Genuine German Buyer - Advice please guys

[bobnitro]

Hi Folks,

I have been in email contact with a German gentleman over the past week. He has sold his elise and now wants to buy mine. To me he seems totally open and genuine (unlike the bogus mail from others) however, i wanted to get advice off any of you guys who might have experience in selling to an overseas buyer.
The main thing I am concerned about is the bank detail part.....I am not too keen on getting my bank emptied.

So, please see below the string of emails........advice please....and if I am being gullable, then we can all have a laugh and you have saved my Bacon!

FIRST EMAIL

HI,

I AM INTERESTED IN YOUR NICE LOTUS.
I JUST COULD SELL MY ARDENT RED ELISE111S, NOW I AM LOOKING FOR A ELISE R OR EXIGE. YOURS LOOKS REALLY PERFECT, I LOVE THE COMBO WITH THE WHITE STRIPES, LOOKS AWESOME! DO YOU ALSO HAVE THE HARDTOP? I CANNOT SEE IT ON THE PICTURES. ARE THE TIRES STILL GOOD? DOES IT HAVE ANY SCRATCHES OR ROCK CHIPS, VERY RUSTY SUSPENSIOMS, ACCIDENTS OR ANYTHING I SHOULD KNOW? IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU COULD SEND ME SOME MORE PICS TO PKLEINE@?????
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST: WHAT ABOUT THE PRICE? PICKUP WILL COST ME ABOUT 800EUR, NEW LIGHTS 900EUR, GERMAN MOT 130 EUR,SO COULD YOU SELL IT FOR A BIT LESS?
CHEERS, PETER

2ND EMAIL

HI BOB,
THANKS FOR YOUR QUICK RESPONSE TO MY MAIL.DID YOUR WIFE ALREADY DELIVER YOUR BABY, OR ARE YOU STILL WAITING?
YES, I AM STILL VERY INTERESTED IN YOUR LOTUS. £??K IS OK FOR ME.IT WOULD BE GREAT TO HAVE SOME MORE PICTURES, BECAUSE IT IS NOT SO EASY FOR METO COME BY AND TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR ELISE.IT WOULD BE NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU,
THANKS, PETER

My Phone No: 0049 (0)36081 686???

3RD EMAIL

HI BOB,
I´LL KEEP MY FINGERS CROSSED FOR YOU AND YOUR BABY, PLEASE TAKE YOUR TIME WITH THE PICS AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR WIFE.MY LOTUS WILL BE PICKED UP BY THE BUYER THIS WEEKEND, SO I WILL ALSO NOT HAVE THE MONEY EARLIER.I LIVE NEAR KASSEL, IT´S DIRECTLY IN THE CENTER OF GERMANY. I WAS ALSO LOOKING FOR SOME ELISE 111R HERE, BUT I DON`T WANT TO BUY A LHD. IN MY OPINION A BRITISH SPORTSCAR MUST HAVE THE STEERING WHEEL ON THE RIGHT SIDE, OTHERWISE IT IS NOT ORIGINAL ANYMORE.....
GOOD LUCK,
PETER


4TH EMAIL

HI BOB,
GOOD NEWS! THE BUYER PICKED UP MY ELISE TODAY, SO I HAVE THE MONEY AND I AM READY TO GO.IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU COULD SEND ME SOME PICS AS SOON AS YOU HAVE SOME TIME TO MAKE THEM.I ALSO NEED YOUR EBAN AND SWIFT CODE, BECAUSE I WOULD LIKE TO WIRE THE MONEY DIRECTLY TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. I THINK THAT´S THE SAFEST WAY FOR YOU.AS SOON AS THE MONEY HITS YOUR ACCOUNT SAFELY, YOU CAN EMAIL ME. AFTER THAT I WOULD CALL MY SHIPPER TO PICK UP THE ELISE, THEY ALREADY GAVE ME A SHIPPING QUOTE. - OR DO YOU HAVE A BETTER IDEA? I WILL ALSO NEED A CONTRACT OR BILL OF SALE FOR THE GERMAN DLVA, THE LOTUS DOES NOT NEED TO BE REGISTERED, BUT THEN I WILL NEED THE V5C , COPY OF THE ORIGINAL TITLE, AND NUMBERPLATES. I ALSO THINK THAT THEY WILL GIVE YOU A DOCUMENT OF PERMANENT EXPORT WHEN YOU TELL THEM THAT THE CAR IS GOING TO BE SHIPPED TO GERMANY.
IF THE LOTUS IS STILL REGISTERED, I WILL NEED A WEEK FOR THE GERMAN MOT ( HAS TO BE RENEWED ) AND REGISTRATION AT THE GERMAN DLVA.THEY WILL SEND A DOCUMENT TO THE UK DLVA THAT THE CAR IS NO MORE REGISTERED IN THE UK.JUST LET ME KNOW HOW IF THE CAR WILL BE REGISTERED OR SORN.
HOW ABOUT YOUR BABY? COULD YOU GET THINGS MOVING ALONG?
KIND REGARDS, PETER
PETER KLEINE
HALLE KASSELER STR ??
D- 37??? ARENSHAUSEN
IF YOU STILL HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE DON`T HESITATE TO MAIL OR CALL ME.
0049 (0) 3608?????


