How I almost got scammed while buying a used VW Polo online

Going forward I will look at pre-owned cars directly from dealerships and not online.

BHPian vgaquarius recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

A highly comprehensive and stark naked revelation of the backend operations of aggregators I must say and I would like to share my experience too! I drive a 2011 VW Polo 1.2 TDi Highline which used to come without steering mounted audio controls, climatronic air-conditioning, one-touch up-down, comfort/ anti-pinch functions, 4k OPS etc. All these features were omitted even in the highest trims. Coming across multiple retrofits possible in the Polo, I wasn't convinced to shed many leaves from my money plant that too on an old car which I can't drive after 4 years. So, the bug of finding a preowned Diesel Polo bit me and the search began.

All I observed was that these companies manage to make the exteriors and the interiors of a car look speckless so as to make the customer feel that it's a new car experience despite being an old car. I selected a 2014 Candy White Polo 1.5 TDi online via one of these aggregators, (won't list the name) and paid them a visit to see the car in flesh. They had their showroom in XY Sector, Chandigarh and claimed that the car is with the owner at his home and they asked me to reach that location.

The first question is, don't people leave the cars with these aggregators?

Second, why would the company officials send me the WhatsApp location in front of me, delete it after 5 minutes, and then ask me to reach there in an hour?

Thankfully, I had clicked on the location link before they deleted it and I pinned the location. To my surprise, it turned out to be that empty road in Manimajra where repaired vehicles are tested by mechanics. It seemed pretty clear by then that they must have mistakenly shared the location which a trusted mechanic of theirs sent them.

Those who don't know, Manimajra Motor Market is one of the biggest car and truck repair markets for the people from Himachal Pradesh and the Tricity. All original, repackaged, refurbished spare parts available dirt cheap, paintwork being carried out on high-end cars in open for pennies, no one giving a damn to the quality of work and focusing on volume.

I decided to speed up to the location and ended up spotting the car as I had shortlisted an HP registered car with a VIP number. I just parked my car a few metres away, sat in my seat and began watching the show as a movie as I had already lost interest after having seen the location of the vehicle. I had an orange with me and began enjoying the site while peeling it, just thanking God for saving me from fraud. After 10 minutes of sitting there, a guy who was working on that car came to my window and asked me, "Bouji kya kaam Karana hai?" to which I responded, "Purani lagti hai 2011 wali, 2014 toh bomb hai."

He offered me to have a look at that car they were working on and I went ahead to observe closely.

There were a total of 5 mechanics working on the car:

Replacing the driver door lock cylinder: Okay, cool. They had the lock cylinders immersed in diesel for lubrication and cleaning, damn.

Opening up the suspension of the vehicle: The factory fitted suspension struts, mountings etc. were all in very good shape but were being replaced with aftermarket stuff including the engine mounts and transmission pendulum mount

Opening the door cards and exchanging original VW speakers with something Chinese and he ended up wildly splicing the factory wiring and drilling more than 6 holes to fit the speaker as the holes mismatched

Mixing Fena surf in a bucket full of water and trying to wash the car inside out: Fena on the roofline, Fena on the dashboard, Fena on the seats, Fena on the carpeting and spraying Fena on the engine bay! Fena hi lena!

Sitting on a bench with 2 instrument clusters, 2 BCMs and 4 keys in hand waiting for the drenched car to dry up so that he could fit the parts. I don't have much clue about other cars but in most VAG cars, the immobiliser is integrated into the instrument cluster of the vehicle and the Polo was no different. The odometer reading of the vehicle was claimed to be 11,000 km on the website (January 2014- October 2021 mileage).

The guy waiting to throw in the new BCM and instrument cluster was their 'Ustaad' and to my shock, he asked, "Upgrade Karna hai? Chotu jo sahab ko pasand aaye nikaal gaadi se. Sahab chimta (steering rack) aur shock lagva lo, *Friss part nikala hu bouji*." He offered me a full upgrade package from 2011 to 2014 in 50k and I started involving him in a discussion to know where the car came from.

By the time he was about to confirm the name of the showroom who gave him this car, the guys whom I met at the showroom turned up and the reaction on their faces was priceless. They were literally scratching their heads as I could see through the windscreen of their car. One of them stepped down from the car and he had to audacity to accuse me of invading their privacy and internal affairs to which I bluntly reacted and said, "I followed the location You sent me! What happened? I thought the owner would be coming here. Damn, is this the car You wanted to show me?"

To this, he wasn't in a condition to react and was all red in embarrassment.

I have read multiple threads where many teamBHPians have mentioned the benefits of buying a preowned car in warranty which surely is beneficial in terms of the VFM quotient and peace of mind but I don't think I would ever be able to gather the courage to ever buy a preowned car in future if it's from a dealership. I'll get a thorough check done for the originality of the parts even if purchasing directly from an owner. As it is, I was carrying my laptop and VCDS cable along that day but God had other plans.

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