<VV> email scammers

[Bill Elliott]

As someone who does a lot of European business, let me make a couple 
(okay, several)  points.

- The US$ is very very weak right now and any US car is a good buy.
- Corvairs are still particularly cheap here, even more so there.
- Corvairs are all pre 1973, so they get free registration/road tax in 
the UK
- Corvairs have exceptionally low "petrol consumption" as compared to 
other US classics
- Corvairs are a more reasonable size on UK roads than other US classics
- Several UK magazines (particularly "Practical Classics" and  "Classic 
& Sports Car") have recently either featured or have discussed the 
Corvair in very positive  terms. (In fact, we almost had a senior C&SC 
writer over for our Yenko and CORSA events last summer, but he was 
unable to get an audience with Mr. Nader which his editor had as a 
requirement to pay for the trip. Another C&SC staff is also considering 
a late model as a project car...)
-Corvairs are unique in the UK and do not carry the same sort of infamy 
as they do here... and are not thought of as economy cars.

So having UK (or European) interest in our cars should not come as a 
surprise to anybody.

However, unlike the US, electronic funds transfer in the UK (and most of 
the rest of Europe) is extremely inexpensive and very common. Europeans 
don't understand why it's so (relatively) difficult and expensive for us 
to do EFT here... and virtually always want to be paid via EFT... 
because unlike here, cashing a check in US$ or even cashing in US bills 
larger than $20's is expensive and difficult for many areas.

So from that point of view, the original question absolutely sounds like 
a scam. But don't discard European offers out of hand because there is a 
growing interest in our cars there.

(I have excellent contacts for shipping back and forth and will be glad 
to assist anyone who needs it...)

Bill Elliott

J R Read_HML wrote:

> Well, I DID sell a car to "a guy in England" who saw it on the Corsa 
> On Line Classifieds.  It was a nerve wracking experience and took way 
> longer to complete than it should have, but it was a legit deal and 
> eventually everything was completed.  That "guy" could very well be 
> lurking here on VV as I put him onto it at the time -about 10 months 
> ago.  Oh, I think Lon Wall made a nice sale as well.  My buyer placed 
> an order with CU and had it shipped to me to be packed in the trunk of 
> the car.
>
> Later, JR
>
> CCE and CORSA member
> '61 Rampside Standard 4/110
> '65 Monza Convertible 4/140 (used to be X 2)
> '66 beater 500 Coupe "icemobile" 4/140 (50%)
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Lee at Proper Pro Per" 
> <chaz at ProperProPer.com>
> To: "Kevin Kiewel" <flamingchariots at yahoo.com>
> Cc: "Virtual Vairs" <VirtualVairs at corvair.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 3:11 AM
> Subject: Re: <VV> email scammers
>
>
>> I listed my Corvair on our town's local classified web site, and got 
>> an email from a guy in England, who said he would buy it if I sent 
>> his $500 to take care of setting up the transfer.
>>
>> He said he would give me the price I asked "without question" if I 
>> would send the money to him.
>>
>> So, I sent him the cash, .... (just kidding.)
>>
>> Anyway, does this sound like him ?
>>
>> CL
>>
>