Sell your car for £1,000 more than it's worth

Tony Levene's neighbour was suspicious of this offer that simply looked too good to be true...

My near neighbour has a rather desirable BMW convertible. Or rather, it's now more desirable to others. Since his family grew last month, he cannot squeeze two small children plus all their stuff into the space on offer. He is having to take that awful (but oh so mature!) decision to buy a people carrier.

His car is in excellent condition, with low mileage. He decided it might attract buyers from as far away to his London home as Bristol, Birmingham or Brighton.

He researched various price guides, and advertised it in a nationally known car sales publication at £9,800. This would give “wiggle room” for bargaining but £9,300 was his floor price.

The advert appeared – including his mobile number. A London man and a woman from North Kent both made appointments to view that day.

A surprising phonecall

So he was somewhat surprised to be called later that day by a firm called Vehicle Advertiser which claimed it had a database showing five interested buyers in the BMW who were willing to pay £10,900. If he paid £89.50 to register with it, these potential purchasers could be put in touch with him. And they would not haggle.

He asked me that if this was so, why had none of these people contacted him through the advert – after all, that would be over £1,000 cheaper. It is a fair question.

A second fair question is how does this firm find potential buyers in a market where sellers shout and buyers wait until they see something that attracts them. My local paper has pages of Fords and Fiats for sale – but not a single person taking space to say they want to buy a car.

Vehicle Advertiser (owned by a one director company called Vehicle Media Advertising and not the only firm operating in this way )– describes itself as a “ a pro active marketing agency that introduces buyers to sellers. Our dedicated marketing department liases with both buyers and sellers researching their requirements. This information is then registered onto our database and both buyers and sellers are contacted immediately via email.”

The small print

Sounds good? Or too good? Now take a look at one of its tortuous terms and conditions which I reproduce in its entirety. It says:

“The number of buyer enquiries registered with Vehicle Media Advertising Ltd is given to the customer solely as a guide for the customer to assess the common market demand. Vehicle Media Advertising Ltd do not accept liability for any assumptions the customer may make based on this information. The buyer enquiries registered with Vehicle Media Advertising Ltd reflect vehicles of all types and all price ranges currently wanted by buyers registered on Vehicle Media Advertising Ltd's systems. The customer should not rely on this information as being particular to the customer’s vehicle or as any form of inducement to enter into the contract.”

While my neighbour assumed they had specific buyers for his specific car at a specific price, this makes it clear that they do not necessarily have any such thing. The small print also says consumers lose valuable legal cancellation rights from the moment they pay and that the terms and conditions can be changed without telling customers. Remember that not all “terms and conditions” will be enforced by courts in consumer contracts.

The moral of the story

My neighbour sold his car to the woman from Kent. She paid £9,600. He's happy – and he gathers she is as well!

The moral? My trading standards friend says always stick to publications and websites that you know and choose – not ones that you don't know and which try to choose you.

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