Taking payment on 30K car safely...

Not true, we deal in wire transfers all the time from all over the world.
Wire transfer is just about instant. Once sent and received in you account even you bank cannot hold payment without your permission.
Cashier checks , Bank checks are easily forged ,they look very official until you try to draw on the issuing bank. We learned our lesson long ago.

 

never heard of a "wire transfer" being able to put stop payment on,thats why they have them.the seperate account for wire transfers is a really wise and safe bet. had a incident where a guy was coming to purchase a 15K vehicle and i received a call from him at his bank that he had stopped to deposit some money from transaction from sale of vehicle the day before so he could buy mine and BAMM he got stung with 6 bad bills! these bills had been floating around a**** 4 people that knew each other so you never know with counterfit bills. i mean would you check bills from mom or dad, hell no! wire transfer is the way to go these days.

 

Do you have an aversion to cash? No other method is as certain.
Cover yourself. As the seller, you should be concerned with making sure you get the money before final transfer of posession. Let the buyer figure out how he's going to do his part.

 

I !!!! And all of what Denise said !! >>>>.

 

***uming it won't be towed away, in order to drive the car away, doesn't the buyer first need to register the car in his/her name with their DMV, and get proper insurance? In order to do that (in NYS, anyway) you need the ***le or transferable valid registration, bill of sale, etc. That paperwork should only be handed over AFTER the purchase funds have been verified as legit. That's how I do it anyway. How do you folks handle the paperwork?

 

Depending on the state, you have a few days grace period to register the vehicle and insure it in your name. As long as you already have insurance on another vehicle, your new vehicle will be automatically covered up to your current levels until you get a chance to sort it out or the grace period ends, whichever comes first.

 

I have been involved with both sides if aircraft sales. Some were well into the upper six figures. Always, without fail, have the VERIFIED funds in your account (or hand) before the buyer ever gets to sit behind the wheel. Wire transfer is 99.99% bulletproof. Never allow anything, car or aircraft or whatever, to leave your total control based on ANY piece of paper. I'd even be a little shy of cash these days. Best way to do cash is to go WITH HIM to HIS bank with HIS check and let the bank p*** out the cash.
You get the dough and they get to go.

 

I read about someone here in Ontario Canada that sold a high perf (expensive) engine. Buyer shows up with a certified cheque (here in Canada it is a cheque that has a special stamp on it put on by the bank guaranteeing that the funds are there) for added insurance the seller makes a note of the buyers licence plate. Turns out the cheque is forged/fake and the licence plates on the truck are stolen. Engine is long gone.

Cash is king but I wouldn't verify the authenticity of bills at home, take him and the cash to your bank for verification BEFORE you accept it from him. If any of the bills are fake they will be his problem not yours.

You are the one that stands to lose here ... don't let him lay out how it is going to be, you make the rules.

 

Wire transfer is the only way to go. Go to your bank to complete it. 1) the funds are in your account, verified by your bank. 2) his face is on their cameras and his signature is on their do***ents. I'd say it's a safe bet he wont be coming with $30k in his pocket. If he tries to walk through any major airport with that much green he'll set off all kinds of bells and have to answer a bunch of questions (magnetic strips). Having been on the buyers side of a situation like this; I didn't want to go meet a complete stranger in another state with that much cash on me either. I insisted on a wire transfer at his bank (that way I knew he was who he said he was) and I insisted that we go to the DMV together to do the ***le transfer so I knew it was a legit ***le (they're no harder to forge than a check). After the deal is done and everything is cool you can go have a couple of frostys and tell each other how nervous you were. Good luck, hope everything goes smoothly.

 

You guys are the best. Thanks.

 

I'm going to jump in a little bit. My big thing is I am afraid, VERY AFRAID any more of the IRS. I know that any transaction of deposit over $10,000 get's reported to them. But with all the **** of how short $ is, and that even with all the press about the IRS coming after us for not having our personal insurance, I'm leary of depositing that much in one pop. If they decide to come after me for Capital gains, that the money I received from selling something is considered taxable income. I really don't have much to show that this is a break even transaction, or even a loss. Where am I going to keep receipts for the last 10 years???

Duh...I bought something 10 years ago for ???? $10,000. I sell it for $15,000. I deposit the $15,000. The the IRS comes and say's..."Hmmm... I see you deposited $15,000..."Where did you get that son"? "Oh you sold it did you, did you make a profit?" "Well prove it" or you're going to owe taxes on $15,000 as earned income for the year........


