?? who will check out car for $100 as I am also getting ready to buy another. Definitely have car checked out 1st. Compare vin# against title. it is a common practice to leave a title open so no sales tax is due, especially if you are not going to keep vehicle, there does have to be some trust involved.. I just sold a commercial truck site unseen other than pics to a guy in Va I am 900miles away, I faxed him a copy of title and guaranteed it had never been wrecked. He paid an extra $1000 for me to drive it up, I explained the condition, etc over the phone and told him maybe he should have truck checked out but he never did, when I got there he said it was the best truck for the money he had seen and promply gave me a bank check for balance. He could have been real anal and said it was not what he expected and I guess I would have had to just drive it back at a slight loss due to fuel cost, etc. The reason he did not come to see it was he had just flew to Pa to look at an excellent truck and when he got there it was a piece of junk so he didn't want his time to be wasted again so he bet a $1000 that my word was good.. I bet a couple of 100 on it also. Another thing is today even bank checks - cashiers checks can be bad or payment can be stopped so it is best to go directly to bank with buyer.

It appears there are many ignorant posters to this thread with respect to the meaning of Ignorant. Ignorant - The definition f from Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary stated "lacking knowledge". Ignorant is not a deragotory term. I used to state what he already said and recommended a path forward. Do not become a crying statistic.

I wonder if the only safe way to do a vehicle transaction is through a escrow service. I have never used one, but... I personally would never sign and hand over a title without the cash in my hand even if I still had car in my possession and I don't think any dealers here in Florida will either. Here in Florida it can take a month to receive title after registration, etc. The problem today is titles can be phony, checks bad etc, it is very hard to trust anyone, damn what has become of this world oh it has always been this way.

That is interesting. In Ohio, you can get a new title in a matter of hours depending on which title bureau you visit. You drop it off, and a few hours later, stop back and pick it up.

Well, as of now, this gentleman seems adamant about jumping title and not paying tax, so I am basically going to walk away from the deal if he doesn't change his mind. If he were in my home state, it wouldn't be an issue, but this being an assembled car, the dollar amount involved, the original owner in California, the guy who is claiming to be the owner in Michigan, and some buddy of his who has possession of the car in Florida, this sounds like a screw over waiting to happen.

I'll find another one. There are a lot of them for sale.

Thanks everybody!

I think the reason it takes longer here in Florida is they want you to think its real difficult so you will feel good about paying the fees.. it doesn't always take a month though but never a couple of hours as they are all issued out of Tallahassee. The reason they call it the sunshine state is you get to bake in the sun while waiting for every thing:CRY:

You can get a "quick" title in Fl and walk out with the title in hand within minutes (additional charge)... The delay some experiece is because some cars are sold with outstanding loans that need to be paid off before the initial title is released to be reasigned.

OK maybe not a title in your hand but a receipt from your courthouse saying the title is being transferred into your name and all fees/taxes paid. I would then send the money and get the car. The two cobras I purchased had title issues, one never transferred to his name the other was titled incorrectly. I doubt if they would have been as cooperative if they already had the money and I had the car. Besides its a buyers market right now.

For those who want to know where you can get a vehicle inspected for a hundred bucks, SGS Vehicle Inspections state that most vehicles are $99.50. I found them on eBay Motors.

Actually, that is the way most of these scammers get away with the money. they send you a link to an escrow service. It looks totally legit! But in fact you are sending the scammer the money for the sale. It never sees an escrow account.

If an escrow is the only way... YOU set up the entire deal with a known escrow provider!

Josh