barnsleyboy

good call - I'll put it on there and see what happens!

Hi recently advertised my sons car on Facebook Marketplace (VW POLO on for £12k). Got a guy messaged me , usual opener "is this available". Wanted for a run around, asked about engine and body etc. Then requested a "PI report". At first I refused but said if he wanted to get a report I would knock the cost off the value of the car. He was quite insistent that I give him the report so I paid for an RAC HPI and sent it to him (no detail info on it like address, owner name, VIN no etc. but clearly shows MoT is current, and number of owners etc.) This wasn't good enough for him so I asked what he specifically wanted. He sent me a link to a website - alarm bells start ringing! Instead of clicking the link I searched and found what seems to be a legitimate website pulseinspect.com. I said I would generate the report and send it to him the next day - wanted to do a bit more research. However, he was getting very pushy telling me he wanted it now so he could review it. He was also using phrases like I will pay the full asking price. That was the final straw so I said car wasn't available any more, blocked him and took the ad down. My view is if it looks like a scam, quacks like a scam, then it is a scam! I'm trying to work out the mechanism of scammage and can only conclude that either the link he sent takes me to a fake website which steals my card details, the website that I found independently going by the same name is also fake, and/or he is after full details about the car including VIN number so the docs can be cloned for some kind of dodgy dealings. Do any of you lovely people have a view/ experience of something like this?

Hi all, I've always replaced like for like tyres on my Superb Sportline (2018) but the amount of tyres I'm getting through with pothole damage is really starting to get to me. Anybody got any recommendations for a decent cheaper replacement to Pirelli 235/40/R19 96W? I'm gonna have to do it gradually as each tyre needs replacing, starting with the rear nearside which was damaged earlier today.

When both of my sons got their own cars, I recommended that they stay away from black box policies. I'm a bit of a stickler for privacy and the erosion of civil liberties. Don't get me started on Ring doorbells and being constantly monitored through your mobile phone!

Ok, re-reading it, the question I should have asked is "can a black box be hacked in the manner that I mentioned?" Didn't want to come all out with the question!

Hi all, There's a cocky little 17 year old down the road wizzing around the place in a car that has a knackered exhaust - you know, the usual stuff, you can hear it coming 10 miles away, backfires as he's decelerating and throwing it into the corners etc. etc. Apparently he's working and saving up to get it fixed (didn't realise how loud it was when he bought it .... yeah, right, that old chestnut!). I flagged him down the other day to talk to him about the speed that he's driving the car at. He was a bit snidey and when I said about the engine noise indicating to me that he's breaking the law, he said he's got a black box fitted so can't break the speed limit. There was something off about the way he said it, almost like he'd got one over on me! Drawing on 40 years of driving experience I've got a sneaky suspicion that him or maybe one of his car mechanic mates has hacked the box so it can be switched into some kind of standby mode which reports back that the car is parked up outside his parents house, or it is jaming the speed reporting. Back in the mid eighties when I took my driving test (before the touchscreen theory test), the examiner asked me how I would be able to tell how fast I was going without looking at the speedometer. The answer: The car revs and the sound. It comes with experience, and my experience is telling me that something is very off about all this. I don't want to know the how to bit, but in theory does anyone on here think my suspicions might be right? A 17 year olds brain is still developing, so risk and consequences are probably not even rattling around in there. If he kills himself that would be a tragedy, if he killed (or maimed) someone else, it would be manslaughter. Any advice please?

Hi all, Anybody had any recent issues with Bristos service department in Ipswich that they'd like to share? Issues like being ripped off, things mysteriously not working after they've worked on your car, being quoted more for a service than they should be? I posted this elsewhere on the site not realising there was a section for Dealer reviews!