Used car selling safety tips in these uncertain times

The killings of two well-known used car dealers and the driver of them has sent shockwaves in the entire used car dealing industry in Metro Manila.

Not since the killing of half-brother Ariel Real and Albert Gutierrez by Jose Ma. Panlilio  son of the late socialite jeweller Fe Panlilio  on July 15, 2003 in Calamba, Laguna had car dealers been alarmed and shaken.

But their biggest worry is the effect of the killings on regular car owners who simply want to dispose of their old cars. If experienced car dealers like Emerson Lozano, his driver Ernani Sensil; and the young Venson Evangelista were victimized, how safe are housewives, blue-collar workers and other car owners from blood-thirsty carjackers who have no qualms about burning their victims?

Following the high-profile and headline-grabbing Lozano, Evangelista, Sensil killings, other tales of regular car owners victimized by car syndicates are starting to emerge. One involves the family of Ms Monica Atienza who  along with a 60-year-old relative and her six- and seven-year-old children  was lucky to have been left alive by robbers who took their car during a test drive in Bulacan during the week Lozano and Evangelista were killed.

In order to help people sell their cars in a safe manner, I have listed a few practical tips which I hope will be useful to none-used-car dealers who simply want to sell their cars:

1. When contacted by buyers by phone or through the internet, always make the effort to get their address or their telephone numbers which you can call back and verify to see whether they are who they claim they are. Checking their names on Facebook or other social sites would be helpful.

2. When meeting them at your house, always get some people to witness the meeting. Although having their faces captured on a CCT camera is ideal  if you have one  getting someone to photograph them secretly during the meeting would do no harm (It is your house anyway). Well, doing so would make you look paranoid but it is better to be paranoid than dead. While they are inspecting the car, you can take pictures of them doing so by explaining that you are just taking picture of a car you hate to miss.

3. When they want to do test drives, insist that they leave government identification cards like license, SSS, PhilHealth, gun license and other cards which cannot be faked. If they come by car, insist they leave it behind and check if it is really registered under their name and not a stolen one. If they come by two, ask one of them to stay in your place.

4. The test drive should only be done within your subdivision or places you are familiar with. These must be places where people abound. Watch out if there are vehicles following you. Always do the test drive at daytime. Meeting them at night or outside your home is out of the question except if you are acquainted with them.

5. If you really must meet them outside of your house, do so in a place you know have CCTC cameras and have a companion in a back-up car take their pictures (if the glasses of your backup car is tinted). Always bring a back-up car to tag you along during the test drive and make them aware you are bringing one. Again, this is a paranoid act, but better paranoid than sorry.

6. Lastly, in these dangerous times and if you have a choice, sell your cars to friends and acquaintances or through referrals from them; and not to total strangers to lessen the exposure and risk. We always tell clients that in the used car business, it is the trust that matters more than the cars.

Have a safe car selling time.

(Former reporter Armand Dean Nocum and his wife Ann used to be active in the used car selling business, having helped pioneer such business in Zamboanga City in the late 1990s. Although they have closed their car outlet at the Mega-Expo Used Car Display Center in EDSA, the Nocums still help friends - mostly from media - dispose or buy quality cars. Armand can be reached at these email addresses: [email protected] or [email protected]. or at 09178127932/09195897879)