A 40-year-old who fell victim to a cunning car scam is warning other motorists to beware.

Michael Browne, who lives in Whitstable, was selling his 13-year-old Volkswagen Touareg on the Auto Trader website when he received a call from a prospective buyer.

The man, who spoke with an eastern European accent, offered £3,300 for the car, which was listed for £3,600, and arranged to view it.

Within an hour he arrived at Mr Browne's home with a friend and a young boy, aged about 11.

"They started by having a look at the engine," said Mr Browne, who is director at Browne & Sons builders.

"While one was looking at the engine, the other one wanted to look at the spare tyre so they got me around to the boot.

"That must have been when the young lad who was around the front put dirty oil in the coolant. I think they used a squeezy bottle.

"While I was looking at the engine, he must have put some in the exhaust pipe."

When they went for a test drive, Mr Browne was alarmed when the buyer pointed out smoke billowing from the vehicle.

"I was thinking oh my god, the car's died suddenly on this test drive," he said.

"We parked up and he asked to look at the engine again and then he dipped his finger in the coolant and showed me the dirty oil and I tried it too.

"But I'd topped up the coolant about two weeks ago, so I knew it had been clean. That's when I started thinking something was up."

Mr Browne's suspicions were soon confirmed when he heard a noise, and found a patch of oil under the car.

"There was suddenly oil on the engine - they must have squeezed it in there. I think the noise must have been the sound of the squeezy oil bottle, and looking around there was a big patch of oil on the floor.

"Then they were negotiating a price. They were offering £1,100, saying it needs a new engine."

But Mr Browne refused the offer and asked them to leave.

"I didn't think of taking a registration or anything - I just wanted to get rid of them.

"I still wasn't sure it was a scam but then I looked it up and found it's very common. It's quite an old scam."

Mr Browne has now taken the car to the garage to have the system flushed through to clean the oil.

Since posting about the incident on Facebook, several people have come forward with similar experiences of the "oil in coolant scam".

A spokesperson for Auto Trader said: "As the operators of the largest automotive marketplace we take safety and security very seriously.

"Buying or selling a car should be a pleasant, hassle-free experience‚ and at Auto Trader we do everything we can to make sure that's the case.

"We offer advice to vehicle buyers and sellers, so they can reduce the risk of becoming a victim of fraud. We have a dedicated security team who work 365 days a year to ensure that advertisements on the marketplace are genuine and not misleading, and who constantly assess the fast-changing digital landscape.

“We founded VSTAG (the Vehicle Safe Trading Advisory Group) over 10 years ago with the purpose of helping to protect both buyers and sellers of pre-owned vehicles from fraud. VSTAG also helps its members, including classified sites, trading standards and the police, to share information and best practice in a bid to prevent online vehicle crime.”

For advice on safely buying and selling a car, visit bit.ly/2RWgt8K.