5TH EMAIL

HI BOB
THE LOTUS LOOKS REALLY SWEET, BEST COLOR, COOLEST RIMS, NICE INTERIOR, STRONGEST ENGINE,I SIMPLY HAVE TO BUY IT....
PLEASE SEND ME A CONTRACT, I WILL SIGN IT AND MAIL OR FAX IT BACK IF YOU GIVE ME YOUR FAX NUMBER.AS SOON AS I HAVE YOUR BIC, SWIFT AND EBAN OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT I WILL WIRE THE MONEY TO YOUR ACCOUNT,YOU SHOULD RECEIVE THE 18,5 K WITHIN THIS WEEK.
AFTER THE MONEY HAS HIT YOUR ACCOUNT, PLEASE LET ME KNOW VIA EMAIL OR CALL ME AT 0049(0) 36081686805.MY SHIPPER NORMALLY IS IN THE UK TWICE A WEEK, I WOULD GIVE THEM YOUR PHONE NUMBER ( PLEASE EMAIL TO ME) TO ARRANGE PICKUP.
PS: BUT WHAT ABOUT YOUR BABY? ARE YOU STILL OVERDUE?
KIND REGARDS, PETER

PETER KLEINE
HALLE KASSELER ???
D- 3???? ARENSHAUSEN
PS: AS ATTACHMENT YOU ALSO HAVE A COPY OF MY ID,YOU MIGHT WANT THE ID NUMBER FOR THE CONTRACT. - SORRY FOR MY BAD HAIR

[dlogan]

Sounds as genuine as possible I would have thought.

No problem giving him your Swift and IBAN number, (top right of your bank statement iirc). all that it is is your acc and sort code mushed up to one long number. He can only pay into it.

It will take 3-5 working days for the money to arrive. As soon as it does, switch it to another account, not that you HAVE to just I did it to feel like I was being sensible.

Draw up a short contract, I can send you the one I did for the Dutch buyer that bought my car.
With regards to shipping, him registering it, paperwork, its really "his problem". Be clear with the paperwork you are giving with the car when its collected, and the rests up to him really.

And err, the rest is a doddle, just the usual selling stuff, dont release till funds are cleared, blah blah.

[Andy G]

I sold the Atom to a Dutch guy - we signed contracts, exchanged proofs of id, and then he sent me the money.

Simple as that.

it was going nowhere till the funds where in my account.

It worked for me, so do your due dilligence, and hopefully you'll be fine.

With the Euro exchange rate the rarer cars are heading to the continent at an unprecidented rate!

Agree with the account switching comment also

[Corranga]

No problem giving him your Swift and IBAN number, (top right of your bank statement iirc). all that it is is your acc and sort code mushed up to one long number. He can only pay into it.

Remember that your account number and sort code is printed on every cheque you've ever handed out, so the bank obviously deem the information safe to give out!

I wonder what the long term effect of all these exported Elise + variants will be. Might be doing the domestic Lotus owner a favour, increasing rarity and thus value?

Chris

[renmure]

I sold the Atom to a Dutch guy - we signed contracts, exchanged proofs of id, and then he sent me the money.

Simple as that.

it was going nowhere till the funds where in my account.

It worked for me, so do your due dilligence, and hopefully you'll be fine.

