Quote:
Originally Posted by billmar
As a new villager, we are thinking about trying to sell one of our cars on craigslist . I noticed you sold a truck and camper. Did you only accept cash? we don't have much experience selling autos to private parties (except once to a friend) and are concerned about accepting a cashier's check from someone we don't know. We've heard now a days they are easier to make up fake ones that look just like they are from real banks. If you accept a cashier's check, would you wait until it cleared before signing over the title? Anyone else have experience/advice on selling a vehicle to a private party?
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FWIW - Nowadays, I'd accept nothing but cash for selling anything. Unfortunately, that mindset CAN upset some trustworthy people....but how do
you know they're that way? If you're selling to someone local and they deal with a bank in the area, just consummate the transaction at the bank. That way nobody's waiting for checks to clear, etc.
A few years back, I contacted our bank (in OH) that we deal with on a regular basis. I asked one of the managers we know about how to know when/if a check clears. The answer I got: You don't know - there's no fixed 'formula' you can count on. The money might wind up in your account and everything will seem fine for a week or even more. But then it turns up that, for whatever reason, the check was no good and the money will come back out of your account. Apparently, a lot of it has to do with the timing of how promptly things happen and are addressed with the two banks involved in the flow of the check - the bank the check was drawn on as well as your bank. So it's a crap shoot to try to guess at how long it will take before you discover there is a problem.
Re: "fake" cashier's checks. Yes, they are a reality. How frequently that occurs is anybody's guess, I reckon. We have a friend......who used to be in bank branch management in his past.......who accepted a cashier's check from a husband/wife/infant family who showed up at his home to look at a car he had for sale. Everything seemed totally legit - and I'll say our friend is an excellent judge of character. Guess what? Yep, his bank contacted him about a week or two after he deposited the check and said it was a computer-printed fake. A good looking check, but a fake nonetheless. My friend was......um......"not happy". His insurance covered the car's value and, many months later, the car was spotted by the police.....with the bad check guy driving - thus the car was recovered and returned to my friend (eventually).
Lastly, if I wanted to sell something long-distance and didn't want to go the PayPal route or accept a check of any sort, you can do it via a wire transfer. I'd suggest setting up a savings account at your bank in which you keep very little money. Give the buyer the necessary bank info as well as that account number. Have the buyer arrange with their bank to wire the money to your account (there will be a nominal fee involved). Usually, it will take maybe a day for the transaction to get put together - will depend mostly on how things get done on the buyer's end. Once the money's in your account, transfer it out to another one of your accounts or simply withdraw it. That way, you're limiting your exposure if that account should get compromised. Caveat to this arrangement: The buyer places trust in YOU that you'll ship the goods to them. But it does eliminate risk on your end.
Bill
