A few weeks I posted some questions I had about a few cars which caught my eyes on "autoscout"
2 were definitely scams, but the 3rd seemed relatively ok.... So I decided to give this guy (and his car) a chance :
The guy works at a trading company specilizing in importing goods (and used cars) from the west to Eastern Europe and Russia.
1. I checked the company name on google - had many references - mostly in Russian, but also in German.
2. Checked their address and traced it back to the same company.
3. Checked images and info on the street where they are and found a few other companies of the same nature (it's near the north-German port).
4. Checked the guy's name with the employees list - and found him there.
5. Spoke to the guy on the phone several times. He actually told me about 2 things missing in the car, to be sure if I was still interested.
6. We set a date and my partner and I actually drove the 550 km to meet this guy and check the car. We found him exactly where he said we would. The company is housed in a building - I asked the receptionist when I came in - and she knew who he was.
7. I checked under the hood and test-drove the car. All was great. He gave me copies of all the car papers (German papers and import papers).
8. On the import papers I found the VIN and got a full CarFax report - clean title.
9. We agreed on a final price and he said they had an empty truck going south-west, so he could send the car 500 km closer to me (the import company I found is a rip-off - like everything else in Holland).
So far - I have to admit things don't look too "scammy", I feel like I'm being ripped-off by the government (45% "luxury" tax for a car under 10,000 Euros) but that's all.
Now I wonder what's the best thing to do for payment - I'm not sure I want to carry this much cash on me, a bank-transfer I can not get back if something goes wrong, and generally I'm not sure of what the best way is...
Please advise ????