My girlfriend and I are looking to buy a hot rod for her, and I'm thinking since I live close to the Pomona swap meet, and there are lot's of car show's/cruise nights in my area, we may be able to find something there. My problem is that I am unconfortable carrying a large amout of cash around, but if I make an offer I want to have the money to back it up. Does anyone have some experience on this? I've bought and sold a lot of cars in my day, but never just walked around and found one at random, so I kinda dont know what to do. Any advice would be appricated.
Carry "seed cash". There will always be a modi*** of mistrust. Follow him home ,or to your home and give the rest-o-dollars. I've given a check and they held the ***le till it cleared. Give em a check and buy the check back on Monday when the bank opens and collect your car.
Yea just take enough for a desposit, If you're seriously about buying a car and a guy is serious about selling it a deposit is the best way to start! But... Get a receipt and a phone number!!!
That's the way I have always done it but I feel funky just walking around with this much money I'm thinking the deposit thing is the way to go, my house is pretty secure. I have a safe/dogs/guns/nosey neighbors I don't worry too much at home, it's just walking around that bugs me.
cash and a lot of it!!!! ______________________________________ '' Real hot rods don't have fenders ''
Something to remember is that no one but you and your girlfriend know the cash is in your pocket. I guess if you are talking 30k someone might notice but you might be surprised how little room 10K in hundreds take up in a loose pair of jeans. When I was buying and selling quite a few cars I got used to 5K in my pocket, to the point I would sometimes forget it was there. Again, no one knew but me.
how much are you going to spend? I bought a car I saw at a swap meet once, but we went to his house to make the deal. I didn't know I was going to buy a car that day so I didn't bring that much money.
At a big show like pamona how many guys do you think are carrying upwards of 20 grand in their pocket? Probably more than youd think. The serious buyers dont just bring enough to buy one good item. They have enough in case they find the perfect quickchange, rare and *****en flathead heads, and a gl*** top gas pump. The guys selling what looks like 50 grand in stuff, hes got money to buy stuff the first day. This aint a cheep hobby. So ditch the gold jewlery, put on a greasy shirt, stuff all the money your willing to part with in your pocket and go shopping. Just be smart about it. Both of you get in the car to take out the money and count it.
5K in your pocket, and you forgot Brother I'd need diapers.... carrying lots of cash gives me the heeby jeebys
"That's the way I have always done it but I feel funky just walking around with this much money". You'll get used to it. You won't have a sign on your head that says"This guy has a pocket full of money". For that matter, most everybody at the swap meet will have a pocket full of money.
Every swapmeet I go to its mainly cash deals. Not many people are going to be bothered with the check deal. You will not be the only one there with cash to buy. Most sellers including myself deal only in cash because after I sell my stuff I want to be able to look around and get a deal. Good deals are cash talks.
Obviously it's "AS IS", but if you have some mechanical background that would help to check it out as best you can sitting in a field, test drive.. Remember if his lips move it means nothing, if he may have something at the house to go with the car or truck, get it in writing BEFORE you hand over a dime. Yes like someone else said, get his phone number and a reference. I've had over 200 car's and most were purchased from private party.... If you have to bring a friend or relative that is smart around cars, he or she could be a blessing for you on a deal..This Ford in my avatar I purchased at an Estate sale.
As long as you do not look or act nervous or act like your pockets are full then you should stay under the radar. And dont flash it.. should be a common sense thing but.. i dont know you nor your level of common sense.. just be careful and take all the tips and advice so far posted... and you should be fine. thanks, Douglas Johnson "Skrach" www.VividlyVintage.com
Like others have said..only you and your girl will know whats in your pocket...I have been going to swapmeets for nearly 30 years and havent heard of a single person being robbed. On the flip side of what others have said about having the seller follow you home etc...I know for DAMN sure that if I was selling a car, I wouldnt leave my space at the swapmeet and follow some guy home because he has his money there. Really? What if he has a couple of his buddies there? Or worse yet tells you an address he doesnt live at period? The swapmeet is actually a pretty safe place to do business...lots of people around. What I would do is drive the car to a quiet spot in the swapmeet, make sure the guy has a ***le and everything checks out and do the deal. You can also get in the car and transfer cash there...then whomever is looking will know HE has the money now! Just wanted to chime in with how impractical it is to leave the swapmeet to consumate the deal elsewhere. Many sellers are from out of town. Same goes for just carrying deposit money...if you have the money...why not bring it all? If you leave the guy a deposit, you still stand a chance (growing nowadays) where he could sell the car out from under you and give you your money back...or worse yet disappear. Why is a deposit any safer than finishing the deal and taking actual possession of the car? Lastly...if I was selling something I would be much happier with someone who has all the cash on hand...you will probably get a better deal too.
Well no gold jewelry here, in fact I recently bought my daughter a little sportscar and the chick I bought it off made me go to the bank to make sure that the bills were real. Trust me I dont look like I have a pot to piss in, and my girl says I scare people, just by how I look. That's the other thing I dont know if the seller will take me seriously, the last one was spooked enough that I had to go to the friggen bank with my cash, and that was a lot less than I'm spending here. I guess we will just have to find out.
I've been known to carry....but nobody would think so considering my appearance The only time I felt a little nervous I was the seller. Had a guy at a swap on my 65 FI Corvette, he wanted it, I wanted cash, so we went to a local bank for a wire transfer and the subsequent $$$ payoff....turns out the whole time HE was scared I was gonna knock HIM in the head! And he was armed!!(showed me his pistol ) We ended up becoming friends after all was said and done, and have seen him a few times over the years
One year I worked for one of my customers helping him sell the cars I transported to the Hershey Fall Meet. Saturday afternoon he asked me for a ride to his hotel so he could put his cash into his motel's safe.. he had over $500K in his pockets and bank bag after selling one M/B 300SL and four other cars... cash is king at a swap meet.
Just keep the dough in your pocket instead of carrying it around with you in a bank pouch, like Boyd did at the Pomona swap meet. He went to take a leak, and left his bag with 40k in it, on top of the urinal. He exited the restroom, remembered what he had left in there, but by the time he returned it was already gone....
A friend of mine has been known to carry $65K in cash and everyone knows it. As for doing deals in cash, I prefer a cashiers check drawn on my bank. Too many "Super Bills" floating around. The only way I deal in cash is at a bank, so the bills could be checked.
I normally take as much cash as I'm willing, or able, to spend at any particular swap meet, because you never really know what kind of deal you might run across. I've gone to swaps with anywhere from a couple hundred to $15K in my pocket, because that's how much I had available to spend at the time. I've occasionally run across smokin' swap meet deals that I had to p*** on, because I didn't have a large enough diameter wad in my pants. Don't flash the cash, you'll be fine. Like mentioned, a swap meet is full of good folks that will slap the **** out of any bum that tries to rob you.
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