Friendly advice when selling your Viper or any other car...
Do not accept deposits.
Do not consider the car sold or tell anyone it's sold until you see the cleared funds in your account and you have signed the title over.
Wire transfer is the easiest way to transfer the money. If you feel uncomfortable about giving out routing #'s etc. ... go to your bank, open an account, do the transaction, transfer the money out. Close the account.
Do not accept money orders or cashiers checks. Personal or business checks are fine but have the bank verify the funds before you deposit the money. Do not transfer the title until funds have cleared.
Always sell your sled as "as is" with no warranty expressed or implied.
If it has a warranty from the factory etc. Then state it.
Do not sign a lengthly sales agreement.
Do not cancel your insurance on the car until the car is out of your possession.
Your ad should have lots of pictures, descriptions and details. NO MIS-SPELLINGS.
Always be polite to ALL buyers. It may be a pain to field a lot of calls, emails etc but its all part of the process. If you don't want to deal with this, have a broker sell your car but also realize they will cost you a few $$ for the service.
Have GaryA transport your rides.
I am sure I have missed a few things but this has always worked for me.
Pay in full...the car is yours. Otherwise...have a nice day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Simms
Why are money orders or cashiers checks bad? Too easy to counterfeit?
Yes.
I may be off in my perspective but when was the last time you actually saw/heard of a buyer that has the means to pay you, without hassle, using such forms of payment.
And the one I live by ... Always trust your gut! I've sold dozens of cars, and they generally go exactly like you FIRST think they will. I am probably a bit short with people that I know are just wasting time looking, but I generally only have one person (maximum two) that ever come to my house. And most buy the highest quality cars sight unseen.
I may be off in my perspective but when was the last time you actually saw/heard of a buyer that has the means to pay you, without hassle, using such forms of payment.
It seems so "low rent" imo.
I bought both of my Vipers with cashier's checks. The sellers requested them. They're more secure than a personal check becuase the bank removes the funds when the check is generated. You could write a personal check with zero funds on your account.
Realistically, any check is fine as long as you wait for it to clear before releasing your car or title.
Matt, the latest and greatest things are fake cashiers checks. Those are very very easy to come by.
The last guy that tried to buy my coupe showed up with 97000 in bills. I told him to run it through his bank, and that is when he bolted. I had a bad feeling about him from the start. Go with your gut, but use a wire or some form of bank to bank transaction.
I always pay for my cars with cash and a cashiers check if I am travelling to purchase it. That way if there is an issue when I get there I can negotiate off some of the cash.
But I understand the point about counterfeit cashier's checks.
Matt, the latest and greatest things are fake cashiers checks. Those are very very easy to come by.
The last guy that tried to buy my coupe showed up with 97000 in bills. I told him to run it through his bank, and that is when he bolted. I had a bad feeling about him from the start. Go with your gut, but use a wire or some form of bank to bank transaction.
I realize there are fake cashier's checks, just like there are fake money orders, and fake personal checks. As I mentioned, it really doens't matter what you use as long as you hold the car and title until the funds clear. I would never release either beforehand.
As a note, the guy who bought my first Viper bought it with cash. Stacks of hundreds. I wasn't confortable taking cash so I suggested we go to the bank. He was fine with that. We went to a teller they checked all the bills, counted it, and deposited it.
I always request a deposit. tucker has as well...........if not for deposits for all my hassle and pain in the ass I would have nothing and still have to sell the car. As it stands now, I have taken nonrefundable deposits and even though the sellers all have backed out due to lack of financing, I still got something for my time and effort in communicating and providing all the pictures people could dream of and what not.
I just took a cashiers check for a truck I sold...Difference was I went to the bank, just happened to be mine, and watched him get the check. On another car I requested a local bank for the cashiers check so I could go and cash it.
Matt...EVEN if a cashiers check clears its not good. There are documented cases where the check was cleared in 5 or 7 days and funds available and then when they find out in 3 weeks that it wasn't good they take the money back right out of your account. DON"T TRUST THEM...
I'd trust cashier's or banker's check more than business or personal checks. Of course the ultimate best bet is to follow the buyer to his bank and actually see them give or make him a cashiers check. Then it will be as good as cash.
Do you let a prospective buyer drive the Viper before money exchanges hands? I wouldn't want to; but, are there enough buyers out there ready to purchase without a drive first?
When I bought the '96 I sent the seller a $5000 cashiers check from my bank, being 5 states away, to secure the car.
I arrived a few weeks later with the remaining balance and the seller took me for a spin showing me the cars potential. I gave the seller the remaining amount in the form of my banks cashiers check again and was given a copy of the title and the keys/car and as soon as the check cleared I was mailed the title.
The seller definitly did it right and I will follow this method in the future. If you really want the car, you will follow the sellers terms
__________________ 1996 Viper GTS
514 stroker, Twin Turbo, nitrous, caged, Hoosiered, blah blah blah... See her on the dyno
When I bought the '96 I sent the seller a $5000 cashiers check from my bank, being 5 states away, to secure the car.
I arrived a few weeks later with the remaining balance and the seller took me for a spin showing me the cars potential. I gave the seller the remaining amount in the form of my banks cashiers check again and was given a copy of the title and the keys/car and as soon as the check cleared I was mailed the title.
The seller definitly did it right and I will follow this method in the future. If you really want the car, you will follow the sellers terms
Sounds like a solid method. I'll do that when I sell my viper (which is for sale BTW
Matt...EVEN if a cashiers check clears its not good. There are documented cases where the check was cleared in 5 or 7 days and funds available and then when they find out in 3 weeks that it wasn't good they take the money back right out of your account. DON"T TRUST THEM...
Matt
BINGO!!!! After a LONG conversation with my bank, they acknowleged it would take about 2-3 weeks to be 100% sure the cashiers check was valid and the money was LEGALLY mine. You can call the bank that the cashiers check is from to VERIFY its validity. Of course, you could still be scammed by a copy of original (numbers match on bottom of check), but the buyer would have to have the funds to at least purchase the cashier's check in the first place. Still not foolproof. Not to mention YOU CAN cancel a cashier check. Call your bank if you don't believe me. When I pressed my bank on this subject they kept saying, "Well, people have to have a good reason to cancel a cashiers check". To which my reply was, "What's a good reason?". They really had no answer to this question. To which I said, "So basically, you could make up some B.S. lie and you would have to cancel the check". To which there answer was, "Well. yes. But we've never seen that happen.". Great. I feel real comfortable with that anwer (roll-eyes). So even if it's valid the person can take you car/title, call his bank, then have the cashiers check cancelled. Then it would be up to you to hunt the guy down to get you funds thru legal channels or iron fist methods.
Seems a wire transfer bank-to-bank is the way to fly. Both parties at the bank, with a bank employee being the witness. Once the money is in your account, you hand over the title.
Last edited by onerareviper : September 15th, 2006 at 11:18 PM.
