Tips on financial side of selling a used car

[edwardh1]

Say a car worth only $3000-$4000.
First I will ask for cash.
But then how do you make sure the cash is not counterfeit money?
Only thing I can think is to meet the buyer at a bank and see him/her write a check and cash it at the counter and give you the money.
Any other ideas?
Certified checks can be fake I have been told.

 

[VicVinegar]

My plan would be to meet at a bank and get cash right there. Plus it offers a quiet spot to finish the transaction. Personally I'd probably try to keep potential buyers away from my house. An ideal twist would be if you both use the same bank.

 

[getnpsi]

Ive watched "American Greed." The counterfiet guys don't buy 4000 cars with bad 100's, there might be a few mixed in, but they cycle the money one a time and return items to get good cash back they can in turn take to the bank or make their purchases. But yes by all means have buyer come to a bank with you. You might get lucky and have the same bank which would make the transaction seamless and no cash involved at all if you want, just a transfer between

 

[Mr Nice]

Meet at a bank and have the buyer give the teller the cash.

Don't touch the money...

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: edwardh1

Certified checks can be fake I have been told.



You bet they can. The certified check that was issued by my bank bounced when my wife and I bought property. Try explaining that to the mortgage company. Luckily, the bank corrected everything and paid every penalty, but they never did explain to us what the problem was.
I'd second doing the auto inspection at the bank parking lot and having the bank look at each and every bill. If this is a full service bank or credit union and you have been a long time customer with them, they will have no problem with that. Explain ahead of time to them what you are doing and a teller or office worker should help you out.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: VicVinegar
My plan would be to meet at a bank and get cash right there. Plus it offers a quiet spot to finish the transaction. Personally I'd probably try to keep potential buyers away from my house. An ideal twist would be if you both use the same bank.


+1.

 

[stephen9666]

I pity the OP. The people who comment in threads like this are often the paranoid type.

Meeting at your bank may not be a bad idea, though, for convenience.

Like the suggestion "Don't touch the money..." What's the supposed reasoning behind that? My bank never checks cash I bring in with one of those counterfeit pens. If you want to check for counterfeits, buy your own pen or have the person meet you at your bank and have the teller check them, but that seems to be getting a little out there, IMO.

When I sold my cars in the past I accepted cash in exchange for the title and deposited it in my bank. If a person wants to pay with a cashier's check you can probably call the issuing institution and ask them about it to make sure it's good.

As far as the concerns about a buyer being around your house: in my state all the titles have your address on them, so they'll know where you live anyway.

 

[yesthatsteve]

Another plus to meeting at your bank - they probably have someone who can notarize a bill of sale.

 

[zerosoma]

Last vehicle I sold privately, I talked to HIS bank, and dealt with the bank as to how much money I wanted. They granted him the loan for $8750, $250 less than our asking price, which we agreed on and I was okay with.

They cut the check and I walked to the bank with it. No biggie.

 

[exranger06]

Just have the buyer pay in cash and use one of those counterfeit-checking pens. Simple.

 

[Mr Nice]

Because you don't want to be the person giving the teller money and some of it is counterfeit.
Yeah, meet at the bank and have the bank cut you a check.

When I sold my 5.0 Mustang we agreed on $6500 cash. He gave the teller 65 - $100 bills and when all was kosher...
I signed the FL Title and it was now his baby.

 

[bk111]

Wrong thread!

 

[djb]

I agree that you won't find a counterfeiter buying a car with bogus bills. The traceability is high and it's too time consuming.
It's worth looking at every bill, but don't be too paranoid.

Not seeing the seller at (outside) their home could be a warning sign. The buyer will see the address on title on other documents, so the only reason to insist on meeting elsewhere is if the seller isn't the actual owner, or they are trying to hide a defect.

 

[getnpsi]

Those magic pens only work assuming the paper is wrong. Out here people bleach 5 dollar bills and print large denominations on top. 45 bucks profit every time.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: djb

Not seeing the seller at (outside) their home could be a warning sign. The buyer will see the address on title on other documents, so the only reason to insist on meeting elsewhere is if the seller isn't the actual owner, or they are trying to hide a defect.


You're right, it goes both ways. The buyer might want to match your home address with your license, registration, and title. Might want to make sure you are who you say you are and not a 3rd party "flipping" the car. Buyer might want to check you out, make sure you keep the lawn tidy, live in the nice part of town, look like you'd take care of the car.

I would just photocopy your money (so you get the serial numbers- stack them 1/2 on top of each other) before you deposit it, if you get called on a counterfeit you can take it to the cops. Naturally you'll have a copy of the bill of sale and you'll have the buyer's drivers license info. Because, after all, you're paranoid.

The odds of a counterfeiting are way out there. The buyer is probably nervous about carrying all that cash and might be carrying heat or afraid you are. There are many other ways a deal could go wrong, but 99% of the time it'll go right. If you go through a dealer he'll take a pretty big cut for security and the dealer could still screw you over quasi-legally.

 

[fisher83]

I don't know the statistics but I believe the chances of getting a fake check are much higher than getting fake cash.

 

[JimPghPA]

And NEVER sell to a minor. If a kid wants to purchase it and pay for it, to C.Y.A. you MUST sell it to an adult who puts it in their name.

If you sell it to a minor it can come back and haunt you in several ways, all of them bad.

 

[stephen9666]

And of course, don't forget to wear your tinfoil hat during the transaction. You just can't be too careful.

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: stephen9666
I pity the OP. The people who comment in threads like this are often the paranoid type.



Or maybe some of our recommendations come from experience. You could have 100 fantastic transactions and then have one bad one and you will forever remember the one bad one. After that, you will be paranoid like we are.

 

[scurvy]

A cashier's check is fine - but you need to call the issuing bank (the actual bank branch, not the corporate number) and ask to verify the check number, amount and to whom the check was made out. If all that matches, you're in the clear. If they won't verify all three pieces of information, take that as a bad sign.

It goes without saying, you need to look up the bank branch's number yourself... don't just go blindly calling the number printed on the check in case it's bogus!