I might have found the wagon I am looking for, but skeptical. Opinions and advice please?

Need some help here because my scam radar is going off. I have a previous post(http://www.stationwagonforums.com/f...idea-to-find-a-wagon-input-appreciated.52774/) explaining my search for a wagon for an upcoming family reunion next summer.

A few weeks ago I found a listing for a 1973 Chevrolet Caprice Estate, almost identical to the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser my family had when I was a kid. It looks to be in great shape. I sent a request for more details to the seller through the listing's website. The seller wrote back explaining he is currently overseas (red flag #1) and he has left the vehicle with a shipper who is handling the transaction: Proceed Shipping, Ltd. My research shows that they are a UK-based company but have a location in Seattle, which is where the car is currently located, according to the seller. The ad said it was located in Hartford, CT, (i.e. closer to me in Philly so I could at least drive up there to take a look) but the seller said he had a buyer in Seattle who backed out of the deal, so that's where the car is now, ready to be shipped. (Red flag #2.)

The shipping company's website is http://proceed-shipping.com/. There is NOT a lot of info to be found through Google on this company (red flag #3) but the website looks legit. Apparently they handle international vehicle sales and transportation and use an escrow until the buyer receives the car, has a chance to inspect it and approves the vehicle condition. This process is outlined on their website. If I don't approve, the car gets shipped back and I get my money back.

I asked if it is possible to view the vehicle prior to the sale. Here was the response:

Unfortunately, we cannot arrange pre-inspection because in Seattle, WA is only a transit warehouse without any packing, cleaning or sealing materials. The vehicle has passed the inspection and now is inside a 20ft dedicated container sealed and ready to be shipped. There is nobody there to deal with the transaction.

VEHICLE INSPECTION REPORT - SUMMARY
This vehicle passes Proceed's inspection. An owner's manual and spare key are included.
Encumbrance status - No encumbrance reported.
Written off status - No written off incidents reported.
Odometer reading - No odometer rollback reported.
Stolen status - No record of vehicle as stolen.
Cosmetic Condition - No flaws above normal wear were found.

Your vehicle will be moved using a specialty shipping system designed and tested to protect against damage and wear. Our drivers provide detailed inspection reports to the shipper and recipient with each move.

We hope this helps with your planning and please do let us know if you would like any further details.
​

I've been communicating with them only via email, so I wrote back to request a phone number to talk with the company rep, stating that I am hesitant to make a major purchase like this sight-unseen and without actually talking to a live person. I will admit that the email communications all seem professional, even with my heightened skepticism. But I am surprised that they would pay to ship the car to me, across the country, and I then have the option to return it at no cost to me if I don't like it.

Here are the pictures the seller has sent me. So my questions: Has anyone on this forum seen this car before? Or know anything about Proceed Shipping, Ltd? Does this seem legitimate, or a carefully-crafted scam?

 

VERY IMPORTANT!
Under NO circumstances - time limitations or whatever, should you let those things short-circuit your good judgement.
What would you advise a good friend if he were in this situation?

You probably didn't get to ask the question, "Do i have to pay you FIRST, and then if you ship it to me and I don't like it, I now have to get my money back from you somehow?"
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As an aside, I don't know if we've seen this particular vehicle before, or not. We do have a member who HAD a yellow Kingswood Estate like this (with a matching yellow boat). He was even featured with it on a early Jay Leno's Garage show. He sold it some time back. These particular pics don't look familiar to me, and the 'setting' doesn't look like anything around San Diego, where he lives.

Forget about this one.

Marshall
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P.S.
Go to Google Earth, and look up 7245 2nd Avenue SW, Seattle, Washington. That's the address of their location. Look at the property. Dirt lot with a bunch of container trailers. No office. No nothing.

 

Yep, there is no way I am parting with any money until the car is verified to actually exist. If the seller is really intent on selling this car, they are going to need to unpack it from that shipping container to allow me (or someone I trust) to actually view it in person.

But I was curious if anyone has ever heard of something like this, either as a legitimate transaction, or someone being really scammed...?

 

Yeah you're likely right. I might string them along for a while just for fun.

 

It could be legit, but that is a terrible way to try to sell a 45+ year old car if it is. I'd pass and let him find someone else. That said I've bought 4-5 cars across the country based only on pictures and the sellers descriptions over the past 20 years or so and I have yet to get burned. Then again I'm only dealing with cars in the $2-$3k range so no huge loss.

