Is this a scam?

[oliie]

I have found a potential M3 which is priced about £5k under market value. It was listed on Autotrader for about 4 hours but then vanished.

I got this email from the seller after a few questions. What do you think? The confusing part is that the escrow company checks out with eBay...

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I understand you want to inspect the car .i do the same when i buy a car.unfortunatelly i am in US right now and i can,t set up a viewing.i will come back in Uk and meet you to show you the car if we agree on the the terms.
Here are my terms:
I can not come back in UK for each buyer who say he is going to buy the car.thats why i decided to close the deal through www.escrow-europa.com which is the safest way to buy and sell online.it is the only escrow company recommended by ebay.

If you don,t know how escrow europa works i will explain it for you:
1.buyer and seller agree to the terms of the transaction
2.buyer makes payment to escrow europa
3.seller ships item to buyer
4.buyer aproves item (15 days inspection period)
5.seller is paid

As soon as i receive the confirmation from escrow that the funds have been deposited to their account, i will immediately fly to UK .
Then i can meet you to show you the car or i can ship the car to your adress.
The car will be delivered to your address in no more than 10 working days.You will be given a 15 days inspection period from the day you receive the car at home.
If you decide to hold the car, then you will have to authorize escrow to release the funds to me, and the transaction will be completed. If you will not be satisfied with the car, you will be able to send the car back through the same shipping company, and ask escrow to return the funds to you.IN case of return you don't have to pay anything.
Though i am sure you will love the car and will not want to return it, it is good to know that you do have this second option available.
So if you are really interested please register with www.escrow-europa.com and send me the email adress which you have used to register.then i will start the escrow transaction.the escrow fees and the shipping cost are supported by me.


Thanks
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[Ash87]

sounds dodge, where is the car at the moment, uk or us?

 

[Olliev8]

i would be very very careful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[oliie]

Supposedly the car is in London...

 

[artdealer]

Having run an M3 recently I would be more concerned about the cost of that than the USA scammer. But the outline looks similar to something that was put to me a while ago that I can't quite remember the detail. This looks like the refined version! I would be inclined to have the search facility set up on Autotrader and find something that is a bargain, but not expecting to the extent described.

One day Escrow may become sophisticated in the UK, it's all a bit into the unknown right now.

 

[fazedesign]

Sounds scammier then a very scammy thing to me

 

[patrickkonig]

Dont touch it mate. Sounds well suspect to me. On another note like your man said, I ran an M3 and it just destroyed my bank ballance.

 

[wrightyrs]

Stay away,wouldn't go near it.

Anything that seems to good to be true usually is.

And that is defo a scam.
Been lots of threads on Pistonheads about similar.

 

[gristleboy]

You would stand a better chance of paying money to get the M3 motorway!!!!!!! Steer clear.

 

[artdealer]

My concern is that I had a one wealthy professional owner three year old 52000m M3 with FBMWSH. When I looked into the warranty history I was staggered at how much had been changed. Including a complete steering column, PAS rack and A/C pump. If you add in the fact that the Double VANOS also seems to come up a lot in conversation in the trade it all adds up. Also mine had a new BMW Business CD Tuner in it's life and that had an annoying habit of losing power at random times.

This combined with other recent experience of BMW just out of warranty (ouch) leads me to believe that they are not a good proposition unless they have plenty of BMW warranty left.

Make sure it has had the 1200m running in service done on time and miles.

Of course, this all melts away when you press the Sport button and really plant your foot in the carpet.

Let me know what you want to spend Ollie and maybe we can lose the retail margin on one.

 

[Steve]

erm, how can I put this delicately?...SCAM!!!

 

[phil pearce]

I would stay well clear personally. I wouldnt hand over that kind of money until i had seen the car.

 

[oliie]

Guys - thank you for all the comments and pointers!

Steve - that is a rather worrying list of replacement items... I dread the labour costs of carrying out the work if not under warranty... (and have been burnt with a 330ci in the past).

Just FYI guys... the car was listed with the following spec:

- 2002
- ~45000 miles
- SMG2
- Imola Red
- FBMWSH
- £9500

You can see why the price made it an interesting proposition.... I would not normally be in the market for an M3 but it just seemed like a bargain if it checked out. The next one up with similar history would start at £17k.

Oh well. The Red Rover remains the vehicle of choice for now...

O.

 

[oliie]

The advert is back online...

http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/200232.htm

 

[FunkyMunky]

i'd be interested in the reg number to do a vehicle check on it

they're also non-standard alloys and won't be cheap yet there's no mention of them in the advert... all sounds very dodgy to me

 

[oliie]

True, true.

Rather interstingly - there was a photo yesterday of the car showing the number plate. However that photo is gone today.

I've used another email address to ask the 'seller' of the registration number. If it is different to what was shown in the photo yesterday then it will be a closed case and I'll report it to Pistonheads.

Very frustrating....

O.

 

[Cue]

looks like a scam to me:

1: very poor ENglish used in his correspondence to you.
2: lowered and with aftermaket BMW sport alloys
3. Year of Reg does not appear to correlate to the reg plate - looks like a W or Y reg which would put it at 2001 at the youngest.
4. Far too cheap for me, "you get what you pay for" moto springs to mind, you could be buying problems
5. Any buyer who has any issues with you seeing a vehicle you should immediately rule out. There are loads of M3's about at the mo so keep looking.
6. What's happend to the 993?
7. If it's on pistonheads, how is talking about ebay relevant to them.
8. Payment before they ship the item.... for £10k are you kidding? you need to pick the car up, handing over cash when you pick the car up should never be a problem - if it is then no dice

I'd stay clear.

 

[patrickkonig]

it's got the CSL alloys on it, they cost a fortune, about a 1/4 of a Trophy, unless there the fake ones. All sounds to good to be true so that means it is.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

Sorry Ollie but i cant believe you are actually giving this so much thought, no one in there right mind is going to let a 52 plate M3 go for 9,500 - Cat D ones would probably still fetch more than that!? Then there is the whole 'America' story which has a strong stench of bullsh1t attached to it - walk away Ollie and waste no more time on this one. Channel your efforts into finding a mint one - even if it means paying full whack.

And to echo Cue's thoughts - what happened to the 993?

 

[oliie]

Don't worry guys... I'm not actively looking for a M3! I just saw what was a potential bargain when browsing Pistonheads. Sometimes you never know (as was my current Rover at £350 and 24k miles...).

993 still a possibility if the right one comes along. However at the moment I am literally only driving to get to the supermarket on the weekend... I've done 20 miles in one month! Hence the strange satisfaction with the Rover at the moment. Forgive me for I have sinned...

O.