<b>Car Dilema-Update!!!!!</b>
by I have a problemo. I got into a car wreck on June 28th, and it was ruled 100% the other drivers fault. Which is good, cuz my insurance rates will not be affected....however my car was ruled a total loss. So, I lose my poor little Galant and get a check for $7,000...the worth of my car. I now have the rental I'm driving free of charge until July 18th. Meaning....I need a new car PRONTO! We don't want to have a car payment...so what should I get? Nothing more than $10,000. I really have NO idea what kind of car I should get. My husband has a truck...so no SUVs. Any suggestions? Any cars for sale? It can be anything...2 door/4 door...sporty/practical. I'm not too picky. HELP!
I NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOU ALL THINK ABOUT THIS. Through my search I found a 2005 Acura for $4400!!!! Here is the link:
I emailed the owner and she emailed this back to me:
From: Dingdong0031@aol.com
To: tesoro1721
Sent: Tue, 12 Jul 2005 5:20:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Subject: Re: Reply to ad: 2005 Acura 3.5 RL, posted on Yahoo! Autos
Hello
I am glad to see how many people are interested in
buying my car .
1st I want to tell you that it is in
immaculate condition and has no scratches on and
hasn't been involved in any accident.
The motor runs very well. the tires are brand new.The
description I had on my ad is accurate. I am willing to
sell it for $4,400 as i stated .if you are
interested please let me know asap as i
don't have a buyer yet .
The car belonged to my brother.Unfortunately he died
three weeks ago in a bike accident.
The car is now in London ,England as my brother lived
there and I am now in London too as I took care of the
funerals.
Because this is a large transaction and due to the
overseas dealing I want to do it with Square Trade's
support . it's a third
party service that holds the funds until item is
delivered, inspected and accepted .
I know that the price is low but I have no use for the
car and I want to get back home as soon as I sell it.
I want to sell it asap so I am willing to pay the
shipping fees no matter the destination.
if you have the money available, and ready to buy ,
please email me your full name and shipping
address so I can send it to Square Trade to begin
the transaction.
I will give you a 7 days inspection period before the
money is released to me.
let me know asap !
Does this sound legit? Could it be possible? She does say, we will have a 7 day inspection period before funds are exchanged, and in that time I'd have it checked by our mechanic. I am also going to get a CarFax Report on it. Stuff like this really does happen...so what do you all think?????
I just did a CarFax Report....everything checked out. No issues/accidents on the vehicle...one owner.
AI Summary
88 Comments
So did you ever decide if this was a scam or not?
yes, yes it was. :-( she actually never wrote me back...i guess i "scared" her off. darn it!
Oh well....at least you outsmarted her before she scammed you. :)
yeah she never even read the email i sent through the special spy email thingie! heheheh
http://www.p-p-p-powerbook.com/files/thepowerbook.pdf
Here's a scam much like what you're going through but with a computer.. and kinda the upset.. Where they wanted the merchandise and never send the money.
Same dealing with the "3rd party" holding the money.
But this guy was a huge nerd... and you can't scame HUGE nerds.
haha that was the awesomest scam ever. crazy goons
wow, he really went out of his way there. i think that he mustve spent more time on that than it was worth though
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! WOW that was amazing. My favorite part I think is the part on the notebook that says "this is real"
HAHAHAHAH!! that was the greatest thing ever
Oh...my...word....that was AWESOME!! HAHAHA!
"FIRE WIRE!!"
"THIS IS REAL!"
"SPACE!!"
HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
Hey, I just talked to my brother, and he's done stuff with cars online before, and he's even bought one online before. I gave him the details, and he says it's most likely a scam, and he says if he were you, he wouldn't go through with it. Just a little word of advice. Hope it helps!
ohhh! i want this to be for real!!!!!!!
Yeah, I know. But he says it sounds really similar to a scam he's heard of before.
He said the car could sell easily in England for the price she's asking, and that the shipping would cost more than the car is worth.
Oh also you can sometimes check where the email is coming from, like if it actually originated in London - if you have the IP address and do some digging....... yadda yadda.
how do i get the IP address?
not even worth it. walk away
2nd point..
Anyone willing to pay for shipping from ENGLAND on a car they are selling .. is a CLEAR sign that it's a scam.
yea, the shipping costs could be as much as the selling price practically.
yeah this is where the scam comes in, they'll pay you for the shipping or something with a fake check with a little extra "just in case" and then ask you to send back the unused portion.
Have they responded after your Baltimore question?
