Car sale turning in to nightmare

[beefmassaman]

We had a car that was much loved by my DP until our family expanded and as a result has just been sat on the drive for the last year. Finally, DP listed the surplus car on eBay and it sold to a guy based in London. It has a full MOT and although needs some bodywork repairs, it's still perfectly serviceable and still a desirable model to anyone who wants a fast coupe.

This morning a guy turned up with his mate to complete the purchase. They popped the bonnet and were doing normal observations when they checked the dipstick and asked DP for a tissue. This all occurred in my DPs workplace car park, by the way. DP went inside and got a tissue. When he came back the bonnet was closed, which DP thought was odd and immediately got a 'feeling'.

The buyer wanted a test drive. DP said yes, absolutely. Take it...my little boy is here in the clubhouse so I'll stay behind with him. See you shortly. The guys insisted that DP go on the drive (which is probably sensible to be fair). So DP got his good friend and colleague to play with our toddler in the clubhouse whilst they did the test drive.

Once on a dual carriageway, the buyer put his foot down and something was wrong. The car wouldn't go over 4000 revs. DP said he would drive it and indeed the buyer was correct. There was something wrong.

To cut a long story short, once back at the airfield, DP checked under the bonnet and despite the buyer trying to distract him, found a plug had been removed. Once put back in place the turbo was back to working fine. Things got heated. The buyer still wanted the car in the end and gave DP cash, who asked his friend to count it. The cash was short.

DP refused to let the car go without every penny paid. Finally, after much yelling on the buyers part, the transaction was complete and the buyer drove away. DP said that he told them multiple times that he didn't care about selling the car right now, particularly to aggressive scammers.

Now the buyer is saying the gearbox failed on the way home and is threatening us as a family. He's sent WhatsApp messages saying he will make sure our children don't get to grow up and all sorts of bollocks. He wants his money back, but is now back in London with the car. The messages were sent, with DP requesting a live location from the buyer, and they got home in a time which indicates they floored it. What can we do? I'm worried about the threats and the fact they know our address and my small children. The guy is being really aggressive and threatening.

Easy, contact the police. The scammers have made threats to your family.

As far as the car is concerned, it’s second hand and sold as seen.

Report to the police. He's made threats to your family.

Block him and don't engage!

He sounds like a nasty piece of work. If you can get security cameras it might be worth it for your piece of mind, he'll be all talk though.

I forgot the mention the cameras actually! As it's a working airfield, the whole place is covered by CCTV. DP said that on Monday morning he would check the cameras and let the buyer know if he found anything suspect. He's trying to assure the buyer that he's honest and will deal with any problems if they are genuine. But yes, there will be CCTV coverage, although I'm not sure on the quality.

Should we contact eBay or just block and ignore? Won't that inflame him more? He's really aggressive in his messaging and he's making me quite nervous to be honest. I don't think I'm easily flappable either.
He's Romanian, for context, although that's probably not relevant. He spoke with a strong accent in broken English. DP asked him where he's from, meaning where in London. The guy got tetchy and said he was 'London, born and bred' but said his heritage in German. DP is a pilot and spends time in all areas of Europe and this didn't ring true for him. Sure enough, Romanian came out in the end. Such a weird thing to lie about, right?

What on earth are you talking about - your DP is trying to reassure them he is honest?

He's sent WhatsApp messages saying he will make sure our children don't get to grow up and all sorts of bollocks

He has literally issued a death threat to your children? It’s gone a bit past the Consumer Rights Act for God’s sake - go to the police

Ha! Yes, you are correct, of course. But I know from recent experience with my niece and revenge porn, the police don't give a shit.

Just block him, he's miles away

But file a report with the police

I would involve the police and not accept that there was anything wrong with the car. They had a test drive and it was sold as seen.

This.

You could notify eBay if you want but they won't be particularly interested. I don't think the buyer is eligible to evoke any return rights under the eBay money back guarantee because it's a vehicle.

Definitely check the cctv.

He's trying to assure the buyer that he's honest and will deal with any problems if they are genuine
I would not be bothering with that. Buyer has tried to scam you and make threats against your family. Complete communication blackout is now required. Report to eBay & police, just in case.

tbh he would be pretty stupid to try anything seeing you can camera footage of him and threatening what's app messages.

We don't really care about the car. We have the money, and he got a bargain. It's the threats. As a pregnant woman with small children in a four storie house I'm worried he will do something stupid. He's said he will 'burn us to the ground'.

Police. EBay won't care.

Report all the messages to the police. Screenshot them all so you retain proof.

Second hand cars are always bought as seen unless it is through a trader, where you have more rights if things go wrong (which is why their cars cost more).

Get copies of any cctv footage.

If ebay get in contact with you provide them with the police crime number. Another reason to report them.

This has gone beyond honesty and car selling and into the realms of death threats. Treat it seriously.

Thank you everyone. I feel a bit better knowing we've done absolutely nothing wrong. DP is as honest as the day is long when it comes to money. We'd never scam someone.
I'll press DP to report it to the police. He's just sent me some screenshots of delightful messages from the buyer threatening me with sexual violence and how he's going to harm our kids. 🤬 Never selling a car on eBay again, I'd rather scrap it.

I hope your DP isn’t responding to the messages? It will just make them continue.

Contact the police.

You really do need to go to the police with this now. They’ll be able to assess whether this is a threat or a risk.

Thank you. I haven't told my husband to block him because I wasn't sure it was the right thing to do. We don't want to scam anyone or see them out of pocket.
DP went in this morning two hours early to run the engine, run the car on a stretch and clean the interior. There was nothing wrong! And then to be handed a wad of cash that was nearly £1000 short??? Who does that? 🤷‍♀️

Who does that? A con artist, that’s who.

i hope your husband filled out the correct paperwork (I know it’s online now) to ensure that he doesn’t end up with speedy fines or parking tickets in his name.

Oh good point! I have no idea and wouldn't have thought of that myself, I'll tell DP. Thank you.

There won’t be anything wrong with the car. It’s a known scam where they buy a car and then swap out working parts.

Why on earth did your DH sell to them after the turbo lead stunt? So many red flags there.

Report to the police regardless of you think they will do anything or not. Report to ebay. Then you have 2 records.

Don't let your husband engage with them. Block them.

Deep breath - this is a scary situation. The buyer might continue to try to push his luck, but there’s a chance he’ll give up.

I think I’d do the following:

The buyer is still mid-scam, and I think this is where he will start to put pressure on. I think I would contact the police to ask them what to do and then follow their advice.

Make a paper/evidence trail of today, with a view to having everything in place to refer to in future. Dh writes down as much as he can remember about buyers and todays events, check and save any CCTV, a bit of detective work on the buyer. You say location was shared, where did buyer end up in London, anything else you can find out about buyer from eBay account, phone number etc? Screen shot and save in case he deletes or changes accounts.

Is dh or buyer going to send the paperwork to DVLA to let them know about change of possession? If it was the buyer, Dh might want to consider contacting DVLA on Monday to let them know. Just to cover back

I doubt your family are in any kind of danger, but if you are worried, then you could install some cheap home security cameras for peace of mind.

I don't know. Maybe neither of us knew it was a known scam? We don't generally use eBay or deal with situations where you might succumb to this sort of thing.

In a nutshell they are going to try and get their money back (with the threats & harassment) & keep the car.

Sorry this happened to you OP but you should never ever leave a buyer alone in the engine bay nor should you walk away from the car at any point.