mrken30

I am selling my car and am looking for advice on how to take payment to avoid being scammed. My thinking was for the buyer to get a cashiers check and I go to the bank with them and deposit the check in my account. Is it possible for cashier's checks to bounce?

Any other options/opinions would be wlecome

Pulaski

Cashiers checks can bounce if they are forged or stolen. The problem is that it can be a day or two before you hear that the check was bad.

Personally I would go the opposite way - and accompany the buyer to their bank to collect the payment. ..... Or even have them (the buyer's bank) transfer the proceeds direct to your account.

In any case I would find out as much as you can about the buyer, even during casual conversation - where to do they live? who do they work for? ..... Anyone who is cagy might be a greater risk.

katzgar

this software sucks

ottotheboar

Transfer directly into your account.
When the funds are there sign over the title.

sir_eccles

Some municipalities have set up "Craigslist safe zones" for meeting and conducting such business.

Rete

Get paid in cash. Bring two other people with you to safeguard yourself and the money.

mrken30

It's a lot of cash. The person coming today is looking at getting a loan from a credit union that I am a member of. That might make things easier.

Pulaski

A newly retired couple in NC went to sell their Accord a few years ago. What possessed them to meet the "buyer" where they did, who knows, but the buyer took a revolver with him, ..... and well, you can guess the rest.

Cash these days is just a bad idea. Period. .... There are better alternatives.
The problem may be finding a buyer who is prepared to trust a provide seller who is going to have both cash and car for two days. If a private seller offered me such I deal I would walk away.
That sounds optimal, if your bank and his bank are the same bank.

petitefrancaise

If you are buying another car, then doing a trade-in of this car will save sales tax for you on the new car.

The value of the trade-in is deducted from the total cost of new/used car for sales tax purposes. Saved us about $900 and meant that the trade -in deal was about the same as selling on craigslist but without any of the messing around.

mrken30

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately this would save me $0 as we don't pay sales tax. I did see that on the carvana advice on selling cars.

I will be in the position of sharing one car for a while. I may have to resort to smelly buses while we decide what car to buy. We want a model with active braking which limits our choices.

Rete

Really? Certainly wasn't deducted from the price on which the sales taxes on my last car purchased.

ottotheboar

We sell in a niche market and will hold the car after payment till shipping is arranged.
I just sent one to Colorado, sent over copies of the title and my license to plus import docs, the buyer wired the money into my account then I sent him the title and bill of sale.
It took around 10 days to find a transporter.

petitefrancaise

yep, done for the last 2 cars we sold.

Carvana made it particularly easy - I didn't even have to deal with awful car sales people.

Pulaski

That depends on the state. Sales tax rules are specific to each state, not uniform across the whole country.