Thursday, October 16, 2014

Another Scam Online? Beware of Used Cars for Sale!

There's that time in your life that despite the traffic in Edsa, the flooded streets, the high cost of penalties and charges for traffic violations, the ever increasing cost of gas, toll and parking, and all bumps in the road, you still want to own your own car. If it has not happened to you, it has happened to us.

Just like everyone else, we tried all we can and what we can and even who we can - to get a new car. After finding out the requirements, rate, initial deposit, chattel mortgage, insurance, LTO registration, and monthly payments and others, we realized it costs a lot to get a new car. Added to this is my not so good credit rating because of my previous credit card issues so the interest went higher and the required deposit is a lot higher too compared to the normal 20%.



I, with my normal audit and accounting skills, but honestly my "kuripot" expertise, got into thinking about other options. And so, I went ahead and spent hours and almost every day checking various sites for used cars for sale. I was thinking maybe they would sell less considering the mileage and depreciation cost. Of course, I was right. Since my budget increased for every month my car loan was not yet approved, I started hoping to find a better car. I no longer look for older models but I was now looking for bigger car, an SUV, considering the flooded streets from Laguna to Manila and back.


In my normal "woman's calculator" brains, I was thinking if I get a used car then we do not have to think of monthly payments. We can use the money for something else, like start paying for our own home. We can also have extra budget for whatever. I won't go through PMS monthly thinking about higher bills. 

And so there it goes, I realized OLX.com and Tsikot.com have cars that I wanted and they have a user-friendly search engines for me to customize my search based on the vehicle I wanted and I can afford. And eventually, I found something I like. It was a Toyota RAV4. It was sold for only P160K and it was automatic, runs on gasoline, first-owned, low mileage and only in Metro Manila. I was getting excited. I emailed the owner in June and he got back to me just this October. Was I still excited? Of course, I still was until the emails were getting a little suspicious and I was becoming more hesitant than excited.




The owner, a Mr. Enriquez says he is in France and his caretaker will send me the vehicle and documents. He asked for my info and on the same day the caretaker, a Mr. Bayona emailed me the payment details. Mr. Bayona wanted me to make a Western Union payment of P150K and a cash payment of P10K. I should give him the Western Union payment details without the MTCN and when I have the vehicle, done a test drive and willing to buy the vehicle, I will give him the P10K cash, the MTCN for the P150K and he will in turn give me the documents with the pre-signed Deed of Sale. Well, of course, the "Kuripot" me started checking how much fees would it cost to send P150K through Western Union? If I did not like the vehicle, how will I get these fees back? Who in their right mind would pay me back the fees even if I did not buy anything from them? Am really getting a Toyota Rav4 for P160K? Too good to be true, right? 

I told my partner of this proposal and I am sure he can tell with my voice that I was half-hearted with the entire thing. He was 90% hesitant. He felt that there was something fishy with the transaction. I emailed back and told them if we can make a check payment instead. We can even deposit the check right away if we are satisfied with the vehicle performance. They insist on a Western Union payment. They wanted proof that we can deposit the payment so he can prepare the vehicle as he was coming from Naga. I was starting to have more questions now. Why is he in Naga? He will be driving my Toyota Rav4 from Naga, what happens to the car mileage? LOL!

Before giving my final decision, I made a last search online. I started checking for their names, Facebook accounts and other info but I could not find any. Hmnn. I then started checking online car sale scams. I found these articles very helpful and one which is very similar to my case. It seemed to me that this was not just a coincidence. In short, we have arrived at a decision not to proceed with the sale. I am not saying that the persons I corresponded with are certified scammers but as they say - when you doubt, don't!

To conclude, friends and family would always say, "If you can afford it then buy a new car and save yourself the trouble." My financial expert friend says, "If you still want to buy used cars, buy from the bank." And my God smiles and says, "Wait." I hope you learn from this experience too. 



For us, we learned and we'll keep praying, doing and moving till we have our prayers answered. We just know we'll get there and we'll drive our prayed for car soon!







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