A pair of YouTube pranksters have tested the promise made by U.K.-based online car-buying site WeBuyAnyCar.
The business, owned by Constellation Automotive Group, which also owns vehicle remarketing company BCA and online car dealer Cinch, was targeted by Josh Pieters and Archie Manners, who bought in a car that they had altered to make it look like it a crime scene.
They presented a used Kia Picanto at the Putney branch of WeBuyAnyCar in south-west London that was soaked in blood, had a hammer left in the cabin and had rope, cable ties and locks of their own hair in the boot of the vehicle.
The pair wanted to test whether the company lived up to its name and would actually buy any car that was offered to them. They posed as criminals who were about to leave the country using a small boat to sail across the Channel. They didn’t expect the branch to offer to buy it, but it did!
After inspecting the car, a member of WeBuyAnyCar’s staff agreed to buy the car for £196 ($246 U.S.). The staff member then offered advice to the pair.
Car Dealer Magazine reports that the staff member told them: “I don’t know what’s going on, but you guys shouldn’t have sold it. You should have scrapped it. Don’t take the motorway if you’re smart. Use the dual carriageway”.
However, a different branch of WeBuyAnyCar declined to buy a used Vauxhall Astra that the pranksters had modified to make it resemble a “sexmobile” that had adult toys placed throughout the interior and rude stickers covering the exterior.
Explaining the prank to Car Dealer Magazine, Pieters said: “They’re one of the only companies who state exactly what they do in it [the name], and we wanted to see if it’s true or not.”
“It turns out WeBuyAnyCar don’t buy any car — but not the cars you’d expect them not to buy. The ones they do buy, they should be checking a little bit more before turning a profit.”
“We were trying to make it out like we were the most clumsy and lazy criminals in the world because we’d left every piece of evidence sticking out in the back of the car. We expected that they wouldn’t accept it. I thought we’d get laughed at.”
The AIM Group contacted WeBuyAnyCar for a comment on the transaction but a spokesperson said “WeBuyAnyCar will not be providing comment on the story.”
You can watch the full video on You Tube here