I found by accident on eBay someone who was willing to sell details of companies that will provide you with a free Smart car (or similar vehicle) with their advertising on it. You get the car for free, just pay for insurance and petrol. They get you driving round with “Eat at Bob’s” or whatever written all over your car.
Not a bad idea, I suppose, if you just need a car and you’re not fussed. However, this guy was selling the info. I’ve just Googled it too, and I can find lots of people saying that for a one-time fee of $29.95 or similar, they’ll tell me the names of some companies near me that I can apply to for just this. Well, I don’t really want to pay $29.95 just for the info, because I don’t trust anyone, especially not on the Internet.
If I were a company willing to do this, I’d make the application process available freely. If I want people to drive around with “Eat at Fromage’s” written on their cars, I’d try to entice them. But no one’s doing this, it seems… just site after site offering to tell me who does do it. For a fee.
What’s going on? This seems to be a scam… but is it?
Note - I don’t want a free Smart car, I’m quite happy with the car I’ve got… I’m just interested.
I think you answered your own question several times in the OP. It is a scam. Pay for information offrers are ALWAYS a scam. As for what exactly the information packet contains, I don’t really know. Why don’t you order it and see?
I suspect they would sell you nothing but a list of companies that do this, and then you’re on your own to make the deal. And I’ve heard it’s not easy at all to secure this arrangement. There are a number of companies that will pay you to drive a car with advertising on it, but there are so many people clamoring for the deal that they have very specific requirements in terms of how much you drive, where you drive, etc. so they get the most advertising potential. Great deal if you can get it, apparently, but it’s not as easy as just buying the secret contact information and getting your free car.
Sounds like just another offer where you can pay people for something you can get for free with just minimal research.
I dunno about that. I know a woman who did a bunch of research on purses; where to get the best deals, etc. She sold the list on ebay for (IIRC) $9.95. She never gave up her day job, but she made a pile of money. There were very few complaints, although there were a few which led to ebay shutting her down.
My brother’s roommate had a car with advertising on it.
From what I remember it had to be a car that people would notice (hers was a new VW Bug when they first were released) she had to specify where she was parked during the day and night, and what her general driving habits were so that the company could get the most exposure for their money. I would imagine that the company would want to see her driving record to make sure that their advertising isn’t the cause of some drinking and driving incident, or anything else that would give them a bad name.
She bought the car but the advertising helped pay it off faster.
I can’t tell if that is a rebuttal to the “always a scam” thing or a convoluted agreement. I suppose even the scams have information in them that someone, somewhere might make use of.
Both. There are offers on ebay that seem to be selling a dvd player for instance, but in fine print somewhere it says that you are buying info on how to buy a dvd player. My friends ebay offer was very clear. Only a complete idiot would believe they were actually purchasing a purse, yet there were a few who did.
100% scam, and an old one at that. All they’re going to do is a Google search & send you the result.
The current trend is to advertise an 800 number to call and obtain a list of seized/forclosed houses that can be bought for low/no money down. When you call you’re given the same sales pitch you originally hear, but are told to call another number to receive the info. And that number is not only long distance, but in a foreign country where the rate is several dollars per second.
But I’m glad you asked, because have I got a proposition for you! I’ve made several million dollars in Nigera and need some help moving the money around. If you provide me with your bank info I’ll send some your way, of which you can keep a portion. Just send me US$1000 up front as a show of good faith.
