That this is weird as hell - car - is it for sale?

[Balibo]

So DH and I have moved to a more rural location down South. We're both originally from a big city up North. We have a fairly large house, on a main road with a large driveway. We park our cars on the driveway obviously. We have 3 cars. 1 car though we've just acquired. It belongs to a family member who recently passed away.

Twice in the last few months (once today and once a few months back - when we only had 2 cars) two seperate men have come to the door, knocked and asked if one specific car is for sale.....it's not a fancy car. It's a Ford.

The first time I thought that's weird but didn't think much more of it. Today though I think it's really weird. I was caught off guard because I'd decided to have a shower and wash my hair in the middle of the day. So I'm there with wet hair in my dressing gown having dashed from the shower to get the door (assuming it would be a parcel or something). Not very relevant but just setting the scene that I felt blindsided.

So today I said - you're the second person who has asked that, why do you think I'm selling my car? And he said because it doesn't look like it's being used.

We live on a main road with a high fence all around our driveway. We have neighbours opposite us - it wasn't them asking and then it's quite a distance to the next house. We aren't overlooked by anyone.

How can anyone who is just driving past - know whether we are using the car or not? He said I have a friend just up the road..... but i was thinking so your friend up the road is tracking how much I drive?

It's really weirded me out. If you were looking to buy a car - why not fb marketplace, auto trader, or a car show room - surely not just knock on a random person's door??

I don't understand at all. I said to my DH I feel like reporting this somewhere it doesn't feel normal - he said no I'm being daft but it is weird. Who is tracking our house/my movements to know whether we use the car.....if it matters I don't use the car.....but that's what's freaking me out - like they know I'm not using it but I'm not overlooked by anyone. It's a country road, an A road. Our driveway is private. Yes you can see the cars if you walk or drive past our house but how would someone know we werent using the car? There's only one house who could feasibly track our daily movements and it's not her. The car is in good repair. It doesn't look like a heap of crap on the driveway.

Just to clarify I have rarely used this Ford even before I got the other car because I generally drive my husbands car. But we've always needed two cars incase he's out for the day with work etc because I still need to do nursery runs etc

IABU? Is this just us with a big city mentality being suspicious over something we needn't be?

Also if this matters they both came at a similar time during the working week. Rather than say a Saturday.

Yabu - happens all the time
Yanbu - that's really weird

Get a Ring doorbell and perhaps some cctv. Make sure the car is secure and step up security elsewhere to restrict easy access to your drive. Could you park the car in a way that it can't be seen from the road/path?

Is it ULEZ related? Apparently there's a real shortage of compliant second hand cars. Not sure if you're near the new area?

Honestly I would lock it in the garage if I were you. It happened in my area and quite a few were stolen.

If it’s ulez compliant it is probably worth more than you think. It’s gold dust and they are hoping to “do you a favour by taking it out your way” for not a lot of money. When it’s probably worth £1200 upwards.

Google “Nottingham knockers”.

They’re checking out your house and making a note of

• is there a big scary dog / tough guy
• is there a gullible old lady who’ll spend £20 on a £2 cloth if she hears a sob story
• is the house unoccupied during the day.

Then they sell to burglars lists of houses they think are good targets.

So it’s good to answer the door, refuse to bug anything, and come across as not rich and not a good target.

I’m guessing that as you have several cars in the driveway and aren’t very overlooked they’re checking out if the house is unoccupied during the day.

Get a Ring doorbell apparently that’s a good deterrent to burglars.

Wondered about doing something like this, but wasn't sure if I was over-reacting.

I feel so naive now! Haha.

We did install a ring doorbell recently. Luckily we have dogs and the house is occupied all day by me and DH - so fingers crossed we aren't a good target.

But that's good to know.

@Balibo

Can you contact your local police (online would probably be the easiest way), tell them what you've just told us, and ask their advice?
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Wondered about doing something like this, but wasn't sure if I was over-reacting.

We recently had occasion to report suspicious-looking activity in our street (unfortunately I can't go into details here as that would be outing). At the time we also wondered if we were over-reacting, but the police were very helpful and said we'd done the right thing.

RE Nottingham Knockers con, also see 'Deaf Paintings'. Spoilers, they aren't deaf and it's a con.

