what's the best way to secure a transaction.

[twobjshelbys]

I went through this for my Mustang. He was going to wire me the funds and I'd send him the title but I felt much more comfortable with this process. He just happened to be in Florida. Note there was no lien in this transaction.

He was already having a dealer purchase on his behalf. There can be advantages to doing it this way especially if another sale is involved - it looks like a trade in and can significantly reduce sales tax which in CO is computed on the difference.

So I went to a local guy who does consignments and asked him what he would do. What we did was I brought the title to the local guy. Signed it to the buyer and left it with him. He told the buyer that he was in possession and the wire transfer happened within an hour. Once the funds were in my account I told my local guy and he FedEx'd the signed title and other papers that day. If the deal had fallen through I still had the car and the title (as a piece of scrap paper) which the DMV will reissue as an original if the spoiled one is returned. He charged me a whopping $200. (The car did stay at my house for another 3 days while the shipper came but it was his - he had the title.)

Basically, a third party acts as an intermediary Most car dealers will provide this service.

[slider701]

Has anyone ever used www.escrow.com ?

They look legit and fairly straight forward, and is recommended by eBay, Cars.com, and autotrader.com

Looks like a $50K transaction would cost less than $500.

[JST4FUN]

Another thing you will want to do is secure insurance on the vehicle beginning at least by the day the bill of sale is signed. I believe Robbin Terry with Midwest Classic has handled insurance for many on this forum. Most insurers want pictures and I just refered him to Cobra Country ad pictures and general description along with providing VIN for initial insurance purchase with more pictures when I got the car. I expect he's experienced in working these type transactions!

[mrmustang]

It's funny some of the things you guys do.....No offense of course.

Myself as the seller, I do not release any paperwork (most certainly not the car) until all funds have cleared my bank (can take up to 6 weeks in some cases if not done by wire transfer).

As a buyer, I request copies of all documentation (title, registration, pictures of the VIN plate). I then do a background check of the seller (to make sure he is legit), check with the state DMV to see if the car matches the records shown (I had one scammer that was really good and got me to that point before I felt uncomfortable with the supposed deal). Then either send a certified check, or offer wire transfer options. When the funds have cleared, I ask for the paperwork to be sent overnight, then arrange pick up of the car (boat, motorcycle, record collection, etc).

These are the only ways I do a long distance deal whether I am the buyer or the seller. There are of course minor details I shall not post on line (I do not want to fully educate a smart scam artist), but you should get the general gist of things with what I did..........


Bill S.

[fastd]

I had a lawyer hold the my payment in escrow until I was able to register the car in my name. Cost me $250 for his time.

[SP01715]

I would take a flight and do it in person. I sold a boat a few years ago, and the buyer wired 50k to my account the same day we had a conversation on the phone and agreed on a price. He then wired an additional 150k to my account before the boat left my house. This guy was over 3000 miles away and had only seen the boat online. We had a couple mutual friends that knew the boat, but this guy was extremely trusting in wiring me 200k while I still had the boat in my possession. After I recieved the funds the boat was picked up by a transport company. I never would have done what this guy did, but the economy was booming and I had buyers lined up. He did not want to miss out on the purchase.

The next boat I sold the guy met me at my bank and I had the boat on the trailer with me. We did the payoff and title transfer right there and he left with the boat. This is the way I would have done the deal if I was a a buyer.

I bought a vehicle from a kid (20 years old) a couple years ago and had a bad experience. I met him at his house and paid off his bank via telephone from his house. I left with the vehicle, but the bank would not mail the title to me directly. They would only send the title to the guy I bought it from, and then he would have to transfer it to me. Well I had a heck of a time trying to get ahold of this guy, and by the time I did (about three months later) the title had been sent to the DMV and destroyed. I had to go down to the DMV with a signed release from this guy (who was now afraid to meet me in person because I wanted to kick his ass) and spend three hours waiting to pay for a duplicate.

Lesson learned from that last purchase. I will do the deal at the bank and take the title right there. My.02