News Used cars for sale, New cars, Used cars, Car Sales, Australia car dealers: Autoline

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14-May-2010

Important Security Reminder

Please read the following to protect yourself from enquiries that could lead to an online scam, theft and misery:

Take special precautions when the person contacting you about your car needs it urgently, won't inspect it before buying, or provides false details such as phone safe to assume that this is a scam.
If you think the enquiry is suspicious, verify the person's home and work numbers by calling them.
Do not accept payments by Pay Pal or Western Union because these are untraceable and preferred methods of payments by scammers (in all cases using stolen ATM or credit cards).
Similarly, never pay by PayPal or Western Union.
Never provide your Autoline password to anyone, including Autoline (us). You will never receive an email or a phone call from Autoline asking you to go online to a page asking you to provide a password (common phishing attacks on other sites). The same applies to prospective buyers who may try to deceive you to obtain your login details either by email or phone. When you login to Autoline, make sure the web address is always www.autoline.com.au or autoline.com.au, no other addresses are used.
Never reveal your bank account details or personal details such as your ID.
Before inviting the buyer for a test drive, check if your insurance such instances. Always check the buyer's ID and insurance details and ask them for a collateral, e.g. their car keys, mobile phone, etc.

In all cases we encourage you to forward such enquiries to us to help us in our constant development of scammer's profiles and anti-scam measures in liaison with the federal police. Also contact the police if your vehicle was stolen (if you fell victim to a scam).

If there is something in particular you would like to see here, please tell us.

02-Dec-08

Selling Your Used Car - A few Tips

If you`ve made attempts in the past to make a go of selling your car, chances are you`ve met with varied levels of success. You may have sold the car for less than you had hoped, just to be rid of the thing and stop the endless calls from lookers - not buyers.

There are a number of things that you can do to make sure the process is relatively smooth while still receiving the most money for your car. Here are some winning strategies:

Gather information

Organize any maintenance receipts or maintenance logs you may have. Used car buyers want to make certain the vehicle has been well cared for. Also, research the local marketplace to see what similar cars are selling for in your market - you want to sell your car for the most you can, without pricing yourself out of the market. You may also want to consider investing in an AutoCheck vehicle history report. Savvy buyers will want to see the report, and having one handy shows that you`re not afraid of the car`s history.

Clean the car up

This is such an important component of successfully selling your car. Give a good coat of wax and polish the chrome. Clean the windows and have the interior detail cleaned. If you`ve been using the car to transport dogs or children to and fro, have the upholstery cleaned professionally - don`t use heavy perfumes to try and mask the odour.

Market your car

Tell everyone you know, and have them tell everyone they know, that you are selling your car. Word of mouth advertising is often the best. With your "For Sale" sign prominently displayed, park your car in visible locations, away from other cars when possible. Post an ad on the internet with as many good photographs as the site will allow.

Tempting the buyer

Now that you have an interested buyer in front of you, it`s time for negotiation. Hopefully your advertised price has some wiggle room. Buyers don`t expect to pay the advertised price, nor should you. Do not take the negotiations personally; just understand the buyer`s point of view. The best way to get a good price is to create value for the buyer - show why your car is a good deal for the money. A test drive is absolutely imperative as getting the buyer behind the wheel creates ownership and gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the features that create value for the buyer.

Conclusion

The sales process should consist of presenting accurate information, test driving the vehicle to create value, negotiating a fair price and handling the exchange of ownership paperwork for money. Only accept cash or a bank issued draft, and be prepared to give a bill of sale or receipt. It`s not difficult to sell cars, especially if you have done your homework and followed the steps outlined here.

21-Feb-07

Better protection for sellers.

Being able to contact sellers directly using the online enquiry message box on all Autoline vehicle pages is a great feature and one that gets heavy use. People appreciate this convenient and informal way to make initial contact, however, in the past this open line of communication has been vulnerable to attack by spam emailers directly targeting vehicle sellers. In response, we've now introduced a validation box which requires the user to enter in a 6 digit number which is provided on screen at the time of enquiry. This feature will add just a few more seconds to the process, but we hope users won't mind this small inconvenience in order to help keep the Autoline site safe for all users. As always, we ask users to be vigilant and report anything suspicious. Please read more about safety on the Autoline site here.

9-Feb-07

Beware! Current scam circulating on "vehicle for sale" sites.

Seller is approached by overseas buyer claiming he will pay full asking price plus some extra to cover seller's shipping costs. The buyer offers to pay via money order and so the seller accepts. The foreign money order arrives and is honored initially, shortly after which, buyer urgently requests the seller to send the additional funds to their shipping agent. This is done, and from here it is usually a period of about two weeks before the money order will be reported as counterfeit. The buyer never picks up the vehicle and no further contact can be made by the seller. Autoline is in the process of doing everything we can to close down this particular scam, however, until that time, we do ask that all users be aware of this potential deception.

