Has anyone heard of square trade?

[Jackie Richardson]

Hi all,



I have a friend at work who found a car he likes on auto trader. The guy selling the car is out of the country and wants to use a company called square trade to complete the transaction and then have that company ship the car to the buyer. Have any of you heard of square trade, he is a little worried since it is a great deal for a subaru(?). Wish i had more info for you but that is all I know. I can get more information tomorrow if you need it.

 

[Robert Barker]

Out of the country? Be VERY careful!

 

[Kevin Palmer]

I have a friend who used Square Trade to send a vehicle over-seas. The transaction went flawless.





I bought an item off E-bay. Did not get it in a reasonable amount of time. Contacted E-bay and the linked me to Square Trade who does there "Solutions" when this type of problem comes to their attention.



After a few contacts from Square Trade to the seller the problem was solved as they were going to sue the seller. You pay a fee for the service if it gets to the suing process. Before that it was free, (e-mails, snail mail and phone calls).

 

[David Crockett]

Never heard of Square Trade. I agree with Tennessee: I'd leave it alone. Sounds like a potential scam to me.

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Here is their link.



http://www.squaretrade.com/cnt/jsp/index.jsp

 

[David Replogle]

Here is a post from last December about purchasing a car from overseas........

 

[Fer Echegaray]

I'd avoid buying a car from overseas, but I've never read a complain about Square Trade, and Ebay recommends them.

 

[Travis Munday]

I'm hoping my next car will be specially imported from overseas, but I'm going through a reputable company (or seems to be) that imports the cars to the States, legalizes them, and then releases them to the customer....I hope it goes well, if it goes at all.

 

[Travis Munday]

Scott is right, many times cars are specially made for the US market, they need to meet certian bumper, lighting, and smog regulations. Importing a car without a company that specializes in importation is risky indeed. In some cases, you ahve up to 30 days to either legalize the car, export it, destory it, or the government will take it and destory it for you. This <a href="http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/entering_us/7importingyourcar.htm" target="top">link</a> will provide some insight on what it will take to get a car imported.

 

[Rob T]

From reading the first post, I dont think the car is out of the country. I think the person selling it is. Maybe a member of our military or something.

 

[Teddy GreeneII]

No thanks.

 

[Gene Zenk]

Be VERY CAREFUL on this transaction. Verify everything somehow, someway. I was interested in a waverunner on ebay and the seller advised it was in Europe somewhere so I knew it was probably a scam. They said they wanted to use Square Trade. They had very legitmate looking emails that appeared to come from Square Trade but the sentences were broken as if they were written by someone that does not speak English as their first language. After doing some research, they had a mocked up website at something like www.square-trade.com instead of the regular site.



So, I played their game a while asking stupid questions hoping to waste some of their time.



If the only form of payment they accept is via Western Union and they give you instructions to tell Western Union that they are a close personal friend - it is definitely a scam. As Western Union would probably ask some questions about this transaction to try and prevent fraud.



I would pass on this transaction.

 

[Jackie Richardson]

I guess I should have made it a little clearer, I was writting this while trying to tie up my day at work. Rob you are right the car is here in the country in Dripping Springs, Texas about 170 miles from where we are and the guy is in London. From his e-mail my co-worker showed me he was there on vacation with his family when his son who owned the car died tragically, now they need the money. The e-mail is in broken english or someone with really bad gramer. My first thought was scam, but told my co-worker I would post on here to see what you guys thought. Would running the VIN help, he does have that? Any more thoughts.



Thnaks to all of you who have posted, I will show this to him tomorrow so he can make an informed decision.

 

[Jerry Johnson]

It's a SCAM



I have a friend that almost bought a Firebird under the almost the same circumstances from Auto Trader. But after some research we found the same car listed on E-bay (the legimitate owner). Do not waste your time checking out the VIN number. The VIN number will be taken from another legitimate vehicle (probably taken from another vehicle on E-bay). Why would you be in London on vacation (expensive place to travel) when you are desperate for extra cash? The tragic death thing is told just to play on your sympathy.



Good luck,

Jerry

 

[Paul Maurer 2]

Wow- thats a lousy scam attempt.. Sounds preposterous- if a son died, obviously you would come home from vacation. Also- how did they set it up on Autotrader in the midst of their grieving? A flight home is only a few hundred dollars:wacko:. I would run away.....

 

[David Replogle]

Its a SCAM !!!!!!!!!!!!



Do some basic searches on Google and you will find all sorts of info on it. Here are just a few things I came up with in a matter of seconds.









http://www.scam.com/forumdisplay.php?f=9



http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=2749&page=1&pp=40





http://answercenter.ebay.com/thread.jsp?forum=10&thread=810060324

 

[Jackie Richardson]

Thanks guys for all your help. My co-worker decided against after reading some of the links provided. Found an e-mail almost identical to the one he received. He tried calling the number the guy gave him and the person on the phone said they do not and have not had a car for sale.



Thanks again for the help he was very surprised so many people were willing to help with their suggestions, very impressed. I told him, but he did not believe until today.