Saxo Boy

I'm marketing my uncles X5 on his behalf and have been contacted by a potential buyer. Initially he asked for more pictures and the vehicles registration and VIN number for an HPI check. I felt VIN number was unnecessary, but I gave it anyway.

He is now asking for the following:

1. Current mileage (which is clearly stated in the advert)
2. V5 Document Serial Number (WTF?)
3. V5 issue date (WTF?)
4. MOT Certificate Number (WTF)
5. When the car was last serviced and where

I feel very uncomfortable about giving out these details. There is no way in hell they are required for an HPI check and I really don't see why a potential buyer would need them. Thoughts?

To me, it seems like the sort of info you'd need to completely clone a vehicles identity.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Too much info to give a stranger imho, I wouldn't have even given the first lot of info. If he's interested he'll come & see it first

TX.

Saxo Boy

He claims to be from Portsmouth so it would be a big distance to travel. That said, it's a £30k car so it wouldn't be unusual to travel the country for the right example. The reg is clearly shown in the photos and the VIN can be seen by looking at the windscreen anyway. The most recent stuff he asked for however, could not be readily seen from a visual inspection.

apples24

iTrader: (1)

doc ref number enables him to look up vosa history let him have that and nothing else



quite normal these days hes just looking into mot history to check miles and failures advisorys etc

BULLITT

Very unusual to be asking for those details, to be honest, buyers only need the reg for a HPI check.

Might be me being cynical but seems a bit suspect to me, like either they intending on "copying" the details onto a forged V5 for a stolen X5 or some sort of scam claiming the car is his and it's been stolen etc slim chance of that I know but you never know.

mart360

I always ask for

Reg number - HPI check

Mot cert number....

V5 cert number.

Why?

HPI straighttforward

Mot cer number - allows me to check current mot & any failures / advisorys

Previous MOT's and mileage - many a clocked or adjusted milage has popped up here lol, along with serial failures brakes etc

V5 cert number -

A whole block was pinched from VOSA a while back, hence the new Red V5's

Checking the number can confirm if its legit

If i was buying a 10K+ car, i'd want to make dam sure you wer'nt trying to fleece me


Mart

...seamus...

I work for a company dealing in cars and when checking a car we ask for all the above so that the mileage can be verified from the last mot, the V5 is the most current one, the car is clear of finance and not a cat a,b,c or d insurance loss

If the reg on the car is a private plate or the car has had a private plate on in the past then an hpi check isn't as accurate as using the VIN number

i'm pretty sure cloners dont phone people for details

personally, I wouldn't be too bothered - if he was asking for your bank details to "transfer monies" then that would be a different story!

Saxo Boy

I have no problem in giving out the information if it can't realistically be used in a very obvious way to commit a crime or screw my uncle over. I don't want his car to get cloned or anything like that.

I guess a better question is to ask: what could someone realistically do with such information or gain by having it?

jods

how does one go about checking mot history with a cert no? Is it available online?


google - awesome

Alg

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/motoring...ot/dg_10020539

jods

Cheers Alg

Saxo Boy

Lol, my Volvo has done 115k miles and had 8 owners. I think ignorance is bliss, so I'll probably avoid looking up its MOT history

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Mart, do you ask for all that without even seeing the car?! I wouldn't give it to a stranger over the phone ...

TX.

scoobyvirgin

I'd ask the same questions if they weren't already stated in the advert. Having the V5 serial number allows him greater cover when he checks through HPi. All the other info again as stated above just allows him to check its history.

If he wants to clone it, it's not really going to matter to you, maybe the next owner though

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

I'd have to say that if I was purchasing a high valued car and lived miles away I would want to know every tiny detail before travelling up.

But then if the seller didn't want to give it out and I felt it's worth the trip I would make a day of it and drive there to see it all in the flesh.

SamUK

iTrader: (1)

I always reconfirm the add listing – you will be surprised at how many sellers will put anything up just to waste your time..

30k on a car, perhaps I would ask this if I had to travel a distance. Some of the things are required for online checking of details on the DVLA website, also confims you have paperwork and are not a bogues seller

You could ask him why he wants some of the stuff..but reconfirming mileage I do not see an issue with.

pslewis

I would want all the info up front ... for an expensive car (who someone was selling 'for someone else', this rings alarm bells for me) and before travelling any distance.

Saxo Boy

I'm not selling it for him. Simply marketing it - there is a massive difference. All final viewings will take place at the registered address for the vehicle, with the registered owner who will take payment in a bank via electronic transfer from the eventual buyer.

This is no, "selling this for my buddy, meet me in Morrisons car park with £30k in clean notes" affair.

pslewis

Why does an owner of a X5 need someone else to 'Market' their vehicle for them??

I'm just saying that would send me scurrying away ..... I want a clean sale and to deal with an owner who is capable of marketing his own car .......... it's just sus that's all.

