This week we have seen the series of kidnappings and murder of used car salesmen who were meeting with prospective clients to exhibit the vehicle to be sold, only to be kidnapped at gun point and later murdered. The killers have yet to be caught. The modus operandi of the killers was to pose as buyers, request for a test drive, waylay the salesman /car owner at gun point, steal the car, and murder the salesman/ car owner.
Whether or not these acts were serial killings, plain robbery, or thrill kills, now serves to highlight the need for merchants and sales persons to protect themselves. The other day, I was at the shop of my tailor – who showed me his Taurus .45 automatic hidden in his drawer. Years ago, a shopkeeper or merchant who kept a gun in his shop was considered “paranoid” and unnecessary. In light of these recent killings, that is no longer the case. It is now in fact downright prudent for shopkeepers, sales persons, and car dealers to keep a pistol on oneself for protection.
Those who are engaged in the business of selling used cars, jewelry, and expensive items to prospective buyers either through print ads or online are well-advised to take the necessary safety precautions. Remember that prospective buyers that you have to meet up with, could be anyone – ranging from decent bona fide customers, to rapists and psychopathic serial killers. In this kind of business, carrying a pistol for protection now makes very much sense. Especially if you are dealing in or selling expensive merchandise or items and will be handling large amounts of cash.
There is a well-known phrase, “Let the buyer beware.” Now, with these killings it is more like “Let the seller beware.”
Stay Safe.
Note
Readers of the Newsbreak piece by Gemma Bagayua-Medoza may be interested to see a response to her article, The Armed and the Dangerous: who are they really?
The comments section contains some back-story to an interview between Ms. Bagayua-Medoza and Fallujah, the author of this article.
By Armand Dean Nocum (Published in Newsbreak.ph)
The killings of fellow used car dealers have driven me to write a few tips on how ordinary car sellers—the ones most vulnerable to carjackers with killer instincts—can escape the sad fate of the Venson Evangelista, Emerson Lozano, the Gutierrez brothers, etc.
I hope these practical tips will help prevent more killings.
The killings of Evangelista and Lozano have sent shockwaves in the entire used- car dealing industry in Metro Manila.
Their biggest worry is the effect of the killings on regular car owners who simply want to sell their cars. If experienced car dealers like Emerson Lozano, his driver Ernani Sensil; and the young Venson Evangelista were victimized, how safe are housewives, blue-collar workers and other car owners from blood-thirsty carjackers?
Other tales of regular car owners who been victimized by car syndicates are starting to emerge. One involves the family of Ms. Monica Atienza who, along with 60-year-old relative and her 6-and 7-year-old children, was lucky to have been abandoned alive by robbers who took their car during a test drive in Bulacan during the week that Lozano and Evangelista were killed.
To help people sell their cars in a safe manner, I have listed a few practical tips which I hope will be useful to non-professional dealers who simply want to dispose their cars:
1. When contacted by buyers on the phone or through the Internet, always make the effort to get their address or their telephone numbers. Checking their names on Facebook or other social networking sites would be helpful.
2. When meeting them in your residence, always have other people around to witness it. Although having their faces captured on a CCT camera is ideal—if you have one—getting someone to photograph them secretly during the meeting would do no harm. (It’s your house anyway.) It’s better to be paranoid than dead. While they inspect your car, you can take pictures of them and just say you’re taking souvenir shots for sentimental reasons.
3. When they want to do a test drive, insist that they leave government identification cards like a driver’s license, SSS, PhilHealth, gun license and other cards which cannot be easily faked. If they come to your house using a car, insist they leave it behind during the test drive and check if it is really registered under their name. If they use 2 cars, ask them to leave one behind during the test drive.
4. The test drive should only be done within your subdivision or places you are familiar with. These must be places teeming with people. Watch out if there are vehicles following you. Always do the test drive at daytime. Meeting them at night or outside your home is out of the question unless you’re acquainted with them.
5. If you really must meet them outside your house, do so in a place you know have CCTC cameras and have a companion in a back-up car take their pictures. Always bring a back-up car to tag along with you during the test drive, and make them aware you are bringing one.
6. Lastly, in these dangerous times and if you have a choice, sell your car only to friends and acquaintances or through referrals from them. To avoid risks, do not sell your car to total strangers.
As we always tell clients in the used-car business, trust matters more than cars.
Have a safe car-selling time!
(Former reporter Armand Dean Nocum and his wife Ann used to be active in the used-car selling business, starting in Zamboanga City in the late 1990s. Although they have closed their car outlet at the Mega-Expo Used Car Display Center in EDSA, the Nocums still help friends dispose or buy quality cars. Armand can be reached at: [email protected] or [email protected].)