09/10/2026
🚨 WARNING TO ANYONE SELLING A CAR PRIVATELY – PLEASE READ AND SHARE!
Last night, a long-standing customer of ours, who is also a good friend of Nigel's, was the victim of a particularly nasty car-buying scam.
He had advertised his BMW on Auto Trader and arranged for a prospective buyer to view it.
Three men arrived to inspect the car. While our customer was at the rear going through the paperwork, two of the men were looking under the bonnet.
Following a test drive, the men opened the bonnet again, revealing smoke coming from the engine bay and oil covering parts of the engine and exhaust.
They immediately claimed the BMW had suffered a serious engine failure and wanted to open the coolant expansion tank.
Fortunately, our customer became suspicious, realised something wasn't right and told them to leave.
He contacted us, and Paul went to his home this morning to investigate.
What he found was shocking.
Old engine oil had been poured into the coolant expansion tank and deliberately sprayed over the engine, exhaust and surrounding components.
SO WHAT'S THE SCAM?
It's actually quite simple, but incredibly dishonest.
While the seller is distracted, the scammers interfere with the vehicle to create the appearance of catastrophic engine damage.
Oil in the cooling system suggests a failed head gasket or serious internal damage, while oil sprayed onto a hot exhaust produces smoke and an alarming smell.
The supposed buyers then claim the vehicle needs thousands of pounds worth of repairs and offer to take it away for a fraction of its value.
Here's the really clever part of their deception. They don't actually want to destroy the engine!
Once they've bought the car cheaply, they can potentially flush the cooling system, clean off the oil and have a perfectly good vehicle back at its full market value after just a few hours' work.
BACK AT TRICKETT WELDING...
We arranged for the BMW to be recovered to our workshop, where our technician Tomasz set about putting everything right.
The cooling system has been thoroughly flushed to remove the contamination and refilled with fresh coolant.
Tomasz has also painstakingly cleaned the oil from the engine, exhaust, surrounding components and undertrays, before giving the entire engine bay a thorough clean and detail. In fact, it now looks better than it did before the incident!
Most importantly, the engine has been run up to full operating temperature and tested, with everything operating exactly as it should.
No catastrophic engine failure. No expensive mechanical repairs. Just a perfectly good BMW that somebody tried to make its owner believe was seriously damaged.
It's particularly satisfying to help somebody who isn't just a customer, but a friend of Nigel's for many years.
AND THIS IS HAPPENING LOCALLY!
We've since seen reports of an almost identical incident in the Poole area just a few days ago, involving a different group of three men and a camper van.
In that case, the family reported that oil had been introduced into the cooling system and sprayed around the engine. They also reported having Ring doorbell footage showing the men interfering with the vehicle while the owners were distracted.
The similarities are remarkable, and this is certainly not a new scam.
PLEASE TAKE CARE WHEN SELLING A VEHICLE PRIVATELY.
Never allow prospective buyers to interfere with the engine unsupervised, particularly if several people arrive together.
Don't allow yourself to be distracted while others are inspecting the vehicle, and be suspicious of any sudden mechanical problem that appears during a viewing.
Above all, never feel pressured into accepting a ridiculously low offer because somebody claims your car has developed a serious fault.
We're relieved that our friend recognised what was happening before it was too late. Unfortunately, others may not be so fortunate.
The BMW is now cleaned, tested and running perfectly, thanks to Tomasz's efforts.
The only thing wrong with this car was what somebody deliberately did to it.
Please share this warning with friends, family and anyone selling a vehicle privately. It might just save somebody from losing thousands of pounds.