Could understand it if it was a 15 year old £200 Nissan Micra you were 'marketing' for your 95 year old Nan ..... but a X5? Nah .....................

Saxo Boy

Lol, shows what you know then.

My uncle bought it in 2008 and got pretty much every option because a) he had the money b) cause he could.

Now he wants to sell it but money has become more of a concern to him than when he bought it. As such he would prefer to achieve private sale value as opposed to trade value. Ordinarily he takes his car to BMW and accepts whatever they give him. He can no longer afford to do so but is not particularly web savvy or capable with a computer.

I detailed the car, took high quality photographs and prepared sales copy for PH/autotrader. He wouldn't even know where to advertise it, let alone how to detail it, photograph it and describe it as I could. I know he'll swing me a few hundred when he sells it and he's family, so of course I'll help him get a sale.

Quite how you find that 'dodgy' or hard to understand is beyond me.

mart360

Absoloutly......

It works two ways....

you give me the details and they check out, im more likley to travel some way to see the car

If your advertising on a website, and wont provide these details, then what else have you got to hide?

If i came to see the car, id want to see this stuff first hand..... How many times when you go to see a car, do you stand in front of the owner and phone DVLA / VOSA to confirm details?


Personally would you go to look at a car that had 90K on the MOT cert, only to find on the fail cert it had 130K?


It also gives some leverage when you know if there are any advisiory's that the seller fails to mention....


I drove to peterborough once to look at a Mint Rover75 Connoiseur diesel with full service history,and had just been serviced... (This was from a dealer)

On arrival the car had

A flat tyre

The service brake pad warning was displayed on the display when the car started.

I didnt even bother looking at the MOT & service history....

Conversley,

The car i bought for her indoors....

THe seller gave over the phone

MOT cert
Vin Number
Reg
V5 Number
Details of the garage who sold it/ serviced it
Mileages at each service (from the service book)


I confirmed via DVLA/VOSA
VIN
Mileage on each MOT
Tax status & MOT
All MOT tests & advisiories (None)
I confirmed the original dealer was genuine via the web,
I phoned said dealer and they confirmed date of registration / sale and all mileages at each service. ( they even commented that they hadnt seen it for a couple of years lol)

So then we didnt have to do all the work when we went to see the car,

Just checked the V5 & MOT cert, Vin on the car and had a test drive.

20 minutes later we had agreed a price, and the other half had a mint 10 year old Nissan Primera with full service history & 18K genuine miles on the clock!

Mart

pslewis

I still think Saxo Boy is trying to sell a ringer

hodgy0_2

all sensible stuff

but I can't help thinking you iron your underpants

Saxo Boy

I think that's what bothers me Pete. I'm being made out to be dodgy here and I'm selling a:

1) One owner from new vehicle
2) HPI clear
3) With full MOT history
4) Full BMW service history
5) BMW service package until 10/2013
6) The original invoice listing every option and its price
7) All keys, all manuals, all paperwork, all BMW tool kits, first aid kits, etc.

Everything is exactly as it should be. It is frankly the straightest car I've 'marketed' in my puff.

FWIW, in my communications with the buyer over the last few days he constantly pressed for more and more information. In the end I sent him this email and I haven't heard back. I have every confidence that within the next week there will be a black 3.0sd X5 somewhere down south running around appearing to be my uncles

Saxo Boy

And finally, he signs off his emails with:

"I am waiting to here from you" but is called Garry.

This alone was enough to trigger my, English isn't his first language-dar

pslewis

Is there a market for X5's these days?

hodgy0_2

surely this is how dealers make their margin, people like your uncle, a little nervous of buying/selling privately

just trading in via a dealer, --- I am constantly staggered at the amount of money people are prepared to throw away, 10’s of thousand of pounds

I am sure you have a thankless task, but top credit for helping your uncle out,

Saxo Boy

Probably not, but it's worth a punt.

Hodgy, you have no idea. Prior to the X5 he had an X3 3.0d that was pretty much maxed out as well. He owned it all of about 15 months (from new) before he decided he wanted the prestige of the bigger car. He traded it in for the X5 and took a simply epic hit.

If it wasn't for me telling him to at least try and sell it privately he'd have walked into a BMW dealer and taken pretty much whatever they offered to buy it for! He used to be a salesmans dream. He always wanted the newest/best model, wanted nearly all the toys, always traded in a good/well looked after model and hardly ever pushed the trade-in price or for a discount off the new car.

hodgy0_2

I don't doubt it Saxo Boy

and my admiration for you is geniune, all pain and no gain (plus grief from the resident Peter Perfect)

but hats of to you, and I hope you get a beer out of it

Saxo Boy

Yeah, I can't say it's no gain. For example, if I help him sell the car for above trade in value I'm sure he'll swing me a few bob for my efforts. That said, if he asked me to do it for free, I'd still do it.