Feeling lonely?

Inbox a bit empty and telephone covered in cobwebs through lack of activity?

Well here's a solution for you.

Sell your car.

Okay, granted, it's not easy to see the connection, so I'll explain.

Within half a day of submitting my advert to a well-known car-selling magazine and website, my inbox was positively bulging with an array of emails from all over the world offering me the full asking price without even wanting to see the car!

Meanwhile, my mobile phone was constantly buzzing with calls from finance companies who had buyers just waiting to buy my car!

I felt all wanted. But only for a split second.

Of all the calls and emails I have received, not one of them has been from a genuine buyer. I'd read the warnings on the website - these were classic scams. Foreign buyer sends fake banker's draft for an amount equal to the price of the car plus shipping costs. I would then send them a cheque back for the balance of the shipping costs. Simple. Meantime, their banker's draft bounces and I'm out of pocket. Nice work for one badly-worded email.

And in order to gain access to these hordes of interested buyers just waiting to give me thousands of pounds, I must of course pay a rather extortionate fee to the finance company. Only then would I find out if these buyers actually exist. Despite the enthusiasm of the finance company operatives (one of whom refused to take no for an answer until I hung up on him), I remained largely unconvinced.

Does anyone want to buy my car?