 

Let me make sure I understand this. The seller is overseas (did he explain why? in the military?). The car was originally in CT but was shipped to Washington because it had been tentatively sold to a buyer there. But apparently the buyer and seller had something worked out where, if the buyer didn't like the car once he saw it in person, he could back out of the deal and leave the seller holding the bag with his car now on the other side of the country. Who paid for the shipping of the car in this instance?

This doesn't make any sense. Passed what inspection? How would the buyer who backed out of the deal have had a chance to look at the car and decide he didn't want it if it wasn't removed from the shipping container and brought out into the sunshine? And then why would the seller, once the buyer rejected the vehicle, have it "sealed" back up again if he was at the same time trying to sell it? Why not leave it out of the container, since it was already unpacked anyway, while it's in Seattle so people can see it, and then, after it's sold, pack it back into the container for shipping if needed. UNLESS the first buyer backed out of the deal for reasons having nothing to do with the car itself, and he backed out BEFORE the car was unpacked. So the car might never have been unpacked.

Very strange, and I would think that the seller would need to have the car removed from the container, anyway, if he expects to sell it. After all, the car could very well be sold to someone right there in Seattle, and thus there would be no need for shipping. Potential buyers are going to want to see the car, and few potential buyers are willing to buy it sight unseen, especially for the goofy reasons given here.


As has been noted, this is fishy-and-a-half. The only way I would consider this car is if I can see it in person before I lay out any money. If he wants to ship it back to the east coast at his expense and then you can go look at it, fine. But as others have said, I would not part with any money until you have satisfied yourself that the car is legitimate.

 

Tell you what......
If you can...
1. See a photo of the title, and a signed Power of Attorney
2. Get them to agree to allow an inspection
- I'll go look at it for you. All I would need is some gas money. 566 miles round trip from my house. $85 should cover it.

 

Hell, Marshall, if they allow an inspection, I'll meet you, give my professional mechanic's opinion. And if you aren't able to make it up here for whatever reason, I'll go look at it. But my BS/SCAM radar is screaming at me that this is screwed, blued and tattooed, even if the car is there, in a container. Oh, and BTW, even for insurance bonding, any containerized cargo is locked in, but is not tagged until delivered to the railroad yard, and done by the railroad. So it is only the sweat off the lazy yard master's back to produce the keys to unlock it for a look-see, before it's shipped. But, I think it's a doozy of a scam.

 

I agree with all that you guys are saying. If it looks like sh!#,smells like sh!#, it's most probably SH!#. When I bought my wagon it was nearly a thousand miles away, bought it "sight unseen " but I talked with the guy selling it directly over the phone for nearly a hour the first time I called . I personally would run from this as if I was running from a swarm of hornets!.....Longroofs Rule!

 

Same here. My Way-Back Machine was 2,000 miles away in Onalaska, Wisconsin, and it was the middle of November, 2012 before I agreed to buy it. A very kind and well-respected gentleman here on the forum, known as 'Silverfox' went 90 miles to go inspect it for me. Bought it and shipped it.

 

As Sean Connery once said to Harrison Ford -"Let it go Indy, just let it go".

 

I agree with Sir Sean.

 

Few days ago I saw an interesting car on yupyi.com, started a request, which is anonymous from that page.
Today I received an email with an almost identical content (guy is overseas, car ad shows Arkansa, but car is now in Seattle with the company proceed-shipping ltd, they take care of everything, same conditions as stated above etc).
The person sending the emails is registered as company director for 2nd hand car dealer in the UK, but is pretending to have another job in oil.
Is pretty new setup, that's why you won't find any info in Google. Just with spending quite some effort, I found the comment in this forum.
Let it go..... for sure!

 

OK, in Post #2 above, I mentioned that the wagon sort of looked familiar - like one owned by a fellow SWF member, who I couldn't remember - and his wagon had a matching boat to go with it. Also mentioned that he and the wagon appeared on Jay Leno's Garage some time back.

Well, I found the thread that told of all this. The member is 'rrbnut'. The wagon though is NOT this one. rrb's was a 1976......
Here's the thread.....
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/threads/happened-last-friday-at-jay-lenos-garage.37196/