Holy cow.....yeah, don't do it. My brother asked if that's what they did, then I just remembered a brother in our hall almost bought a car from an ad like this, and basically busted the guy for trying to scam him. Now that I think about it, it was practiacally the same situation as this is.
yeah you can play with the scammer and see what happens, just don't send them any money. lol. But yeah i wouldn't.
That's what the brother in out hall did, hehehe. He messed with him so bad. Hahaha,.....it was great.
yea, i'm getting mad! stupid scam artist. well, if she doesnt reply to my email...we'll know it def was a scam...i'm interested to see what she has to say though. i def. will make her think like i'm all for it.
did she reply to the question about baltimore? lol... this has been a fun morning activity!
Yeah, it's entertained me. Mess with her, if she does write back. But don't give her any personal info.
And number 1 point that it's a scam:
1. Square Trade will NEVER hold money on behalf of an auction. Square Trade will NEVER ask you to send payment via wire transfers or Western Union.
and in the scammers description:
" it's a third
party service that holds the funds until item is
delivered, inspected and accepted "
game over.
yeap
Don't do it. Too good to be true.
It's like an escrow service scam thats been going on forever.
DON'T DO IT.
well, i wrote an email to her w/ a ton of questions. i'll let you know what she says.
this is the email i sent:
Hello,
I am very sorry to hear about your brother. My religion has helped me deal a lot when such tragedies occur. I found an article you might find comforting....
http://www.watchtower.org/library/lmn/article_08.htm
With any vehicle I would purchase, I would require it be inspected by my mechanic in order to discern any mechanical issues. Are you willing to comply with this before any funds are exchanged? I assume you have the title to the vehicle and any necessary paper work? Perhaps records of oil changes? Are there any liens on the vehicle?
I did do a CarFax report and it said there has been one owner of the vehicle in Florida, and it was originally registered to a company, are you aware what company this was? Is FL where your brother was originally from?
What are the next steps we would have to take in this transaction? I will not give any personal information until I have consulted with my lawyer, which will be today.
Please advise.
Jahanna
this is the second email:
Could you please tell me why the photos of the vehicle were taken in Baltimore, MD if the vehicle is in London? The truck in the background is a Baltimore Trucking Company. Are you from Baltimore? Why not ship the vehicle back to your residence and sell while you are home?
Dont get your hopes up.
there email is DINGDONG0031
haha..
has scam written all over it
lol i thought so too
Okay this is gonna sound crazy. I enlarged one of the photos of the car. The truck in back of it has an ST on it. There is an ST Trucking in Baltimore Maryland, where the seller is. So the car is not in England. Thank you.
nice detective work!!!
haha ... hmm actually i think i might be wrong. There is an OST trucking. Dangit... i jumped to conclusions too quickly. I was looking for some kind of sign in one of the photos that it's not in England. hmm. The other cars are too far to see license plates, etc. Dangit.
Oh crap! i just emailed them another email saying "why were the pictures taken in Baltimore if you are in England". lol
oh well...we'll see what she says.
haha well i might still be right. I'm still investigating, and I'm a master investigator! :) lolol
awesome! thanks! i just spoke to a lawyer here. she says the thing i should be most concered about is the third party company SquareTrade.com. So, i'm going to do some more research on them.
Hmm I still don't think ti's taken in England. There are palm-tree looking things there. And it looks like an airport. And there is a regular American stop-sign on the fence in front of the car - is that normal ...for anyone tha has been in England do they have those? i don't know. Also a yellow fire hydrant. Lol. I'm just pulling stuff out my butt now. I'm still trying to increase the resolution so I can read that billboard on the right side of the car. Kinda almost looks like an american flag?
yea, i noticed the palm trees.
when i did the carfax report it says the owner was from FL....it def. could be FL. ahhh!
ohhhhhhhhh snap! hmm yeah. I really don't think the car is in England.
Yeah, those are palm trees for sure. No doubt about it.
THERE IS AN ST TRUCKING IN FLORIDA!!!
I think you're right, though. I don't see an "O" before the "ST."
I'm just sayin'.
I wouldn't do it. You should never buy a car you can't see and drive away.
i WILL be able to see it. She says she will give 7 days inspection before the money is released. I am writing her back an email if she will comply with letting my mechanic check it out.
I don't know, though, if something's too good to be true, it usually isn't true.
for instance, why is the car in england...
i dunno, doesnt make sense to me
This could be real - but be careful of how they pay the "shipping costs". For example if the "shipping costs" are $1,000 and they send you a cashier's check for like let's say $4000 and say "send me back the rest"
and then the cashier's check is fake, but it doesn't bounce your bank account until after you sent them back YOUR $3 G's and it's a whole big problem
this is a known scam, you can even get arrested just for trying to deposit the fake cashier's check
sooooooooooooooooo that's my input on it
hmmm, interesting...didnt know that...thanks.
