Information

Stop sign image

Warning!

Do not trust people who will ask you for passwords

from your Credit Card

from your e-banking or viva wallet

received by SMS, Viber or WhatsApp

at links sent to you

They will scam you and you will lose money!

Market Guide for Vehicles

Do not send deposits Do not be influenced by the good price. Do not send a deposit to ads that work with email or foreign ads.
More specifically, do not send a deposit

In ads that have email in the photos or in the description.
You will lose your money.

If you have any problems with private or merchant ads, or if you see any fake ads, please notify us immediately at [email protected] or report and make a comment on the ad. In every ad, below the photo field, you can make a comment (e.g. if some ad is fake, misleading, or wrong, etc.). This way, you all help to have "correct" ads.

If the vehicle is in Greece it is preferable for you to go and pay for it yourselves and buy it immediately, after you receive the relevant documents.
Do not send money without seeing the seller or getting the vehicle; it is almost certain that you will lose it. Always ask for 1) the seller's landline phone and 2) even more securely, ask the seller to send you a responsible declaration of Law 105 signed by CRA stating that he will receive the deposit for this specific item. Many scammers find various excuses (e.g. they tell you they have a "high” position, e.g. in the public sector, or that you will lose a good opportunity, or that they really need it, etc.) to deceive you. They even give you a real name and real bank account number in a Greek bank and refuse to meet you. They don't care how they get the money, e.g. with a card.
Scammers often write that they are very far away, e.g. on an island, so you can't easily go. One trick to be able to check the seller is to tell him that you are interested immediately in the vehicle and because you are very far away if he wants you to send him a deposit. If he is honest, he will tell you that he does not want a deposit and it is more correct for you to go see the vehicle first.

If the vehicle is abroad it is better to "book" the car with a private contract that you will send via fax and then travel to pay for it and arrange its transport yourself by taking the ownership title.
When you pay for the vehicle, it is good to see the seller's ID and make a photocopy. If it is a spare part, it is better to go and pay for it yourself and collect it or have the seller send you the goods on delivery, so that you pay for the goods on collection. That way you are sure it will be shipped and you won't lose your money. If you place a Wanted ad.
If you placed a Wanted ad and someone contacts you claiming to have the specific item you are looking for, it is better to go and pick it up yourself. If they ask you for a deposit, do not send it.
If you do send, always ask for 1) the seller's landline phone number and 2) it is even more secure for the seller to send you a responsible affidavit of Law 105 signed by CRA stating that he will receive the deposit for the specific merchandise.

They tell you that they have deposited the money, show you a fake deposit slip that has been forged but looks authentic. They come well-dressed, polite, etc. They say that the money has been transferred, but because, for example, it is from another bank, it will take time to appear in your account, and that they are in a hurry to get the vehicle (or other excuses). You believe them and make the transfer. Then it's too late
Do not send anything if you don’t see the money in your account and the bank confirms it is available.

Scammers put emails in the photos or in the text of the ads!!! Attention you will lose your money.
All ads with email or phone in the PHOTO or DESCRIPTIONare very dangerous and almost certainly aim to deceive you! Do not give a deposit based on based on email-only or mobile-only contact. ALWAYS ASK FOR A LANDLINE before you go to see a vehicle. If the seller does not want to provide a landline, be very careful. They promise to send you the car with a TRANSPORT company, which is fake.

They even create a fake website for the shipping company to trick you. They often use Greek phone numbers, which are actually, for example, a FAX of a random company, wrong numbers, phone numbers that no one answers, etc., to make you believe that the phone is Greek and real or that supposedly they are currently abroad. Do not trust sellers who use fake phone numbers and only work with email. You will never receive the car!! Be careful with the EMAILS and CALLS of sellers who have tempting prices for the car but supposedly are abroad!!!

Technically, it is possible to forge emails, resulting in someone who has nothing to do with this email appearing as the sender. Do not send personal data via email and especially don’t send data related to credit cards.

Be careful with checks! From abroad, they are mostly uncovered - (For domestic (within the country) transactions: Do not sell your car with checks; it is very dangerous)!!!

When you deposit a check from abroad at the bank to get your money, it may take up to a month, and usually, you simply find out that it is fake/uncovered. So, you don't get any money, and you simply have a useless piece of paper in your hands.

A trick to fool you is that they don't bargain at all. They act financially comfortable, then they send you a check for a larger amount than agreed (supposedly by mistake) and ask you to send them back the difference. They tell you that they made a mistake with the amount and pressure you with constant phone calls to return the difference.
In essence, they want to take the difference from you and then disappear. Don’t give it back to them.

They often ask for your account number and deposit a check into your bank account (which is uncovered), which includes the amount of the car, for example, 4000 euros + for example, 1000 euros for transportation. It appears in your account that supposedly 5000 euros have been deposited (but theoretically, you cannot physically withdraw them from your account, your bank must first receive them from the foreign bank). Then, the supposed transportation company calls you and asks you to send them the 1000 euros via, for example, Western Union. You put in the 1000 euros, supposedly added by the buyer for transportation, and you lose them. Because within a month at most, your bank takes back the 5000 euros, as the check was uncovered. Don’t give out your account details to interested parties who promise to deposit money from abroad, sometimes even more than what you ask for because allegedly they have a buyer and want a commission! They aim to defraud you.

