Private sale of your car, how do you take payment?

[bigrum]

What is your preferred method of payment when you sell your car to a private party? My previous cars were low enough in value that you could count the bills in the parking lot, but that seems silly when you start talking $50k or higher.

I just don't want to be scammed with payment... Obviously no personal checks, but can cashier's checks be forged? If we walk to the bank together with the cashier's check could the bank later say it was bad? What else is there that I might be overlooking?

[chowser51]

Drive the car to their bank. Walk into their bank with them and have the bank make a cashier's check out to you, then ask one of their notaries to notarize your title over to their customer.

Don't forget to take your plates with you and have a ride home.

or have the bank give it to you in cash and make sure your ride is providing overwatch.

[Suds]

Cashiers check / bank check.

Or

Open a bank account at your bank, put $50 in it.
Have them do a direct transfer into that account.
Once the deposit is done, transfer all but $50 into your normal account.

[Nativetexan]

Cashiers check works.

Then I get a pic before we meet just to confirm.

Then I call two different branches of the bank credit union to verify the check. I never call whoever's info the payer gives me for their bank. I find my own person to talk to.

[aftercorbu]

Originally Posted by bigrum

What is your preferred method of payment when you sell your car to a private party? My previous cars were low enough in value that you could count the bills in the parking lot, but that seems silly when you start talking $50k or higher.

I just don't want to be scammed with payment... Obviously no personal checks, but can cashier's checks be forged? If we walk to the bank together with the cashier's check could the bank later say it was bad? What else is there that I might be overlooking?

If a local sale methods already discussed work. If not, use a trusted internet escrow such as escow.com

Protects both parties.

[bayarea328xit]

Drive the car to their bank. Walk into their bank with them and have the bank make a cashier's check out to you, ask the bank to add the VIN to the "Note" field of the check.

Once I get the check from the buyer's bank, I sign over the title to the buyer.

[dscabra]

Cashier's check, but have the funds verified by your bank prior to depositing the check. Title & keys don't leave my hands until the money is in my account.

[iminhell1]

How to pass fake bills 101, buy internet goods for cash.

[rbryantaz]

I have done cash and also the bank transfer.

If you take cash do it in a public place like at the DMV and use a counterfeit checking pen to check each bill. They are available at office supply stores and have a black light for the band and a special ink that turns black on fake bills all for under $10.

I think a bank transfer or cashier's check directly from the teller is the way to go. There are cashiers check scams out there. A buyer can transfer money out of an account before you cash the check and it will still become a bad check.

When I buy or sell a car I like to go to the DMV with the buyer/seller and get the title for the payment to make sure there are no issues with the title, etc. I have had a purchase fall through once because the car had title issues.

I have also bought cars where the title has a lien which makes it much harder. In both of those cases I have taken possession of the car with a signed written agreement. I have been very conservative when the title is being released and let the cars sit in my garage for a month in most of those cases until I had the title in hand. This isn't' really required in AZ, I would have been covered by my insurance for 30 days but I just didn't feel like answering questions if I got pulled over, etc. If the car you are selling has a lien then you will have to work something out with the buyer.

Selling or buying with private parties isn't so bad. At least there is a chance that they aren't a professional thief. I tend to think the chance of dealing with a professional thief is as high or higher at a dealership.

[Monster335]

Just do an I Owe You. That'll work.

[rbryantaz]

Originally Posted by Monster335

Just do an I Owe You. That'll work.

Got any cars to sell?

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by chowser51

Drive the car to their bank. Walk into their bank with them and have the bank make a cashier's check out to you, then ask one of their notaries to notarize your title over to their customer.

Don't forget to take your plates with you and have a ride home.

or have the bank give it to you in cash and make sure your ride is providing overwatch.

This is exactly what I did a few years ago when I sold a car to someone.

[Pottah]

Cashier's check and a purchase and sale agreement that both parties sign.

He initially asked about using PayPal or something and I said no either cash or a cashier's check. I don't know what exactly he was doing cause he talked about taking money out each day so I really think he was withdrawing cash from his credit card to then go buy the cashier's check. Can't imagine what the interest rate is on that. The guy was coming in from out of state about 4hrs each way so I asked for a pic of the check so that I could verify with the bank. They confirmed the check was valid so I told him I would send the title once the check clears. He was hesitant but I told him he can drive it home now and I'll send the title or come back once the check clears. Took my plates off and canceled them then canceled my insurance and he drove home that day with plates he took off his other car but that's on him. It took a couple days following up with the bank before they confirmed that it cleared then I mailed him the title. The funny part, for me not him, was the first time he met he wasn't thinking and signed the back of the cashier's check where I'm supposed to sign when cashing the check. Once I said something he knew he fucked up. I wasn't going to risk my bank not accepting it so I told him he has to get a new one. It was a on a Sunday so he had to drive all the way back home to pay $50 to cancel it (technically $100 cause he had two checks for some reason) and pay again to get a new one then drive all the way back up. Wife said never again haha

[zx10guy]

My understanding is there is still a float on a cashier's check where the banks do their clearing process which is a number of days. In that time, if the buyer wants to go rogue and screw you, he/she can pull the funds out of the account so the check doesn't clear or put a stop payment on the check.

I've seen sellers hold the title to the car until the check clears.

[ntg44]

Mine was an out of state sale where the buyer ended up buying the car sight unseen.

I initiated an email to the buyer explaining the terms of the sale, and required a written response from the buyer agreeing to the terms as well as a signed bill of sale. Then here's what I did:

- Opened up a new checking account.
- Funds were sent via wire transfer
- I waited 24 hours for the funds to clear/post
- I moved the money from this checking account to a different checking account at a different bank and then overnighted the signed title, bill of sale, and one key
- Buyer arranged transport and the car stayed in my garage until it was put on the truck along with the other key.

I had all of these steps clearly written in the initial email that he agreed to. Looking back on it, I still don't know how the hell the buyer had the confidence to buy a 47k car sight unseen from someone he didn't know, but at the end of the day we had each other's names and addresses, so I suppose the greater risk was on me to scam the buyer than the other way around. I just know if the tables were turned that I would never have been able to go through with that as a buyer. Everyone I told this story to couldn't believe it either, but there are some decent people left in this world it seems.

[bigrum]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and boy what a story Pottah. I thought I'd be saving a headache by trading in to a dealer for a decent amount but these sound like sensible solutions too.

[overcoil]

https://wallethub.com/edu/cashiers-check-scams/16192

[Kolyan2k]

Certified check at the bank where the check is from to verify the funds or at lease over the phone with the bank. Definitely can't trust even if check is Certified without verification

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by Onesie

Sounds counter intuitive, but I don't accept cash.

I've had a couple of "I'll bring cash and a bill counter".

Why not? You can do any cash transactions at the bank. I've done close to 200k cash this way

[Cyn-BMW]

Right in the ass! �� No, not really. I just thought it was funny!

[frchdragon]

Cheap sale: cash
Big money: Bank draft

etransfer, cash and paypal for parts

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by Onesie

Counterfeit bills.

I've read a few comments here that a cashier's check in the US can be cancelled. Not sure if it's the same then, but we have something called a bank draft, which is the same as money.

When the cashier gives it to you, money is taken from your account. Lose the draft, lose cash. No way to "revert" it. So that is the way to go for me.

Of course I've always taken a personal regular check once, but it was from a dealer who messed up and didn't get the draft on time, and it was Saturday. Took a few days of apprehension for it to clear, but trusted the dealer.

Bills are all counted and verified by bank and deposited to your acc at the same time