Looking at a 06 Boxster S, seller wants to use CTS Capital escrow, cheque is sent to CTS not him.

Says I have 5 days to inspect, test and decide if I want to keep it. If rejected escrow refunds payment to me, funds only released to him after I instruct escrow to do so.

Has anyone dealt with this escrow company or done a transaction like this?

Car is a 06 Boxster S fir 32K, which seems low to me, says he has relocated to UK and car is at his place in Cali, offered to have a relative in florida to fly out and show me the car once payment is confirmed by escrow, this way he knows I'm a serious buyer, says his friend went out once before and buyer was a no show?

What do i do?

 

Sounds really suspicious. I once found a car on Craig's List with an amazing price. The deal was pretty similar to yours. I asked for the VIN # so I could run a carfax, and access so I could have a mechanic inspect. The other party (who's english got progressively worse) said the VIN was with the car which was being held in a crate in Nevada... No VIN... No Access... No deal...

I would find out where the car is at, and have a local mechanic go out for an inspection. You might have a deal, or you might find things get progressively more and more suspicious....

Be careful...

 

provided VIN, ran a car fax and checks out. The only way I can see the car is if I send funds to escrow to show I am a seriouse buyer, the only person who can show the car is in florida and wont fly out again unless there is a seriouse buyer.

 

Contact the escrow company and see how this works from your side. If your money is safe, proceed. You could also suggest an alternative escrow company so you know it is legit. Hard to imagine he doesn't have a single person in CA that could let you look at the car - even if you can't drive it.

 

Beware, and make sure it is not a fake Escrow Company. Pick your own escrow company.

 

Scam. It all sounds VERY fishy...too good a price...He could get that money from a dealer or CarMax...so why deal with all that flying back and forth. Why not ship the car to his friend so he can show it? Wouldnt cost much more that the round trip ticket and his friend wouldnt travel back and forth across the country to keep showing it. Also loot at the CTS website...talk about cheesy and generic!!!! Why send your money there? Its a scam...tell them you want a different escrow service...one that YOU can pick and verify and he can as well....Or offer to fly the friend out on YOUR dime...that way he knows you are serious. If you dont like the car, everyone goes home...if you do, you pay the friend a bank check and take the car on the spot. If he is Legit, he will be OK with other ways to make the transaction work...if he is a scammer...it will be HIS way only....

 

I've never used CTS escrow. I'd be careful. The whole situation sounds mighty odd... You could always see if your bank would act as an escrow agent. At least then you'd have greater control of the terms.

 

just tried to call the escrow company and the # does'nt work from my area, can someone who resides in the U.S. call and see if it works, they are located in New York., N.Y. 1 800 454-3314

Sent them an email asking for an alternate number and they responded "we only make contact via e-mail because it is the only way to track corespondence, and there is a trail"

I guess the only way is to provide a different escrow company, any recomendations from personal experience?

BTW, Newport, your Lexus looks awsome, super clean looking, didn't take you long to start moding that one

 

this is a scam- report the item to ebay. nuf said.

(I'm assuming this is on ebay which is where I usually see them) - someone's ebay account got hijacked and is now being used to perpetuate fraud.

 

Tell him to F#$% off.

Damn scammers!

 

was actually listed on autotrader and cars.com

 

that sucks- I guess it's easier to scam that way, no need to hijack an account.

The whole "oh I'm out of country but my car is here and you ned to pay money first to go see it blah blah blah" is the usual scam. The escrow company is part of the scam.

 

just walk away.... been through this before

 

i get those type of emails all the time. it's a big rip off. the dude just wants your money.

PASS on it.

jorge

 

This is a 100% scam from the get-go.

After reading the first couple of lines of your post, I knew how to finish it from reading about similar cases around the country that originate on websites such as CraigsList, Cars.com, eBay, and AutoTrader.com.

Tell the guy you will give him more $ to meet and do the deal in person.

He won't show up.