It’s very unlikely that anyone reading this underestimates the high risk attached to trying to sell the car, that hopefully, hasn’t given you any trouble until now when faced with the task of finding a trustworthy buyer! The used car market is well known for its fair share of rogue dealers and there are many scams online.
Often the best, unbiased advice is not to try and sell the car by yourself because you can so easily become a victim of clever – and not so clever fraudsters. Ideally, you should spend time finding a find a reputable company by looking carefully at their website, getting in touch and speaking with the staff.
However, if you are determined that selling your car is what you want to do then you should at least be aware of some of the most common tricks.
One type of scam not too difficult to spot if you decide to advertise to sell your car at a website is receiving an email from a foreign buyer who agrees to pay full the advertised price (without having seen the car) and asks you to contact a shipping agent on the buyer's behalf. They may ask for your name, address and even bank details for transfer of payment. They may also try to send you a cheque, which is later found to be bogus, or then cancel the sale and ask for a refund. Either way you risk losing both your car and your money, too!
Online auction sites like eBay are very popular but the most frequently reported fraud on the web occurs on auction sites so be warned! Make sure you carefully research the buyer and their buying history. And remember - money transfer companies are also easily exploited by the use of forged passports and identification documents.
Under the Banking rules, there is no redress from the bank if the buyer's cheque later turns out to be fraudulent. The most secure way is to either wait for the cheque to fully clear and show in your account before releasing the vehicle or use direct money transfer, the standard business procedure at sell the car.com!