OT: Anyone else think these are dodgy?

Different year letter, different model year, different trim, 40% difference in mileage, both the same colour, more or less.

Not all *that* similar, really. And I don't want a Beamer, thanks, I've already got my ideal vehicle. Which, as it happens is also blue. Mostly...

A pound the pair,and that's my final offer.

It's not the vehicles, it is the descriptions. Both selling as "am reluctantly selling this car as I have changed jobs", both have replacement "2003" BMW engines, VANOS, both "This is the best car I have ever owned Looking for a quick sale low starting price.."

etc. etc. etc.

...the descriptions are almost identical.

Don't know if someone has been too lazy to write their own description (which one?) but I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was dodgy. I've had a few instances of people making copies of my auction listings (even sometimes using my photos) just to con some poor idiot out of money.

Matt

I think that Matt viewed the wording of the descriptions as being too similar. It looks like a cut, paste and edit job. The 180301649518 one has had the spelling etc. tidied up a bit which suggests that it's a copy and not a second one written by the same person.

If all is above board it doesn't say much for BMW engines or the way in which their drivers treat them!

Probably both of them borrowed the prose from someone else anyway. If it worked the first time, why not use it again? And it's not beyond the realms of probability that 2 rich types have changed jobs (Or just lost them, so they can't afford the payments) in the last week or few, given the changes at that level of industry. I've yet to notice anyone selling a car as a "right old shed", they're always "The best of its type" or similar. Heck, I'm currently relucantly selling a car myself that's in fantastic condition. I'd *love* to be able to afford to keep it.

Caveat emptor. Don't let them see the colour of your money until you see proof that they own it and are allowed to sell it. Standard practice. They're not exactly the sort of thing you can claim to have got lost in the post, after all. The most I'd be out would be a return ticket from where I live to where the car is. What makes me suspicious, not knowing much about Beamers is that they've both had a new engine recently fitted under warranty at about 80000 miles to an 8 or 9 year old car. Average life for a car engine, IME, so I'd not expect it covered under warranty. I'd be suspicious of the old engine having just been steam cleaned with new belts and leads.

If you're suspicious, contact the sellers or Fleabay.

On or around Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:21:12 +0000, Dougal enlightened us thusly:

yeah, I was thinking that.

One's a classified ad and one's an auction, too.

Yep, easy enough to get a check what engine and chassis number a given registartion mark should have for a small fee on the web. Just make sure that the V5C(*) has those numbers and the same ones are on all three un-tampered plates on the vehicle (engine compartment, passenger side of the windscreen and footwell).

(*)There are some stolen V5Cs out there but a google will bring up their serial numbers and probably a description of what a real V5C looks like, the watermark, colour of the back of section 11 etc

Quite, does seem a bit odd and the chewed up half shafts etc, these cars don't appear to have been treated nicely. Either that, or the transmission has a design problem (not strong enough!) when coupled to that engine.