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Lobster

Lobster

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So, I wonder, how easy it for anyone in the UK to buy a car advertised on Leboncoin?

Do French sellers using it take people from the UK wanting to buy their old Renault seriously?

It seems (as has been discussed here before) that the R4s in France are probably in better condition, cheaper (slightly) and there is obviously a much wider selection.

How has anyone gone on with it? I'm not bothered how to get it back and legal, that seems relatively easy, more the process of finding and buying one in the first place.

Your thoughts please!
 
Well I have now tried to buy at least three cars off of leboncoin and failed with two. I have contacted no end of sellers asking for further details etc but most of them never reply. In my opinion the sellers dont respond to emails very fast - if at all ( i think that is Stuart Delahoy's impression too) The only way to buy a car is to call them up and arrange to see/buy it.

I think we here in blighty are the opposite I certianly am, we/i email all the time instead of calling and if i get a reply to my questions i then call up if it is what i want to buy.

I have missed several what i would class as gems now because french sellers either dont check their emails or await for a buyer by phone, which is fair enough. However surley if an englishman is enquiring into buying a french car he must be fairly serious or he wouldn't bother ????
 
Hi Mike

Similar experience with eBay France. Most offer 'posting in France' - and ignore if you ask price to send to GB.

I came away thinking that they are protective of anything leaving the Republic!

Incidentally, I don't rely on schoolboy French when asking - I politely ask using Google Translator!

C'est la vie!

Et Vive la france ;)
 
Hello
I bought my Renault 4 off Ebay France over a year ago and did not have any problems.

The French have got wise to the demand for the Renault and you can see some silly prices, as for Leboncoin there is always a large selection on there.
 
We live in France, and quite often email about things for sale on Leboncoin, perhaps 30% of them reply - its a french email address, although I cannot claim to be fluent, most of it is understandable.
Best to phone, and arrange to view. We always phone again immediately before setting off, the reactions to doing this vary from 'oh I sold it yesterday' to 'you were the first person to ring me, no one else will see it before you do' (the second before we made a 4 hours trip to see a caravan, having made the appointment 4 days before!) Some seem to work on the basis of first to arrive with the money gets it, some on the basis of whoever rings first - much the same as the UK, I suppose.
Re Edwards response - secondhand car prices are much higher here than in the UK, the market is not distorted by the company car market like the UK, where less than half the people driving new cars actually own them, and 3 / 4 year old cars are dumped on the secondhand market lowering prices all round. We always haggle over the price, ask if it's 'a debattre'. :)
 
Firstandbest said:
Hi Mike


Incidentally, I don't rely on schoolboy French when asking - I politely ask using Google Translator!
Click to expand...

You could be asking for anything if you use the google translator. :eek: I would stick to the schoolboy French.

It's my experience that the French are generally not very interested in emails and forums etc. The usual way of communication is by telephone. But of course that is sometimes a bit daunting especially if the line is bad.
 
Yes i saw that one, its on leboncoin too. The one i wanted was only 600 euros but it went with in a day
 
..Leboncoin - BEWARE of SCAMMERS -

Just a quick note to tell you all to beware of Scammers on Leboncoin as Michael and I have recently been scammed and well..lost a lot of money...at Carrefour!!

I will leave Michael to tell you all about it but Beware of Frenchmen Bearing Cheap Motor Gifts...
 
..Don't worry Lobster...

..Nothing sinister at all about Carrefour.

We went to Calais to collect a car but the supposed owner failed to pitch up with the car as agreed.

We then decided that as we were in Calais, we would spend a few of our Euros in Carrefour to cheer ourselves up!!
 
^^^^ Yes as Ian mentions above there appears to be alot of scammers about. I was amazed to learn this because i thought Frenchmen were mainly 'old' fashioned in their ways and completly honest, espically as the cheque is as good as cash over there.

We waited and waited, I got all excited and ended up with butterflies in my belly because i was so excited about driving the old bus back to Cambridge but after 10am passed the doubt had kicked in and my heart sank. I couldn't believe it, it is the first time any thing like this has ever happened to me.

I have since been doing some private homework into the issue and if you find and add with no contact NUMBER the chances are its a SCAM. ALot of it seems to be coming from Senagal. The same goes for the website web my car, if you look on the french version you will see the same car listed several times but is for sale in different departments. This Is Deffinatly A Scam! "Husband has died, seeing the car makes me cry, you buy it cheap because i want quick sale, I use good company to deliver.

So far i have found all the scammers are using Gmail email accounts.

BEWARE
vvvvvvvv
 
We have often found items that look too cheap to be true - they usually are!
If there is a landline number, you can often check the whereabouts of the owner of the landline by looking up www.pagesjaune.fr then looking at 'a qui est ce numero' - put in the 10 digit telephone number and as long as its not ex directory it comes up with the name and address. We often baffle french people when answering ads, they ask do you want the address and we reply no its ......so and so!
Personally would not travel any more than about 10 miles to meet an unknown man in a supermarket car park to see a car on the basis of a mobile phone call :) any consumer advice organisation would surely advise against it.
 
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