Beware of this scam that could knock thousands off your car’s price when it comes to selling
Michael Browne is warning private car sellers to look out for the 'oil in coolant' scam after buyers tampered with his Volkswagen Touareg - and then offered a cut-price for the wrecked motor
BEWARE of potential car buyers scamming you out of thousands of pounds by discreetly adding oil to the coolant reservoir of your motor - and then offering a knocked-down price.
Michael Browne from Kent caught con artists when they came to view his Volkswagen Touareg that was listed on AutoTrader.
The buyer, who was joined buy a friend and a young boy thought to be aged 11, initially offered £300 less than the £3,600 asking price before seeing the car.
While the scammers were inspecting the VW, Michael heard a noise of what he thinks was a bottle being squeezed, but he dismissed it.
However, smoke started billowing from the 13-year-old VW during the test drive, after which the buyer asked to have another look at the engine.
He dipped his finger in the coolant and showed Michael the dirty oil, but the 40-year-old building company director had only checked and topped up the coolant just two weeks prior.
The con artists then offered £1,100 for the Touareg - less than a third of the price which it was on sale for - claiming that it needed a new engine.
Michael then found oil on the engine, as well as a patch under the car, and asked the buyers to leave after growing suspicious.
Explaining how the oil could have got into the coolant, he said: "While one was looking at the engine, the other one wanted to look at the spare tyre so they got me around to the boot.
"That must have been when the young lad who was around the front put dirty oil in the coolant. I think they used a squeezy bottle.
"While I was looking at the engine, he must have put some in the exhaust pipe."
MORE FROM MOTORS
The car was taken to a garage for the system to be flushed through before Michael found out online that the scam is a common occurrence.
Two years ago, another case of the con was caught on CCTV, with the buyers offering just £500 for a £1,750 BMW 5 Series that they tampered with.
Michael added: "I didn't think of taking a registration or anything. I just wanted to get rid of them."
He posted about his experience on social media and has urged other private sellers to be vigilant.