Same experience here selling the F355 to a guy in Australia.
As long as all you are giving out is the same info you would need if it was you who was buying from him then all will be fine.

[bobnitro]

Sounds as genuine as possible I would have thought.

No problem giving him your Swift and IBAN number, (top right of your bank statement iirc). all that it is is your acc and sort code mushed up to one long number. He can only pay into it.

It will take 3-5 working days for the money to arrive. As soon as it does, switch it to another account, not that you HAVE to just I did it to feel like I was being sensible.

Draw up a short contract, I can send you the one I did for the Dutch buyer that bought my car.
With regards to shipping, him registering it, paperwork, its really "his problem". Be clear with the paperwork you are giving with the car when its collected, and the rests up to him really.

And err, the rest is a doddle, just the usual selling stuff, dont release till funds are cleared, blah blah.

Thanks for the advice...gives me a bit more peace of mind!

Dlogan, would be much appreciated if you could send me through a copy of the contract you drew up.

I will pm you.

Thanks

Bob

[ticktickboom]

jeremy clarkson had a rant in his weekly newspaper article about people being idiots and giving away ALL their bank details and claimed that little can be done with just the account number and sort code.

so he duly printed his account number and sort code in said article.

shortly after, he discovered someone had signed up to a direct debit to donate money to charity using his bank details! ha! and because of data protection the banks/charity would not tell him who did it, or indeed if his signature was faked or whatever.

Quality!

[tenkfeet]

No problem giving him your Swift and IBAN number, (top right of your bank statement iirc). all that it is is your acc and sort code mushed up to one long number. He can only pay into it.

I wonder what the long term effect of all these exported Elise + variants will be. Might be doing the domestic Lotus owner a favour, increasing rarity and thus value?

Chris

S2 111S are going up massively in value . At the end of the summer a good magnetic Blue one will be £16k

[dlogan]

Sounds as genuine as possible I would have thought.

No problem giving him your Swift and IBAN number, (top right of your bank statement iirc). all that it is is your acc and sort code mushed up to one long number. He can only pay into it.

It will take 3-5 working days for the money to arrive. As soon as it does, switch it to another account, not that you HAVE to just I did it to feel like I was being sensible.

Draw up a short contract, I can send you the one I did for the Dutch buyer that bought my car.
With regards to shipping, him registering it, paperwork, its really "his problem". Be clear with the paperwork you are giving with the car when its collected, and the rests up to him really.

And err, the rest is a doddle, just the usual selling stuff, dont release till funds are cleared, blah blah.

Thanks for the advice...gives me a bit more peace of mind!

Dlogan, would be much appreciated if you could send me through a copy of the contract you drew up.

I will pm you.

Thanks

Bob

Sent you a mail Bob,

good luck with the sale.

[ticktickboom]

No problem giving him your Swift and IBAN number, (top right of your bank statement iirc). all that it is is your acc and sort code mushed up to one long number. He can only pay into it.

I wonder what the long term effect of all these exported Elise + variants will be. Might be doing the domestic Lotus owner a favour, increasing rarity and thus value?

Chris

S2 111S are going up massively in value . At the end of the summer a good magnetic Blue one will be £16k

how does one exactly calculate what you can get for selling abroad?

[Stewart]

I am not sure where you could find out the cost of a used LHD for sale in continental Europe but I can understand the interest in our cars.

In Sep 07 £10,000 was worth €14,992 (£0.69 to €1)

In Sep 08 £10,000 was worth €12,658 (£0.79 to 1)

An now £10,000 is worth €11,235 (£0.89 to €1)

In other words if you were going to spend the equivalent of £10k a year and a half ago, the same amount of euros is going to buy you a £13k+ car today

Add to that UK depreciation, I would think that UK cars seem a much cheaper option than they have been since the introduction of the single currency.

[allyrennie]

More to the point, have you had this bloody baby yet?!?!?!?

[bobnitro]

Only 19 Days overdue!

Imminent is the word......Today some time I think !!!

Bob

[tut]

I was offered £16K from Europe for N3 after I bought it for £9.9K.

tut

[ticktickboom]

does ' europe' have the equivalent of pistonheads or hows the best way to advertise? really im looking for what is being advertised to get a gauge on what mine maybe worth!