Just a general warning, since I did not get any hits on a search for caracquire.com. These folks contacted me in May when I decided to sell my Outback, and honey-tongued me into advertising the car on their site. Hard sell is the word. Sale pretty much guaranteed… yeah, right! Fully refundable if it doesn’t sell… Well when I read the contract this is NOT entirely true. I paid them $500 which I considered not an unfair commission if the car really sold they way they told me. Turns out in the fine print it states $375 of the $500 are refundable if the car did not sell within 3 months and I contacted them within a very narrow window and very strict guidelines - 2 week window, certified mail, proof of continued ownership etc etc. Needless to say I did not even get a single call, and I followed all the rules to request my refund via certified mail on 8/28 meeting all their conditions. So now it is 12 weeks later and I have still not received my refund. I have emailed them, I have called them twice and get this ‘you should have your check any day now’ BS. The confirmed I met all their conditions, it was in process - somewhere…
STAY AWAY FROM THESE GUYS!!! Save your money and a LOT of aggravation
True. To be honest, I have no idea why anyone would try to sell a car under these terms when there are far better, and better known, ways to sell a car easily, such as Craigslist and CarMax. I have never even heard of caracquire.com. Another one that is relatively new site I have heard of recently is called linkedupcars.com that allows you to list your car yourself with up to 75 photos for $7, and the ad stays up until your car is sold. Personally, when I have a car to sell, I use Craigslist. I list my ad for free and the car normally sells within two days. As for buying a car, once again I normally use Craigslist, which can actually be frustrating because I have responded to ads before that were literally posted under an hour ago and the seller already has a buyer looking at the car. Next time, I suggest trying Craigslist. It’s free and highly effective if you are looking to sell a car quickly.
As of August 08, 2012: This company is operating without a license to be a telemarketer in the Province of British Columbia.
Consumer Protection British Columbia licenses and regulates certain telemarketers that are operating in British Columbia, Canada. U.S. and Canadian consumers who would like to file a complaint may contact Consumer Protection B.C. via e-mail at info@consumerprotectionbc.ca or call 604-320-1667.
I filed out a complaint with BBB a few weeks ago, for whatever it’s worth. Interestingly the website puts them in Colorado with no mention of BC. And yes I feel like an idiot falling for this scam…
It might be possible to use an online escrow service to make sure that both parties are in agreement that the services to be rendered were completed in a satisfactory manner. This might be contrary to caraquire’s business model.
Thanks to mark9207 for the info about Craigslist; I didn’t know it was that good. Craigslist has had some issues with small time crooks who use it to set up a robbery but this might not be easy when selling a car.
I’ve gotten calls from similar companies regarding cars I’ve listed on autotrader and cars.com. My response is the same – sell the car and I’ll pay you a commission. They hang up fast. I will pay for results, not for trying. Craigslist, cars.com and autotrader are real, others are not.
Just Google “caraquire reviews”. It appears the Colorado address is just a mail drop location and not a real location. The web registration does not divulge identities and appear to be out of BC Canada. Don’t think they’d be registered in any state so good luck getting your money back.
“I filed out a complaint with BBB a few weeks ago, for whatever it’s worth…”
For other folks, this will be potentially very worthwhile.
For the OP, on the other hand, it will accomplish nothing.
While the BBB does log complaints regarding offending companies, they have absolutely no regulatory or punitive powers, and the strongest action that they can take is to refuse to accept dues from a company that is already a member. Since the BBB is a profit-making, private organization, those dues are the lifeblood of their operation, and as a result, they only take this “drastic” step with member companies in extreme situations. With companies that are not members, there is absolutely nothing that they can do, other than to log the complaint for consumers to see and to learn from.
If you want to file a complaint with an organization that does actually have both regulatory and punitive power, you need to contact the Office of Consumer Affairs, which operates on either the county level or the state level, depending on where you live. Since this is a governmental agency that is part of the structure of the state Attorney General’s Office, Consumer Affairs can–and does–take legal action against scammers and other types of cheating businesses.
When I was trying to sell my Chevelle years ago, I had gotten a call from someone asking if I till had it; they were interested in helping me sell my car, not buying it.
I let them go through their spiel and they mentioned a $499 charge, and if I didn’t sell my car in a month, they’d refund my money, minus a $99 charge. At first, I thought they meant $4.99, not $499 until they mentioned the $99 fee. Everytime I refused their offer, they got pissy with me.
They called me a total of 4 times and on the 4th time I told them that I had refused their offers 3 times before, and if they called me again, I’d press harassment charges against them.
Companies like that follow local ads all the time. It’s very easy for them to look at craigslists, autotraders and other advertising outlets, both paper and on line, from all over world. They can do it from right there in BC. They call the car owner and put forth their own ad. I have never taken “advantage” of their spiels, and never will. I recommend craigslist too. Good deals often get snapped up in hours. Less good deals get snapped up shortly after the really good ones.