Ever put a car up for sale on Craigslist and had one of those "auto-mailer" things email you saying they are from somewhere in the States and would want the car shipped. They ask for your information and say they will be sending a cheque and the shipper will pick it up etc. etc.

Well I'm trying to sell my Cavalier and I got an email from some dude in London who was asking similar questions. He doesn't want to pick it up locally, which I don't get. It's not that far. I even offered to drive to Hamilton to meet him and he kind of ignored that in his last reply.

Basically what hes asking is for him to send me a certified cheque with a combined total for the car + shipping, and then I would have to pay the shipper from money from my own account after depositing the cheque and it clears.

But I said I'll write up a bill of sale, send the file to him so he can fill out his information on it, print it, sign it, scan a new copy and forward it back to me.

I've never dealt with selling a car where the person hasn't picked it up.

Make sure you get his phone number and talk to him and don't send the car until the cheque clears.

Then who cares what he's up to.

sounds like a scam to me dude.

Scam.
If he's arranging the shipping, there is no reason for him not to pay for that directly.

He probably sends the "shipping guy" (probably himself) over to you, who must take the car (before the cheque clears - think about the timing - he'll call it a miscommunication). He then ends up with a free car, plus the shipping $, all out of your pocket.

This all sounds very similar to that Nigerian scam.

Just make sure that you don't skimp and protect yourself every step of the way...

Thats is a scam, there is no doubt about it. I had many people send me those emails and I just scared them of. They never replied back. Many times they were from yahoo or msn autos.

Regards
Osman

So in my email I was like,

I want two certified cheques. One for the cost of the vehicle made payable to me, and one for the cost of shipping which I will give the guy who shows up at my door.

So if the cheque for the car doesn't clear at the bank before the shipping guy gets here, he's obviously not taking the car. He'd get the cheque, which could be fraud or not, and I'll have the cheque he gave me for the car already at the bank waiting to be cleared. If it clears, cool. If not, I still have my car and the guy just lost money dealing with the shipping.

...Should I even be considering this?

It's a Cavalier, why go through all this trouble? They're a dime a dozen everywhere, including London.
I'd wait for someone serious and local.

Yeah this email is from yahoo. (Frank Thomas <frankky85@yahoo.com>)

Oh I got an idea,
What if I said.. I can probably drive the car to London for you. The cost of the trip will be less than the cost of shipping. Then it can be a cash deal

If it was me. I personally would tell him if he didnt want to pay cash and come pick it up or even MEET somewhere. He could find another car locally for him. If he can afford someone else to come pick it up. Surely he can afford to get you to drop it off.

If he is just flat out ignoring your questions about you driving it. I would be to worried to entrust cheques from him. I would only take cheques from good friends. Not someone who is afraid of meeting me or me dropping off a car I am selling to his front door step(or wherever you mentioned meeting)

I say screw it.

You'd probably end up driving to London and have him not show up.

Oh yeah Kevin.. I never even thought of that

The other option is to have him send you a bank draft, he pays the bank first, the bank pays you. Have him do 2 bank drafts, one for the car, the other for the shipping.

This way, when you get them, they will already be cleared as the bank has to withdraw the money from his account before they do up the bank draft.

On the other hand, it's a cavalier, they are a dime a dozen.

See what he says, and if he doesn't reply, say screw it.

Aright will do

Thanks for the quick responses.

Scam.. Guy I know had the exact same thing happen to him.
Honestly if some one was interested they would go pick it up them self.

Yeah but maybe the guy doesn't have a way to get down here?
Probably a scam, we'll see if he even replies after I mentioned Ryan's idea of a bank draft.

Its a scam, 100%! There is not point proceeding with it. They are always yahoo msc autos of msn autos. Its all BS.

scam.. I actually got a cheque from one of these guys, for like 35 grand, it obviously didn't go through..
Then I had to explain the whole situation to my bank manager to re activate my account as it was frozen because of the fraud cheque.

take a few minutes to read this.

http://www.jeepkings.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=69671&highlight=scammer

it will explain a lot on this scam...

S.

Looks like you need a username/password to read it.

It's asking you to log in.

Ryan you beat me by 11 seconds to point that out. lol

STOP.
It's a scam.

More tempting because it's in this country, but still a scam. Who would go through that much trouble for a Cavalier?

The big thing with those scams is that the cheque will CLEAR. You get the funds and go through with the deal. Later, the bank will find out the cheque is fraudulent, grab back the cash from you (because they can do that, of course) and leave you holding the bag.

What you can do is inform the police of this so they can set up a sting. Or at least just gang-kick the guy into needing to spend a year in Hospital.

I thought the whole point for waiting for the cheque to make sure it's not fraudulent?

Yes, but if the guy is for real, he won't mind going to the bank. Covers both your asses this way.

I think Mike's asking "How could a cleared cheque end up being fraudulent?"

There's probably an account which has the funds, and all appears legit, so the withdrawl happens and the cheque clears. Later, the bank will find a problem with said account, and pull the funds back.

A draft is more like cash. No bouncing, no reversals, etc..

Yeah that's what I meant.

Anyways, I'm not selling my car to this dude, even if he is for real. I've mentioned the bank draft twice, as well as meeting him half way and he's totally ignoring that part of the email and keeps asking for my address and saying the delivery guy will come in less than a week.

Thanks for the help guys