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Car Sales via Shutterstock

Warning after multiple cases of car sales scam

Sellers are placing ads for cars at very low prices – but there IS a snag.

GARDAÍ HAVE SEEN multiple cases of a new car sales scam over the past five months, they warned the AA this week.

The ruse involves used cars being sold privately on popular websites, according to the AA’s Conor Faughnan.

“Unscrupulous sellers are placing ads for cars at very low prices (sometimes under €1,000), stating that they have six months’ tax and/or NCT,” he explained.

“Then the buyer arrives to look at the car, all seems well and they hand over the money. However, once they realise the car has no tax or NCT, the seller assures them that it does, leaves to retrieve the paperwork and simply never returns.

The buyer is left with an untaxed car that may be unroadworthy or may need further work to pass the NCT. But with no recourse – and no laws broken beyond false advertising – they are left to foot the entire bill.

Gardaí are advising consumers never to hand over money without proof of tax, NCT and the logbook, also known as the Vehicle Registration Certificate or VRC.

The AA also told potential buyers that the scam is easily avoided through a background check on the vehicle.

When buying from a private or trade seller, just ask for the serial number on the VRC and the NCT cert/disc number, it advises. “Enter this data on an AA Car Data Check and it will be cross-referenced with what’s on file for that car.”

“We can authenticate the VRC and the NCT cert number,” added Faughnan. “You can also find out if the car is currently taxed, written-off and or used as a taxi or hackney.”

Read: Google’s newest project will let you put together smartphones like Lego

Elsewhere: TD claims garda was warned last whistleblower was “now washing cars in Navan”

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38 Comments
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    Mute Graham Dunne
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    Apr 14th 2014, 6:52 PM

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_current_account_balance

    If you look at the list on that Wiki page (a few years old, but still) you can see that few countries have surpluses without having major amounts of natural resources. In fact, there are only three countries in the top 15 that don’t have huge amounts of oil and gas: China, Germany and Ireland.

    We have always boxed above our weight.

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    Mute Owl Mick
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    Apr 14th 2014, 6:37 PM

    Excellent! let’s build on this achievement

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    Mute Ignoreland
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    Apr 14th 2014, 6:44 PM

    Just waiting for somebody to comment on this story now and say that’s it’s all spin and lies and that we shouldn’t believe it ….

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    Mute richardmccarthy
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    Apr 15th 2014, 12:16 AM

    I stopped even replying to those posting everything is negative comments,it just gets so boring.

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    Mute Aaron Gregory
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    Apr 14th 2014, 6:48 PM

    This is all spin and lies….not to be believed

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    Mute Ignoreland
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    Apr 14th 2014, 6:49 PM

    Yay! I wasn’t waiting too long.

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Apr 14th 2014, 6:34 PM

    Who knew pot pourri could be worth so much ?

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    Mute Pickart Solny
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    Apr 14th 2014, 6:56 PM

    Does this take into consideration the amount of our people that have fled the country; the long term effects of the famine or the aftermath of the flight of the earls in 1607. This government is trying to brush these events under the carpet with more spin.

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    Mute ipsum oleum
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    Apr 14th 2014, 7:49 PM

    Trying to brush stuff under the carpet with more spin has only one solution…a Dyson

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    Mute Pickart Solny
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    Apr 14th 2014, 8:13 PM

    Excellent.

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    Mute Trevor W
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    Apr 14th 2014, 10:38 PM

    Nice to see some good news among all the corruption and crime for a change.

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    Mute Prince of Burren
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    Apr 14th 2014, 7:56 PM

    Don’t forget theEamonn O Loghlin Immigration Centre in Toronto where they help 50 or so youngsters who have to leave this country for work every day.There is a lot of spin going on, however it is good to hear good news.

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    Mute Pickart Solny
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    Apr 14th 2014, 8:28 PM

    Toronto is a long way to go to work each day, although the traffic on the way home is not as bad as in the morning.

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    Mute Fergal Reid
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    Apr 14th 2014, 9:08 PM

    The jet stream really helps with the commute.

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