A couple of questions about selling a more expensive car on craigslist.
September 6, 2011 11:58 AM   Subscribe

A couple of questions about selling a more expensive car on craigslist.

I inherited an older, low milage sports car that bluebooks for 26,000. Looking at various outlets they appear to be selling for around 24,000.

I've read several questions on askme about selling cars on craigslist, and almost all of them involve older, low price cars. If I was scammed out of a thousand dollars, that's bad. 24,000 would be much worse.

1. Is this doable? Or with a car this expensive and with no experience selling anything should I let a local dealer sell it for commission? (fyi, no where near a carmax.)

2. I'm comfortable with getting all the paper work ready. I'm comfortable with meeting buyers. For the life of me though, I have no idea how the transfer of that much money would happen. If I'm not mistaken cashiers checks can turn out bad, and taking that much money to the bank in cash seems wrong. How does a transaction of this size happen safely and easily?

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.
posted by ratherbethedevil to Work & Money (10 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Escrow. Though I'd let someone else sell it and assume the risk (and hassle).
posted by supercres at 12:01 PM on September 6, 2011


The most common scam involving craigslist and cars involves a buyer who is in another country.

If you're meeting the buyers in person you're probably okay. That said, there is still some risk to you of a bogus check but there are a couple of ways to protect yourself.

1. Once you've got someone who wants to buy the car, they take the car when they give the cashier's check and you send them the title after the check has cleared their bank (not just that the funds are available in your account). You can call your bank and ask them to check/confirm that this has happened.

2. You can ask them to send you the money via a wire transfer. It is guaranteed funds just like a cashier's check but with out having to wait for things to process. Once you see the money in your account, its yours and the issuing bank is on the hook if it was fraudulent.

3. You could also go with the buyers to get the cashier's check or just call the issuing bank to verify that the check is good (they issued it and for that amount) before you sign over the title and let them take the car. Just make sure that you get the number for the bank from the internet or something and not from off the check itself. You should be able to just google the routing number on the check to see what bank issued it and get a contact number.

I'd probably do #3 if I were in your shoes. The wire is more secure but is asking more from the buyers and #1 is kind of a lot of hassle.
posted by VTX at 12:15 PM on September 6, 2011


I've done this before with a car that sold for $18k. To answer your questions:

1. Definitely doable.

2. The easiest way to handle the transfer of funds is by cashier's check. Go with the buyer to their bank, watch the teller print and complete the cashier's check, and take the money order directly from the teller.

Do NOT take a cashier's check/money order from purchaser, wait for the funds to clear, and send the title to the buyer. Counterfeit cashier's checks/money orders will preliminary post to your account making it appear as if the funds have cleared. Typically, 2-3 weeks later, once your bank realizes the cashier's check is counterfeit, the funds will be withdrawn from your account. If you accept the cashier's check directly from the teller at the purchaser's bank, you can have absolute confidence that you have received full payment and sign the title over to the purchaser right away. Wire transfers are also okay, but cashier's checks are easier.
posted by Mr. X at 12:24 PM on September 6, 2011 [3 favorites]


Transfer the money by having your seller wiring the money form his bank to yours. It will take 2 or 3 days to appear at worst and the seller should absolutely not have a problem waiting to accept delivery of the vehicle for that amount of time. You can write out a preliminary receipt for the transfer to the buyer and indicate that the vehicle is being held until the check clears. Alternatively, if you do accept a cashier's check, verify the buyer's identity (name and address) thoroughly with several means of ID (driver's license, SS card, something else like a credit card - and copy that info down) , call the bank to verify the authenticity of the cashier's check (and who asked for it) and have the buyer wait until the check clears before accepting delivery. As mentioned above do not even bother to communicate with anyone who mentions anything at all regarding an out of the country transaction or who is acting as a third party for someone.
posted by Poet_Lariat at 12:28 PM on September 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


"I'm comfortable with getting all the paper work ready. I'm comfortable with meeting buyers. For the life of me though, I have no idea how the transfer of that much money would happen. If I'm not mistaken cashiers checks can turn out bad, and taking that much money to the bank in cash seems wrong."

While a cashiers cheque is much more convenient there isn't anything inherently wrong with cash in those amounts though the buyer might have trouble getting that much actual folding money from their bank without requesting it several days in advance.

Personally for an amount that large I'd insist on cash or Mr. X's method. It is just way too easy to fake a cheque and an ID isn't much harder to fake or steal.
posted by Mitheral at 12:34 PM on September 6, 2011


You don't mention how old the car is, but given that it is, I'm assuming, somewhat of a collectible, you might want to think about listing it in a more specialized marketplace. It might be hard to find much of a market on Craigslist for a collectible.

I don't know anything about vintage autos, but I have seen references to Hemmings. I have not idea if they are any good, but there you are. Also, doesn't Ebay do a brisk business in collectible cars?
posted by rtimmel at 1:02 PM on September 6, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all the advice. It's hard to pick a best answer when every single one helped in one way or another.

I'm assuming, somewhat of a collectible

I was probably a little misleading in my description. It's only a 2002.
posted by ratherbethedevil at 9:46 PM on September 6, 2011


Meet him inside his bank, have the tellers count out $100 bills to him to hand to you, you hand him title and keys, smile and shake hands, walk away, everybody happy.

And if you're uncomfortable carrying that cash from his bank to yours, I'd bet that the bank will help you in whatever way, turn that cash into a check of whatever kind, then carry that to your bank.
posted by dancestoblue at 12:39 AM on September 7, 2011


- Go to the bank and watch him get a Cashiers Check in front of you
- Get cash from him a the bank get get a Cashiers check yourself and take it to your bank.
- Ask him to wire transfer the money
- Not so desirable option -> Open a bank account at the buyer's bank and ask him to transfer money
posted by WizKid at 2:16 PM on September 7, 2011


If, for some reason the buyer wants to deal in cash, meet them at either of your banks. IF it's their bank, open an account as soon as the cash is in your hands and deposit it. (You can deal with transferring the money to your existing bank account as is reasonable to avoid carrying cash around.)
posted by desl at 5:00 PM on September 7, 2011


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