Exercise extreme caution in your transactions with WESTERN UNION, Escrow, MoneyGram, or other banks that operate similarly. Individuals from abroad often make enticing offers to you and aim to deceive you. They falsely promise you the bank's supposed guarantee. Only the transaction number is needed to receive money from such banks; the name does not matter, so essentially you do not know who you are sending your money to! Most of the time, the money is collected using fake identification.

Pay attention to the vehicle's ownership title (especially from abroad)) does it really belong to the seller? Is the advertised vehicle real? Find out the license plate of the vehicle and ask at a dealership or insurance company about its history (date, mileage, service, owner, accidents, etc.). It is also good to have a pre-purchase technical inspection of the vehicle for any crashes/mechanical damages/warranty maintenance, etc.

Check the vehicle's age and chassis number. Sellers often 'rebrand' their vehicles as newer than they are. Verify this before you go to see the vehicle. Check if the chassis number matches the registration document. If you are buying a car, it is good to have someone with you such as a mechanic, who will understand if the car has a problem or has been damaged. Ask for a written assurance that it is accident-free, how many kilometers it has, and the exact date so you are also legally covered.

Beware of sellers who sell a prepaid car (meaning they owe installments and do not have full ownership of the car). First, read the license if it states retention. In such cases, do not pay any deposit and do not pay the debt of the previous owner supposedly with the guarantee of a responsible declaration or private agreement. If after your payment they refuse to transfer the car, you will get involved in legal disputes and may never receive the ownership title. You can request debt assumption at the bank, and when approved, the car will be transferred to your name. Ask the bank for further information.

Beware of SMS sent by scammers from abroad who allegedly want to buy your vehicle without bargaining and without seeing it, wanting to pay via PAYPAL. Do not respond to SMS messages, especially if the text contains an email. If someone is genuinely interested, they will call you. Do not fall into the trap of exchanging emails. Scammers create a PAYPAL account with a credit card. Then they send you money for the car, and as soon as they receive the car, they tell the bank of the credit card to cancel the payment. Their goal is to get you to cover the shipping costs, i.e., the 800 to 2000 euros that they supposedly pre-paid you, and which you must pay directly to the shipping company. If you send the money for shipping, you will lose it. They even threaten to sue you. If the money does not enter your pocket, if you do not receive the money, do not believe anything or anyone.

Read below the testimony of one of our members:
"At some point during the day, I received an SMS through some sms sending site(hok.bik) stating that someone had seen my ad on car.gr and in case I hadn't sold it, I can send an email for additional information. The message was in English and the name was foreign.
After a few questions he asked me about the condition of the car, and some bargaining, he told me he wanted to buy it.
After asking him how this would happen if he was abroad, he replied that he was now in Bermuda and the transfer would be made by someone else, and I shouldn't worry about any procedure and expenses for transportation as he would cover that.
Then he asked me if I had a PayPal account to transfer the money there. I answered yes and gave him the number. Within a few minutes, I had an email from PayPal that the money for the car plus 800 euros for the shipping company had been deposited into my account. In fact, the email said that because the deposit amount was large, and in order to ensure that the buyer would receive the car, I should deposit the shipping money into a Western Union account in England and then I could collect the deposit money.
Because I am a slightly more advanced computer user, I found that the PayPal email was well camouflaged and in reality, it had been sent from another Gmail address. In other words, it was a scam.
The email also stated that in case I had any questions, I could reply, and while it would appear that I was replying to PayPal, in reality, I would be replying to him again. Someone would receive the 800 euros via Western Union, and then disappear. I forwarded the message to paypal as suspicious and they informed me that it was indeed a scam. No money had been deposited into my account, and PayPal never asked me to make a deposit to Western Union.”

If you are SELLING your vehicle, CAUTION!! During the test drive of your vehicle, travel with them as well. It is advisable that you are not alone during the sale. Don't let the potential buyer drive your vehicle alone, and above all, don't give them the vehicle papers. They might take it and leave.
If they call you with concealment and want to see your vehicle, ask for their phone number. Don't trust buyers who call concealed. If they come to your house, note down the license plate number of their car. Do not send the vehicle's license via fax or email to strangers.

If the buyer asks you to go to them with the vehicle you have for sale, DO NOT DO IT.

  • They will tell you various things to lower the price you agreed upon.
  • If they don't buy it, you will have made all that effort for no reason.
  • Don't prepare pre-purchase paperwork to give him. They might take the vehicle papers, the invoice, the vehicle and legally demand everything you have written on the papers.

It is best to pay inside a bank so that you don’t have cash with you. It is much safer to make a direct transfer from your account to theirs, after you have seen their ID and the vehicle ownership title beforehand.

Prefer registered dealers, with a store in Greece, so that later if you have any problem, you can find them back at their headquarters. They treat you responsibly and provide you with warranty and financing.

Car.gr has nothing to do with the sale of a car, it does not know the buyer or the seller, and it cannot guarantee their reliability, nor does it know who bought a vehicle from whom. The buying and selling process takes place only between the buyer and the seller.
Furthermore, we inform you that Car.gr sends emails to vehicle sellers or buyers (related to published ads on Car.gr) only if you have a question. It never asks for passwords. In case of doubt, seek the opinion of an expert or email us at [email protected], or call us.

In any purchase and sale, follow the legal procedure for transferring the vehicle. Do not accept authorizing the buyer to transfer the vehicle on their own, because often it is not done by them but by someone else, unknown to you. Until the transfer process is completed, you are solely responsible, both legally and tax-wise, as the owner of the vehicle.