Question on buying a car on eBay

Hi, I saw a car I really liked on eBay but have never bought that way before and am a little apprehensive - was wondering if anyone has such experience. The item was removed from the site before I bid and when I contacted the seller I was told "t[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif]he auction has been ended early for a "buyer" and it looks like he failed for a Ioan". He also stated that he is "[/FONT][FONT=Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif]currently out of the country with some business and f[/FONT][FONT=Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif]or our protection, payment will be made through eBay Motors. He states that he is affiliated at eBay Motors vehicle purchase program and has Purchase Protection Account for GBP 10,000.00. I have never heard of this before - is it legit?[/FONT]
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I'd really like to buy this car but would love to hear from any other AAMers who have bought on eBay or especially used the PPA scheme to know if it is really secure - apparently payment is not completed until I have had the car for 5 days and am 100% satisfied - sounds wonderful, if it's true?

Any help would be gratefully received.

R.[/FONT]

Not sure about the 5-day satisfaction thingy but as far as I know eBay does cover transactions for certain amounts. So it may well be true that he is covered for GBP£10k.

Did you have a good look around the eBay site itself? Any hints there?

EDIT: Check this link, seems vehicle purchases are protected.

Have you seen and inspected the car? Have you done a HPI report on it?

If you have then blast away.

If not you are utterly mad.

If you cant inspect the car in person and call around to the owners house with a cheque payable to them then I wouldnt do it.
I think paypal offers insurance when you pay using them but they then only insure you up to 500 euro.

I was bidding an a car in the uk on ebay and lost (£8700) - the guy whom won it pulled out and i got an email from the seller saying I could have it for the winning price ~ I told him I'd pay £8K cash I could be over within 5 days. He asked for a deposit of £500 but i said I would only give £100 and he was fine with that. To cut the story short I went and collected the car and all went well. I have bought another car off ebay uk since and no bother.
I did not run HPI checks.

jimmyd said:

I was bidding an a car in the uk on ebay and lost (£8700) - the guy whom won it pulled out and i got an email from the seller saying I could have it for the winning price ~ I told him I'd pay £8K cash I could be over within 5 days. He asked for a deposit of £500 but i said I would only give £100 and he was fine with that. To cut the story short I went and collected the car and all went well. I have bought another car off ebay uk since and no bother.
I did not run HPI checks.

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I think you have taken enormous risks here. How do you know that the car isn't clocked, or stolen, or has o/s finance?

try and ensure it's not subject to a hire purchase agreement. If an Irish car check www.cartell.ie - don't know about English cars but try checking the citizen's advise site to find out how to check them.

I have bought many cars bikes & boats etc on ebay. There are a lot more scams and iffy deals out there now than in the early days. At the sort of money you are talkng I would suggest giving small deposit and flying over and looking at the car for yourself. If you have to walk away then you'll be out 300- 400 euro. Most sellers will give you a few days to get yourself over there. You can HPI it on the spot by calling one of the HPI companies of which there are loads. This will costs £40 for a full check and insures you up to £10k for the next 12 months against any false info being provided by them. If the seller is a trader he should be able to do a baisc HPI it very cheaply about £3 but you should do your own.
Another suggestion is to ask a UK based friend of a friend or whoever to check it out for you over there.

Ta

H

RS2K said:

I think you have taken enormous risks here. How do you know that the car isn't clocked, or stolen, or has o/s finance?

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Car had every MOT cert and a full Service history \ receipts with it - I went throught that over there and said if that wasent adding up i would just walk back into the airport and fly home with a loass of £100 plus flights.

jimmyd said:

Car had every MOT cert and a full Service history \ receipts with it - I went throught that over there and said if that wasent adding up i would just walk back into the airport and fly home with a loass of £100 plus flights.

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What about theft, crash damage, insurance w/o, or o/s finance?

HPI check is inexpensive STG£40, and gives you a STG£10k warranty.