dodgy?

Yesterday afternoon, there was a knock on the patio door. I went downstairs, and found a chap there, asking if we’d like to sell the Pajero.

Now the Pajero has been off the road for a few months, as it needs about £500 of work doing, and we a) haven’t been able to afford it (never work for yourself – the cashflow can kill you), and b) we weren’t in a rush anyway. It’s probably worth about £1400, so we’d be looking to clear about £900 when we sold it. We went off and had a chat, and thought, if he’d pay us £750, that’d be acceptable – saves a lot of hassle, and we’re very busy right now.

Then it occurred to us to wonder how he’d found it – our drive is at the back of the house, and the entrance is on a cul de sac. He said he’d been “driving round”. But he wouldn’t have “driven round” here – a cul de sac in a village.

We gave him the figure, and he – predictably – sucked air through his teeth, and went off to “phone his boss”. He came back 5 minutes later, and offered us £200 for parts. We declined, and said we wanted a minimum of £550. He then informed us that “his mate in the business” had told him that it would cost £369 for road tax next year. Every six months.

So a shark and a shyster, certainly – but I’m still wondering whether it had anything to do with the break in next door. And I’m feeling ever so slightly nervous, because we sit here all day with the patio doors open as soon as the spring comes – the house is south facing, and becomes oven like otherwise.

5 thoughts on “dodgy?”

  1. Hmmm. Not ideal for you – my sympathies. It’s not nice to feel vulnerable in your own home.

    Could you face putting up a small camera facing into the garden/patio area?

    They are surprisingly small and cheap these days, and although all I have is my anecdotal evidence, since putting a camera on the back of my office (we have stairs at the back of the house leading to a space above a double garage) I feel a lot happier. The camera is visible without being obtrusive and I’d like to think it would at least make people think twice about trying anything on.

    I got a camera, card and cables etc from Maplin and have it all running into my PC server where it’s recording all night, and during the day when activity is detected. It all came to about £200 and if I’d bought a kit (or even a wireless system) then I could probably have done better.

    Even if you simply go for the fake cameras, I’m sure it does act as a deterrent. I have one fake and one real camera and unless you opened them up and checked their innards, you wouldn’t know which was which.

    1. Oh FFS – why on earth didn’t I think of that? We are running six web cams here now on the cats site! I’ll look into it – thanks for the tip.

  2. Land mines in the lawn – it’s the only way to be sure…

    If he was searching for neglectedd vehicles, then drives off cul-de-sacs are a reasonable place to look – you wouldn’t want to leave an out-of-use car out on the road if you could avoid it. As indeed you didn’t…

  3. I think that the police might be very interested to hear about this. I will be amazed if it is not connected. I would also chain the vehicle to a tree with a padlock. They may be back. The cameras are a good idea.

    1. Actually, I’d be quite pleased if someone nicked it – would save me the problem of fixing and selling it 🙂

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