QUESTION: I have a chance to buy a car from a person in the UK. The price of the car is way below it's value. What do you think?

July 16, 2006

Hi Tony

I was going through your website because I wanted to make sure of the purchase of the car I want to buy. I read on your website some of the questions sent in that are similar to my situation.

I am talking to a car seller that put her car up for sale on the newspaper website here in Houston. She lives in the UK and I live in Houston, TX. She was relocated to the UK and left the car here in Houston. The car is registered here in Texas.

I sent her an email stating I was interested in buying the car and she emailed me telling me that she was not able to take the car to the UK because she could not drive over it there. We have emailed each about the car six times, and she sounds like she is a honest because she is going to Houston and we are going to meet face to face.

She has the car parked in an airport parking lot. It is a Honda Accord 2004 EX. It is in good condition because she sent us pictures inside and out with the details of the car and the VIN number was also included in the information. I got a report in NADA.com and the report said the car was clean . . . we did that because she sent us the VIN number.

It sounds secure because she is giving the VIN number. She is asking $5,000.00 and in NADA.com the value of this type of car and year is between $18,000 to $20,000. She wants to use a third party with Escrow.com, because she wants to make sure she is not going to lose her time coming to Houston.

She wants us to make a deposit of $1,500 and once she gets here and when we see the car give her the balance of $3,500. She was the one that contacted Escrow.com to make the deposit and they are going to contact me also. My question is should I trust that Escrow is sending the email or could it be that she is sending the email as if she is Escrow?

I want to make sure that it is Escrow that is sending me the email for the details on how to make the deposit. What can I ask her for information about her to make sure if we have a problem with the car where we can contact her?

She gave me her full name and address. The only way we are in contact is via email. I gave her my telephone number so we could talk over the phone, but since she had moved to the UK a couple of days ago she didn't have a phone line yet, so she said email is better for her.

Is it okay just sending email? She sent us pictures of the car inside and out, but it didn't have the license plates, and I ask her for the plates number and she told me it was for security reasons that she didn't send them.

She did give us the VIN number of the car, but how can we check with the VIN # if the car is under her name? Escrow is going to contact us on Monday . . . today is Sunday, and the seller wants us to make the deposit on Monday and she will be here Tuesday.

So if you can give me your opinion I will appreciate it.

Thank you,

Vanessa

Answer:

Hi Vanessa,

Don't you think it's just a little bit suspicious that this person wants to sell an $18,000 car for $5,000? If that doesn't throw up giant red flags in your face then you had better open your eyes.

Anybody can get a VIN and pictures of a legitimate car off of any number of websites, like AutoTrader.com or even eBay. They could then pretend to own the car while never having seen it.

Vanessa, this deal is as bogus as they come. If you send this woman any money you'll never see the car or the money again.

Walk away and forget it. This person is a thief.

All my very best...

Tony Iorio