{"id":742,"date":"2017-02-17T10:56:39","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T10:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/65.1.85.58\/newsroom\/?p=742"},"modified":"2020-08-16T11:24:52","modified_gmt":"2020-08-16T11:24:52","slug":"car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Car Scams That Can Cost You Thousands in UAE"},"content":{"rendered":"

While you\u2019re searching for great deals, be on the lookout for deals which are too good to be true! Almost every week there is a story in the Dubai newspapers about some poor victim of a car scam. If you are <\/span>thinking of checking out used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE, be careful! You could be losing tens of thousands of dirhams in no time! Here are 5 scams you need to watch out for.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Vanishing Deposit:<\/b> Is the seller demanding an upfront deposit? Cue the warning bells! There\u2019s a good chance of your deposit disappearing along with the seller. Whenever paying any money, ask for a copy of the Emirates ID and a proper receipt. That won\u2019t protect you fully but at least you have some chance of recovering your money from a swindler.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. The Bogus Escrow!: <\/b>Don\u2019t ever pay a seller before the transfer of ownership, even if you are getting the vehicle at a bargain price. Read up on tips to easily transfer your car in the UAE<\/a>. The seller might direct you to deposit money in an escrow account. Once the money is transferred, there is a chance the seller might \u201cdisappear\u201d on you along with the vehicle. <\/span>Hand over cash only while at the Road & Transport Authority (RTA) AFTER the vehicle\u2019s ownership has been transferred.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. Loan Con:<\/b> If a car has outstanding finance on it, the real owner is still the finance company. A seller asking you to pay off the lease is a big red flag! Do this ONLY if the seller gives you power of attorney specific to that car for transferring it in your name and hands over the keys at the finance company office. Don\u2019t be conned into clearing the loan for another car. Get the car’s status verified through an RTA inspection<\/a> before paying off the loan!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. Expiring Warranty:<\/b> You might be willing to pay a bit extra for a car under warranty. However, the warranty can be canceled on many grounds and may have even expired. Do check with the dealer first if the warranty is indeed valid and transferable.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. Lemon Con:<\/b> It\u2019s okay to be somewhat suspicious when buying used cars in Dubai, UAE. It could be a salvaged vehicle, repaired after a major accident. Worse yet, the car\u2019s odometer might have been tampered with to show a lower mileage. Finalize a deal only after getting the car thoroughly inspected!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Seems like a bit much to deal with? Don\u2019t worry. Thankfully, you can now avoid these and other scams simply by buying through <\/span>CarSwitch.com<\/span><\/a>. Or if you are looking to save money, you can go for these used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE, priced under AED 50K<\/a>. Best of luck!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            While you\u2019re searching for great deals, be on the lookout for deals which are too good to be true! Almost every week there is a story in the Dubai newspapers about some poor victim of a car scam. If you are thinking of checking out used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE, be careful! You […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Thinking of checking out used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE through a dealer or a private owner? Here are some common scams you need to watch out for.","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,4,30],"tags":[115,20,27,40],"class_list":["post-742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buyer-guides","category-home","category-lifestyle","tag-car-scams","tag-dubai","tag-uae","tag-used-cars-for-sale"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n5 Car Scams That Can Cost You Thousands in UAE | CarSwitch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thinking of checking out used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE through a dealer or a private owner? Here are some common scams you need to watch out for.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Car Scams That Can Cost You Thousands in UAE | CarSwitch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thinking of checking out used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE through a dealer or a private owner? Here are some common scams you need to watch out for.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Guides to buy and sell any car in Dubai & UAE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-17T10:56:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-16T11:24:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/CAR-SCAM_blog.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"455\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ramiz Islam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ramiz Islam\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ramiz Islam\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/a7e3e7d22260d5982ef25e689cfc73fa\"},\"headline\":\"5 Car Scams That Can Cost You Thousands in UAE\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-17T10:56:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-16T11:24:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/\",\"wordCount\":475,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/CAR-SCAM_blog.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"car scams\",\"Dubai\",\"UAE\",\"used cars for sale\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Buyer Guides\",\"Home\",\"Life Style\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/\",\"name\":\"5 Car Scams That Can Cost You Thousands in UAE | CarSwitch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/CAR-SCAM_blog.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-17T10:56:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-16T11:24:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"Thinking of checking out used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE through a dealer or a private owner? Here are some common scams you need to watch out for.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/CAR-SCAM_blog.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/CAR-SCAM_blog.jpg\",\"width\":1350,\"height\":455,\"caption\":\"scams on used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"5 Car Scams That Can Cost You Thousands in UAE\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\",\"name\":\"Guides to buy and sell any car in Dubai & UAE\",\"description\":\"CarSwitch\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#organization\",\"name\":\"CarSwitch\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/65.1.85.58\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/En_Blue_Bg_Horizontal-Format.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/65.1.85.58\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/En_Blue_Bg_Horizontal-Format.png\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":1440,\"caption\":\"CarSwitch\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/a7e3e7d22260d5982ef25e689cfc73fa\",\"name\":\"Ramiz Islam\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db6b8b550db2aa36416287fd90272ab69ef7c6def7f41fdde7d63234c3d37909?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db6b8b550db2aa36416287fd90272ab69ef7c6def7f41fdde7d63234c3d37909?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ramiz Islam\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Car Scams That Can Cost You Thousands in UAE | CarSwitch","description":"Thinking of checking out used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE through a dealer or a private owner? Here are some common scams you need to watch out for.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Car Scams That Can Cost You Thousands in UAE | CarSwitch","og_description":"Thinking of checking out used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE through a dealer or a private owner? Here are some common scams you need to watch out for.","og_url":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/","og_site_name":"Guides to buy and sell any car in Dubai & UAE","article_published_time":"2017-02-17T10:56:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-16T11:24:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1350,"height":455,"url":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/CAR-SCAM_blog.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ramiz Islam","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ramiz Islam","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/"},"author":{"name":"Ramiz Islam","@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/a7e3e7d22260d5982ef25e689cfc73fa"},"headline":"5 Car Scams That Can Cost You Thousands in UAE","datePublished":"2017-02-17T10:56:39+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-16T11:24:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/","wordCount":475,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/CAR-SCAM_blog.jpg","keywords":["car scams","Dubai","UAE","used cars for sale"],"articleSection":["Buyer Guides","Home","Life Style"],"inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/","name":"5 Car Scams That Can Cost You Thousands in UAE | CarSwitch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/CAR-SCAM_blog.jpg","datePublished":"2017-02-17T10:56:39+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-16T11:24:52+00:00","description":"Thinking of checking out used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE through a dealer or a private owner? Here are some common scams you need to watch out for.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/CAR-SCAM_blog.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/CAR-SCAM_blog.jpg","width":1350,"height":455,"caption":"scams on used cars for sale in Dubai, UAE"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/car-scams-can-cost-thousands-uae\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"5 Car Scams That Can Cost You Thousands in UAE"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom","name":"Guides to buy and sell any car in Dubai & UAE","description":"CarSwitch","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"CarSwitch","url":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/65.1.85.58\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/En_Blue_Bg_Horizontal-Format.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/65.1.85.58\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/En_Blue_Bg_Horizontal-Format.png","width":1440,"height":1440,"caption":"CarSwitch"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/a7e3e7d22260d5982ef25e689cfc73fa","name":"Ramiz Islam","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db6b8b550db2aa36416287fd90272ab69ef7c6def7f41fdde7d63234c3d37909?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db6b8b550db2aa36416287fd90272ab69ef7c6def7f41fdde7d63234c3d37909?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ramiz Islam"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13892,"href":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/revisions\/13892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carswitch.com\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}