for "cheap"

7 hours ago, Tony F said:

Just last week we had one attempting to scam us. Phoned and wanted to do a card payment over the phone for £4695 on one of our cars. Don't you want to see it first we asked. He explained his wife had viewed the car last week and could he just pay for it now and collect it later. We had not actually shown this car to any customer in the past few weeks so I knew what he was up to. I explained that we do not take cards over the phone for that amount and that he would need to make a bank transfer...at which point he prentended that he could not hear me and his phone then cut off. He never called back. We have it recorded too through Autotrader portal.

F*cker. I really wanted to pretend to have taken his card details and then waited for him to turn up....

I did take to card details and didn't put it in the terminal as I smelled a trap  from a sweet old couple trying that scam on a couple of years ago  

They sent his brother "so called " with a lorry  and I told him  it had already been collected  two hours ago mate , hope he paid you . He wasn't happy 

The old couple were trying to buy the mother of all Renault Megane CUP 275 £16,000 off us and had been to see it , but their cards had all been declined , all 4 of them  they said oh don't worry we have more cards  at home we will fetch one , but phoned me instead and that's where the scam lay Charge back  as it was a stolen card when I reported it  , The scamming bastards .

Just thought i was thick , WRONG 

Edited March 5, 2019 by David Horgan

[Tony911 79]

I think the words thick tw@@s come to mind. Spoke to a old pal of mine yesterday was in a 2010 x5 7 seats m sport 80k I asked how much he paid for it and his reply was £7000 I go it's to cheap it must be categorised he goes no so I did a experian check as it's free and it's come back as financed so he called Santander finance and they have confirmed to him it's on finance. He's bought it from west Midlands via facebook off some guy outside a care home who apparently was visiting his mother. Now he's stuck with a motor with finance and the guys phone is switched off. Don't know why you wouldn't hpi check a car is what I told him. 

[MarkTVS 209]

We sometimes source cars privately and at least 30% of the time the ones that seem good have something to hide whether it be cat c/d or finance. I had one recently where I called the girl selling the car asking about why she hadn't mentioned it was on finance she said oh yeah that's fine don't worry im going to keep paying it I just need the money for other things. She wasn't in anyway bad it was just a case of she didn't know she wasn't allowed to sell a car on finance, just a bit dolly!