I’ve been hunting for an MX-5 NC to become a track vehicle in recent weeks and have noticed a handful of ads on Facebook marketplace that appear too good to be true
They all seem to be mid - low mileage MX-5 mc 2.0l sports with no described issues and photos of cars that have active and general clean mots yet are all advertised around £1500-1800 far below the value of such a car in good condition
these are the three I came across yesterday
No geographic centre, Tavistock, stevenage and Birmingham
I wonder if any of these cars are current members cars? Looks like the pics have been ripped from previous legit ads.
I’m pretty close to Tavistock and if that is really available for £1600 then I’ll race you to it . Seiously, if you are interested I might be able to swing by later in the week and have a nosey for you? I know it’s wet and horrible out there but these prices make my 2005 1.8 worth about £2.50 . Despite Koni ST-RT, Scorpion Exhaust etc.
These type of adverts are fake. Been looking myself last year, loads come up very cheap. When you click on the advert the seller has loads of cars for sale at ridiculously low prices. Turned up two this morning, low mileage ND’s for Less than £2k really, one was showing a picture of a lady in some form of models pose with a, let’s just say foreign name. I mean would you be lured in?
Im casting my net wide but hopefully with my eyes open. I have posted a wanted ad on here but no responses yet. I’ll keep my fingers crossed as I’m keen to get the NC sorted and track ready and join some of the OC trackdays!
My spider senses immediately saw through the ads posted more as a note that they are out there and potentially some photos of members cars may be being used in the ads
Just for instance two ND’s (blue) for sale £3,600 one in Sheffield the other in Nottingham. It’s the same car, same reg two different sellers, both females with foreign names. Now the Facebook dodgy sellers police haven’t noticed this yet, there’s loads of such adverts on.
If it seems too good to be true, it will be. Ignore and move on. You become used to seeing the wheat from the chaff. You can usually tell from the profiles posting them as well.
Just as in general life, fraudsters appeal to vanity, greed, ego or the delusional. You are absolutely correct, if it sounds too good to be true it almost certainly is. I have been receiving so many scam emails recently offering free solar panels, free dashcams etc etc. ignore & move on. Genuine MX-5 sellers have an idea of the market price and price accordingly depending on their personal situation. If they are established members on here, you can look at their posts to gain more information about a car they are offering for sale. The chap who bought our previous MX-5 had looked at my posts on the forum. Another good reason to be a member of this excellent club!
While there may be a lot of scam ads on FB it’s actually a great place to sell cars. Swapped our other car from a Juke to a Qashqai about five years ago.
Advertised the Juke on Autotrader which cost around £40-50. Had very little interest in a week of the ad being live. Copied the pictures and text across to a Marketplace ad and had several serious enquiries and sold a couple of days later. Had to let other interested parties know not to come to view.
If you are buying just make sure the car is registered to the person you are buying from and at the address you are viewing. VIN number on the car should match the V5 too.
I gave up with FB marketplace for cars, tried the NC Recaro on there. Someone got upperty because I wouldn’t just sell them the seats out of it. Many messages later I had to block them. On the flip side, I’ve sold paving slabs, rockery stone and a gas oven/hob with no fuss at all.
It has got worse the last year or two. I check when they joined FB and if it is within the last year/18months then avoid like the plague - the problem comes when the use a cloned profile.
As the saying goes, if it is too good to be true, then avoid
. Seiously, if you are interested I might be able to swing by later in the week and have a nosey for you? I know it’s wet and horrible out there but these prices make my 2005 1.8 worth about £2.50 
. Despite Koni ST-RT, Scorpion Exhaust etc.