As for the Fiesta, as others have said, bit of a shortage of decent second hand cars at the moment. Prices rocketed over lockdown. Wouldn't surprise me if dealers were going door to door for the right car.

Yeah, I can well imagine an ST would generate that kind of interest. There aren't really any modern hot hatches being made that are as good as the Fiesta STs, Renault Sports etc., so enthusiasts do look to buy used ones.

There's a shortage of cars, as a knock on impact of the semiconductor shortage. Used cars are now much more expensive than many assume.

When my last banger was written off last year I assumed it was worth about £500. The insurance company valued it at £1400!

They may just be hoping to low ball you on the offer and resell it for easy profit.

I think I'd be suspicious that they were using it as an excuse to be around your property. I would report to local police about unsolicited cold calling and check your home security is solid. My aunt had this a while ago, they left flyers for a non existant business in and then came back later and burgled the house once they'd cased it. It's not uncommon for that to happen in rural areas. Did they say which neighbours suggested you didn't use the car I'd go and ask around if they did.

I was just about to ask if it is a Fiesta. Now that Ford have inexplicably decided to discontinue the most popular car on the road, there is a real,concern about parts. Fiestas are being stolen for spare parts.

My PIL just sold their Ford Focus for £4500. It was only £5000 when they bought it 10 years ago! The used car market is crazy at the moment.

They left flyers for a non existant business in and then came back later and burgled the house once they'd cased it.

I've also heard reports of thieves delivering leaflets and deliberately leaving them sticking out of letter boxes, then returning a couple of hours later to see if the leaflet is still there. If it hasn't been moved, it's a sign that the house is probably empty.

I've had this happen a few times with our old car (it was an old Mercedes but quite a "cult" thing). They were just normal guys, not suspicious in any way, and just wondered if we would sell it to them. We also had a good chat with them about the car (they mostly had owned one previously so recounted tales of their journeys 😂)
We've also had it with 4x4s we've had, but again nothing suspicious. If you're concerned I'd call 111 or whatever the police one is.

We've got 3 cars parked on the drive. One rarely moves (it's mine and I don't go out in it very often). No one has ever knocked on my door and asked if it's for sale - even the bloke who lives around the corner and sells 2nd hand cars and must see it on my drive every time he drives past.
I'd be very suspicious and install cctv cameras if you haven't already got them.

I had this umpteen times years ago when I had an R reg Vauxhall Corsa on the drive. It never occurred to me that they might be more interested in the BMW X5 parked next to it. I just assumed they’d looked up my reg and seen that it was SORN and thought I might sell it to them cheaply. Nothing ever happened, if it’s any comfort. In your case I think I would contact the police though.

People post these kind of things on our local fb page. Might be worth asking if anyone else in the area has been visited.

Soon as you said Ford i knew it would be a Fiesta. They're THE car of the moment in our area for thefts. They may actually have wanted to buy it but, and I never usually say this, I'd report it to 101.

It could be good for intelligence gathering, we've actually had plain clothes patrols out recently due to the increase in car thefts, so it could potentially help your local area in building a picture

This happened to one of my relatives as someone noticed the car never moved ( the relative is a sunday driver)and was interested for his daughter. I think he Was genuine and just thought he might get a good price for it

If it happens again ask for £100,000. If they query it, you can point out that there are thousands of cars advertised for sale, but they've chosen to knock at the door of someone who's car is not for sale, so it must be worth extra.

I've had at least 5 blokes come knock the door asking to buy our Ford fiesta, this was before Ford decided to stop making them too. Its not even a nice one, it's 16 years old!
Nothings ever come of it either, and the first one must of asked over 3 years ago now!

Post on the local Facebook page and see if anyone else has had this experience or if they are the ones looking at your car, when things like this happen in my area we always get to the bottom of it pretty quick in the local Fb groups.

On occasion, it turned out that these things are genuine.

If others has had the same thing from random strangers and they’re also feeling uncomfortable/worried you’ll have more information for the police too

This - we had a guy come round and ask about our old Sorned car that I was meaning to sell for ages. In the end we rang him back a few months later and got him to take it away for a few hundred quid! I realised that the time I would have to put in to get it saleable even via webuyanycar wasn’t worth the bother. He does them up or sells them on for scrap. A better way to get hold of a few catalytic converters than nicking them, I guess.