Random vm from new car owner

[Anonymous]

What did you do, op?

[Anonymous]

My first thought is that something is wrong with the car and he’s trying to “catch” the dealer by getting information from you that conflicts with what the dealer told him.

I wouldn’t engage with him. You are not a party to Jo’s transaction.

[Anonymous]

His not Jo’s!!!

[Anonymous]

OP: A concern is that the caller knows your address and may show up unannounced at your door. In order to avoid this, go to the MB dealership & call with a dealership representative. This will alert the caller that others know that he is contacting you & may quell any desire to contact you again.

[Anonymous]

Or you could decide to be a decent person, give him a call, and find out what his question is. I mean, you don’t have to do this, but I can’t see any reason not to. Most of us are just good kind humans trying to make our way in a very complex world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds scammy. How would he have your contact info?

+1

You should contact the dealership and see if they gave your information to the new owner, or if they could be the middleman in case they are legit.

+1

[Anonymous]

+1 to text. Block / refer to dealer if anything involved. Also PSA: always clear data from your Nav when disposing of a car. I recently bought a car off lease and was shocked to find all the nav information still in the car’s computer, which meant that the original driver and dealer and selling dealer didn’t bother to clear it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 to text. Block / refer to dealer if anything involved. Also PSA: always clear data from your Nav when disposing of a car. I recently bought a car off lease and was shocked to find all the nav information still in the car’s computer, which meant that the original driver and dealer and selling dealer didn’t bother to clear it.

OP - thank you. Yes we realized we left the ‘home’ address in the NAV system unfortunately. My husband checked that we don’t have any systems connected to the car, so there’s nothing we can do to help the new owner. When we moved into our house we couldn’t set the alarm without the help of the prior owner who we contacted through the RE broker. This new car owner also reached out to my husband on LinkedIn this week. But we’ve decided not to engage with him at all, we did let the dealer know that he’s got questions about the car they should call him to address.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or you could decide to be a decent person, give him a call, and find out what his question is. I mean, you don’t have to do this, but I can’t see any reason not to. Most of us are just good kind humans trying to make our way in a very complex world.

This. Have your DH call if you're concerned about safety or something.

Also do you remember having to sign over the title when you turned in the car? That title has your name and address on it, and a dealer can just transfer the title (like the paper) to the new owner who then can take it to the DMV when they register. At least in MD, there's even a box on the back of the title for this purpose: previous owner -> dealer -> new owner since the dealer usually isn't going to obtain their own title on a car they plan to sell right away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 to text. Block / refer to dealer if anything involved. Also PSA: always clear data from your Nav when disposing of a car. I recently bought a car off lease and was shocked to find all the nav information still in the car’s computer, which meant that the original driver and dealer and selling dealer didn’t bother to clear it.

OP - thank you. Yes we realized we left the ‘home’ address in the NAV system unfortunately. My husband checked that we don’t have any systems connected to the car, so there’s nothing we can do to help the new owner. When we moved into our house we couldn’t set the alarm without the help of the prior owner who we contacted through the RE broker. This new car owner also reached out to my husband on LinkedIn this week. But we’ve decided not to engage with him at all, we did let the dealer know that he’s got questions about the car they should call him to address.

He reached out to your DH on LinkedIn????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or you could decide to be a decent person, give him a call, and find out what his question is. I mean, you don’t have to do this, but I can’t see any reason not to. Most of us are just good kind humans trying to make our way in a very complex world.

+1

Maybe the guy just has a question about what/if any particular maintenance item was done, and wants to know a repair history. Or some other completely innocuous question.

FFS, be a decent human being.

[Anonymous]

I’ve had new owners of higher-end/classic cars/Jeeps I’ve owned and sold contact me about all sorts of stuff. I’ve done the same thing with cars I’ve bought, too. It’s an “understood thing” in that segment of the car-world. You help out the new owners with questions or backstories on the car.

Not sure if this particular MB model fits in that category or not, but among car enthusiasts of specialty cars, it’s a completely ordinary occurrence. Happens all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve had new owners of higher-end/classic cars/Jeeps I’ve owned and sold contact me about all sorts of stuff. I’ve done the same thing with cars I’ve bought, too. It’s an “understood thing” in that segment of the car-world. You help out the new owners with questions or backstories on the car.

Not sure if this particular MB model fits in that category or not, but among car enthusiasts of specialty cars, it’s a completely ordinary occurrence. Happens all the time.

Even when you sell it back to the dealer? I could see if you sold it directly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve had new owners of higher-end/classic cars/Jeeps I’ve owned and sold contact me about all sorts of stuff. I’ve done the same thing with cars I’ve bought, too. It’s an “understood thing” in that segment of the car-world. You help out the new owners with questions or backstories on the car.

Not sure if this particular MB model fits in that category or not, but among car enthusiasts of specialty cars, it’s a completely ordinary occurrence. Happens all the time.

Even when you sell it back to the dealer? I could see if you sold it directly.

OP - this is a pretty pedestrian MB that’s only a few years old. We’re on our third one now and we never had any issues with any of them

[Anonymous]

Why wouldn’t you call him to see what he wants? You can refer him to the dealer if he asks you anything you don’t want to answer.