Acting as overseas car sale intermediary? Need guidance

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

Ok, this may or may not be strange, but I'm such a cynic that I am compelled to look at it very closely.

There's a high-dollar car (VW bus, actually) for sale here in the US (in fact, I use to own it). A guy I know in the UK wants to buy it. He wants me to act as the stateside intermediary, performing the tasks of actually going and making sure it is as advertised, and that all the good bits haven't been taken to Pomona, and then deliver the car to the shipper. He wants to wire me the money and I handle the financial aspects on this end. He appears to be in a rush so that someone else doesn't snatch up the car.

Where it gets weird is there is we have the buyer "A", the seller "C" and some other intermediary "B" whom I don't know, never heard of, and don't know what his mission is or what stake he has in the whole operation. A quote from the email stream:

(name) needs your bank details asap so that the money can be transferred, he is then going to send a copy of the receipt to the seller so that he takes it off the market. He will then send you your money separately when you know how much this venture will/has cost you, paid at your will.

My first thought was "if you're going to have a stateside intermediary, then why not hook him up directly with the seller? Why the additional layer?"

I know the guy in the UK about as well as I know Lube77 (just picking an example out of the blue). He has a good rep, we've emailed back and forth a bit over the years, but we have never actually met in person. No idea WTF the (name) person is.

I'm kind of leery of taking on this responsibilty. On one hand, I want to help a brotha out, and I have the knowledge on the automotive side of things to know what's what, but on the other, what kind of risk am I exposing myself to? He's offering compensation for doing this, although we haven't agreed on a specific amount. Also, the car is 2 1/2 hours away from me, and I don't have a tow rig, so I'd have to rent something to drag it around.

Aren't there companies that do this stuff for a living? This can't possibly be a new wheel we're inventing here.

nota · 05-02-2006, 03:16 PM

I wouldnot give any bank acc info to anyone
open a tranfer acc with no funds in it if you can just for this deal

let him pay you up front to inspect,
and more to move the car
have the funds sent by check to the sellor

Don Plumley · Don Plumley's Garage

My $0.02:

You don't want to be in the position of an intermediary. Certainly, you don't want foreign funds wired to your account as if it's over $10K, it will be reported to the feds. You'll then have to explain to someone why it is not income.

He should compensate you as a consultant/advisor regardless if a vehicle is sold. You should have a limitation of liability for no more than your fee. Once you've given him the okay on the vehicle, he can wire the funds to the seller who should then transfer to the carrier. If you want to stand next to the seller at that point, that's gravy for the buyer.

Don

TerryH · TerryH's Garage

Run Forrest run!!

ubiquity0 · 05-03-2006, 12:27 AM

yep- If the buyer in the UK can wire money to you he can just as easily wire it to the seller.

Joeaksa · 05-03-2006, 12:41 AM

Thom,

I have done this for several friends in Europe who wanted a car here in the states, but as advised above did not have anything to do with the funds. Look at the car and let them transfer the funds directly from one account to another. I have done this for years and its very easy to do.

If they insist on your helping with the finances, run away from this as they are trying to get you into a scam...

Joe

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

So I declined, and they worked it out themselves. The seller whined about the tax issue (which he'd tried to slough off onto someone else) and instead convinced the guy buying the bus to cough up another $3k to cover taxes! Un-frickin-believable!

So this bus I paid $7k for, and sold for $10k (and broke even at best, after all the parts and labor I put into it) sells for $45k+. The seller didn't really do much more than throw some hideous green paint on it and lower it.

gaijindabe · 05-05-2006, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by widebody911

I know the guy in the UK about as well as I know Lube77 (just picking an example out of the blue). He has a good rep, we've emailed back and forth a bit over the years, but we have never actually met in person. No idea WTF the (name) person is.

A long weekend and a few hundred dollars to fly from the UK. There are so many scams out there, I would not trust anyone. Give me cash at my bank (and once safely deposited), I will give you the paperwork/keys.