I can either take cash on the barrel, or take smaller payments, dep[osit smaller payments, and everything is okey dokey.

On the other hand, and this is a fact, I'd hate to be traveling across country with say $30,000 in cash, on my way to buy something. Our local fuzz, or State Fuzz decides to do a traffic stop, and they ask.."Do you have any large sums of money with you'. Why, yes sir, I'm on my way to buy a car". The good Police that they are, say's..."Well I tell you what, We'll just take your money and hold it. You know you sure do look like a person who is on their way to make a big drug buy". That must be drug money.........

See what I mean? And that did happen here on I-80. It happens more than the average person reads about.


One more edit...I guess the long and short of it is, know who you are buying from, and who you are selling to. And even then, cover the bases, not only for your self, but for them too.


HellRaiser

 

when dealing with banks, transfers, wiring money etc. can still be risky. just because a transaction has taken place, doesn't necessarily mean that it actually has. if funds do not exist or are insufficient, YOU can get stuck for what the bank payed out.

 

Talk to your bank and have them set up an escrow account for the transaction. the buyer places the funds in an account only accessible to your bank when all conditions are met the seller can release the funds to you, you can possibly do the transaction in their lobby.

 

Get cash...anything higher than 10K your bank reports to the IRS..you'll have to also fill out a form too..

Anything else is just a huge pain in the ***..i've been there and done it. Get the cash and be done with it..he has to pick the car up anyway. It's his problem how he gets it to you, not yours.

 

+1 smartest way to do it.

 

UPDATE: after speaking with my bank they tell me that it takes up to 24 hours for transfer to clear. time depends on what time money is transfered and they recomended early morning for faster transfer so though it is safe it's not instant so give yourself 24 hours during a normal business day. call your bank and ask them.

 

In todays world computers and printers can make really good counterfits. I'd want cash. If the guy doesn't want to carry that much have him open an account at the bank of your choice and wire his funds there. When he arrives he can withdrawl his cash and hand it to you. ****************************** this is important**********
Make sure the bank has the cash on hand and they know this is a cash deal even if it is going into your account. (I wouldn't walk out of a bank with that kind of money with a stranger next to me). Banks don't always have that knid of cash availible. Make sure this is known by the bank ahead of time.

 

I know this is a few weeks old but I see the dreaded letters have popped up...I R S. A few things to consider about that, I was told a few years ago that the IRS dropped the reporting limit to either $7500 or perhaps even $5000. Also, if you take out "X" in one week, then again the next, the report goes in. It's ***ulative over what used to be a 30day period. May now be less and longer like 60days. Of course, see your doctor if you experience increased heart rate, night sweats, or speaking in tounges over the purchase/sale. Other side effects include reduced or increased wallet size and occaisional marriage squables. Tax and ***le extra...

 

The deal is done. It was a 30K transfer done via wire transfer and was complete in about 1.5 hours. Once confirmed, the purchaser loaded the car on a trailer and headed home. No probs...

No real concern about the IRS in this case. This happened to be a car that was purchased new for more than 50K, so there was actually a loss that took place over the 8 year life of the car...

Thanks guys.

 

So many people these days think that a bank-issued Cashier's Check is almost like cash, but it's actually NO BETTER than a Personal Check. Either one still takes 7-10 BUSINESS days to clear. I like the idea of a wire transfer but prefer cash more. Even with cash you've gotta be careful on both ends of it. I've had a nosey bank manager with an obviously boring personal life take notice of me withdrawing a few thousand dollars on several different occasions and she actually red-flagged my account to the bank's home office! I have a friend that sold a car recently for $17,000 cash and when he took that money to the bank to deposit it, they threw a fit and wouldn't even let him deposit it until he could prove where the cash came from! That means contacting the buyer of your car and have him fill out a bank-issued form of how he got the money and now let's just hope he reported the correct sales amount to the license office! It's hard to get around Uncle Sam wanting to know where your money is coming and going. Supposedly it's illegal to carry more than $10,000 cash and I've always been terrified of being pulled over by some wanna-be hero cop that wants to on the News for seizing a large amount of drugs or drug money when it's actually money that you saved for years and years by punching a time clock everyday. Just imagine your money being laid out on the trunk of your car on the side of HWY 44 and the cop telling "If you can prove where it came from, then you can come pick it up from the station". Terrifying!

 

Ask your bank, they are there to serve you, they may be able to set up an escrow account. I would not do cash, watch too many movies.