Protect yourself from Internet Fraud

We've all heard about Internet Fraud or "scammers", perhaps on the news or from a friend, most regular users of the internet have probably witnessed it first hand. Scammers use the internet to solicit users, asking them to conduct fraudulent transactions. In many cases these attempts can be quite transparent, however, this does not give any of us the luxury to let our guard down. At Autoline, as with many other similarly reputable and vigilant websites on the net, we do everything we can to protect our users from these modern day con artists, but with millions of new incidents occurring everyday it is impossible to guarantee the intentions of all visitors to any site. The last line of defence is the end user, we all need to be on the lookout for these dubious proposals. The general rule is, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

12-Apr-06

New usability features

We're happy to announce a set of new features designed to make your experience at Autoline more convenient:

SMS Enquiries

In addition to free email enquiries it is now possible for sellers to receive SMS enquiries from prospective buyers. The Premium Listing includes 5 messages, each message will contain the reference to the vehicle, name and phone number of the enquirer and any comments or questions (if provided). Learn more about this and other features of the Premium Listings.

Email a Friend

This feature can be found on vehicle detail pages and allows any visitor to forward the details of a vehicle to any other party; simply enter the recipient's email address and click 'Send'.

ARC - Autoline Reference Code

In response to numerous requests from our customers, we've made it easier for you to refer to your vehicles, listed on Autoline, from newspapers and other classifieds sites. Instead of having to provide a long web link such as www.autoline.com.au/vehicle/XXXXXXX.html, you can now use a much shorter (and easier to type) address using the Autoline Reference Code.

The ARC is an alphanumeric code assigned to each vehicle, and you can find it on the vehicle page under the 'Management' toolbox located on the right (just above the listing date and number of views). Please note that the code is only visible when you're logged in and only for your listings. If you list your vehicle(s) in newspapers or elsewhere, simply refer to them by adding the ARC to the main address www.autoline.com.au/, example: www.autoline.com.au/6SLG . Remember to include the www. prefix in the address, for example the address 'autoline.com.au' without the 'www.' will not work.

30-Mar-06

Presenting the new look

A change is as good as a holiday they say, so at Autoline we�ve decided to see how true that is. We may have put on a fresh coat of paint, but we�ve taken every effort to retain the same functionality and ease of use as the old site. We�ve added a few new services, but everything you loved from the old site is still here. To make it easier, we�ve split the site into four, colour coded sections:

Explore - General information, company overview, directories and industry news and howto�s are all in the blue.

Buyers - Search the huge Autoline database, use the free car find service or find out about finance or insurance, if you're in the market to buy, then yellow is the colour to look for.

Sellers - Place your vehicle on Autoline for free, individuals and dealers alike can find out how, here. Plus, check out how easy it is to make your vehicle listing front page news! Green is definitely the colour to look for if you want to make a sale.

Manager - Already have an account with us or you're ready to sign up? Look for the grey, it's your entry point to the Autoline office.

Still looking for something from the old site? Try the site map, or contact Autoline for directions.

17-Mar-06

Protecting your privacy at Autoline

These days, it seems there is little argument, that the internet has proven itself as a viable marketplace. With a broad spectrum of products and services being bought and sold online daily, without consequence, the confidence of this huge marketplace is growing.

With this new market comes benefits on both sides. Buyers, faced with a wider choice are even more bargain hungry, eager to shop around and make better informed decisions. Sellers of course, reap the rewards too. With the opportunity to reach a bigger market, more and more businesses are investing time and money developing their online presence. Now, with sites such as Autoline, it is possible for individual sellers to reach the same, huge, national marketplace as many long time established businesses. The whole situation certainly appears to be win win.

The thing to remember of course is that, just like offline, online is subject to unscrupulous behaviour. Just as we would not give our personal information to a stranger on the street or buy from a place that looks questionable, so should we apply the same thinking when considering a transaction online.

With an overwhelming flood of advice available, terms such as firewalls and cookies, IP�s and SSL�s have become areas of major concern for most users, and rightly so. However, common sense is still as important online as it is offline and there a few basic, tried and true measures that serve us just as well, here, as they do on the street.

Keep Your Personal Information Private

Never disclose your personal information unless it is necessary. If you are prompted to provide this information, then practice due diligence. Ask who is gathering the information, why it is required, and how will it be used.

When listing a vehicle on Autoline, take advantage of the option to select which, if any, of your personal details are displayed with your listing. You can opt to reveal, at minimum, an email address which will only be visible to Autoline staff, we can act as an intermediary for general enquiries until you are ready to establish a more direct communication with someone whom you perceive to be a genuinely interested buyer. Similarly, buyers should be wary to not give out any personal information unless necessary.

Make Good Choices.

Just as in an offline marketplace, some deals can appear too good to be true, and in these cases, it often turns out that they are exactly that, too good to be true. Just as you would be on the lookout for dubious behaviour when buying from a business or individual for the first time, so should you apply the same principles online.

At Autoline, we take every care to ensure that buyers and sellers on our site are genuine, this includes personally vetting every vehicle before it is listed on our site, however, there is really no way that we can full authenticate all information on our site, as is the case with any site which incorporates user input. Please be on the lookout for false or misleading statements. If you have any questions, or wish to report any suspicious listings or interactions online, please contact us immediately.

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