Yes! In fact I tried to help out someone who was brought to court for something similar to depositing a fake check. It's a really big deal and sometimes you can be forced to pay all the money the check was for plus costs. I really think it's a bad idea.
if i had 7 grand right now, i'd find a good deal on a used toyota corolla S or a mazda 3, but that's just me. lately i'm all about small and somewhat sporty.
in all reasonableness, a car is just a hunk of metal that gets you places. so what difference does it make? get a 1994 honda civic and get some shiny hubcabs
wow. you and me have similar thoughts and tastes on this matter.
maybe it's b/c we're both tired of paying $2.39 for gas ....
you got THAT right
me too... i drive a mazda 3 :)
sweet! how do you like it?
love it, it's great
i like 'em. i like the orange one.
you girls are awesome! i thought forsure the males would be dominating this thread.
Hahaha....NO MEN!! NO BOYS ALLOWED!!!
My only broad suggestion: If you're buying a used car, try to get a standard transmission. An automatic will go after about 10 years or less and will be a major expense.
You can get Hondas and Mazdas (like, late 90's models) for fairly cheap these days. They may be a little older, but those are SUCH reliable cars. Also Toyotas too....good cars.
yikes! you didn't even tell me about this. i'm guessing you are okay...
Hey remember my old Subaru? That I had back in the day? Well I still have it but it needs work. Um, let me know if you want it. It would be like 99% less than $10,000 and if your husband is into fixing cars or something, could be cool.
I duno.
yea, he's into fixing houses, not cars. we're not car people...need something low maintenance.
However, if you DO get something that needs a little work done, my brother and my cousins live in northeast PA, and they are AMAZING with cars and fixing them up really nice.
sweet! i'd love to know how to do even simple things...like change the oil or brakes.
Oh, that stuff is super easy. My brother could teach you that in no time. He's the one who taught me everything I know about cars (which is a lot, for a girl, hehehehe).
Actually, I think you might know him, unless I'm confusing you with someone else. I can't keep track of some people's names, hahaha.
OHH! Aaron is ur brother? i don't know him all that well, just mututal friends. One of my friends works at Ruby Tuesday's up in Scranton and she served them a couple weeks ago. (He just recently got married, right? how's he liking married life?)
Yup, Aarron is my bro. He just got married at the end of May. They're super happy. He's doing very well. We're gonna see him in a few weeks when my cousin Leila gets married in PA. Good times.
Seriously though, he'd have no problem helping you fix up a car, especially since he knows you. He's cool like dat. :)
Oh, Leila is getting married?? I (sorta) know her too...who's she marrying?
Yeah, July 29th. She's marrying some dude named Dan Nelson. He's like, 30. No idea what congregation he's from, though. I wanna say......the Stroudsburg area. Yeah....that's it.
People from Stroudsburg are so ugly. It's mullet-central up there.
He doesn't have a mullet....although maybe he cut it off before I met him. Who knows?
so does that mean he's goodlooking? hehe I need to know these things. LOL. I know Leila will make a beautiful bride :)
This is true. She will look GORGEOUS!!!!
Um, he's.....cute. Did you see him at Aarron's wedding? He was the really tall guy who got the chicken hat put on him. No joke.....that really happened. :)
wow totally missed that, I think i might have been gone by that time?
Quite possibly. He was the really tall, skinny dude with dark hair. He wasn't in the wedding, though.
I know I might be made fun of for this, but I've never had a problem with my Focus. It's a 2002 and I got it for $9,000 with 12,000 miles (like $4,000 less than KBB value). I've replaced the brakes and tires, but never had any technical problems with it. It's a stick, so it's peppy, roomy enough for service and handles well because it's got McPherson struts (it sticks to curves like a BMW). Donovan bought a 2000 hatchback new and we've only had a few problems with it; nothing that mechanics hadn't seen before on the first model year of a car.
VW's are a good choice too. Not the III's, but the II's, the boxier ones. They're built differently.
what do you mean w/ the VW's? the II's not III's?
There are 3 (actually 4 with the newest ones) types of VW bodies. The old rabbits/cabriolets from the 80's are the I's, the ones put out in the early 90's are the II and the ones put out in the late 90's are the III's. Every VW mechanic that we've talked to says the II's are made better.
(Because every 5 years or so, car companies redesign their cars. I shouldn't say it's just the bodies; that's just the most distinguishable feature. Most of the mechanical parts of a car are re-designed at that time too.)
yea, i know alot of people w/ newer VW's that have problems. I like vdubbs..hmm. thinking...