EMan 928

Regarding payment, I would ask for the terms to be wire transfer only. If I am correct, you can give someone a valid cashier's check and then turn around and call your bank to stop payment on it. Cash would be great, but I don't know how many buyers would be comfortable bringing that much cash with them on the trip.

Giovanni

If the deal falls thru you can go back to the bank and get a full refund even if the CC is made payable to someone else. They will stamp on the Cashier Check "not used for intended purpose" or something like that. If not mistaken the institution needs to wait 24 hours from the purchase date of the CC before they can place a stop payment. Stop payments takes about 24-48 hours to go in effect. Don't forget there are tons of counterfeit CC out there. Your bank can call and verify the CC but what is being verified is the CC #, The issued amount and the issue date. Find what state he lives in and check if he banks with a major bank that is also in your state. Open an account with them and let him do a sample transfer from his acct to yours. Do the dealing and sign the documents in that bank.

Also also good him, find if he has accts with e.g. ebay. Check his ratings. Check his address, home phone, etc on whitepages.com. Politely ask that he send you an email from e.g. his work email. If he is legit and internet savy he will also be checking on your to make sure you are legit. When I bought my 1989 I knew everything of the PO and he confessed knowing a lot about me too, lol. Do your homework.

S4ordie

What Chuck Z said in his first post.....

Let him drive after you have adequately demonstrated the performance envelope of the car. Accept a personal check for 20% of the purchase price as a deposit hold on the car until wire transfered funds are cleared. Then and only then does he get the keys.

As James of *** indicated, there are probably some Utah notification of sale sort of form that needs to be filled out along with a bill of sale. This protects you from things like parking tickets if the new buyer is slow to register the car in their state. Be absolutely sure to use an "AS IS" clause in the bill of sale. There are examples on the internets.

I also find it is really helpful to get an estimate for shipping of a car from a trusted car shipper that you can provide to the prospective buyer. One less thing for them to think about. I have used Demoise Trucking three times in the past year. They are professional, honest and have super clean trucks and drivers. www.demoisetruckning.com

If the buyer waffles a bit direct him to this forum so we can educate him about what a well sorted and strong car he is buying. Might save him some money he is throwing at the dealer for a PPI.

GLWS

docmirror

My test drive horror story; Well not mine, but I ultimately bought the car.

Seller was in E Denver, I was in way west part in the mtns. I call, make an appt, and show up only to be told the car is out on a test drive. I look at the seller - WTF? You gave two guys the keys to a Ferrari? Admittedly it was just a lowly Mondial, but come-on....

He gets a call on his cell phone about 40 minutes later, the car is stuck on the I-70 off ramp, way west of Denver, and they had a bunch of white smoke come out from under the bottom, so they pulled off and shut off the engine. They tossed the keys in the rear trunk and left it there, got a ride from a buddy. So, I take the seller, who is frantic now out I 70 and we find the car. He gets the keys and starts it up, there's water and coolant pumping out the bottom. We get the car to a safe spot and use some wood to get it up a little. I look under there and one of the coolant lines from the back has burst.

We tow the car back to his place, I get about 5' of Gates hose and some Vaseline and we swap the hose and put new coolant in. It fires up and drives fine, no heating issues, no leaks around the heads, everything is ok. So I buy the car for a discount and only test drove it a few blocks around his house. It's been one of the best cars I've had so far.

Tim Murphy

Any chance you called your bank for their advice?
There has got to be a way for 3rd party confirmation of money transfer.

I don't know the protocol with cashier’s checks, but I once went to buy a car with a cashier’s check in hand for the agreed amount in the sellers name. The car was not as represented and I backed out of the deal. In order for the bank to put the funds back into my account I had to present my bank with the original check with "void" written across the front.

As for the test drive, you should take him for a ride. Show him how sporty the AT can be when manually shifting and how smooth is can be with normal driving. Ask him if he would like you to demonstrate the performance features of the car with some spirited driving. Then, if he would like to drive, and he should, let him but kindly ask him to drive cautiously until the transaction is complete. This would be a really bad time for a mishap.

Randy V

Seriously?

The potential buyer drives the car.

Period.

Tim Murphy

Seriously. (not sure if that was directed at me or not)

Randy V

No - at the OP.

danglerb

I hate selling a car.

Check is fine with me, but only if we go to his bank and cash it prior to signing over the title.

Demo ride, then test drive with me in the car and limits made clear.

Don't we have a few threads on the consequences of handing your keys to someone before payment is complete?

mickster

I had one guy swap keys for my car and he gave me his keys. I grabbed the GPS as I had no idea where I was.

I had a Rennlister take me out and insist that I floor it WOT getting on to a ramp. He also told me he drove the same road I took at 2 x the speed-and I believe him. :-) Wonderful car btw.

I had 3 other people take me out. One I offered to fill up since he came a distance and we drove a distance. That's also when I realized his fuel tank was imploded and probably missing a vent line as it only went to 3/4 full...

As far as payment: PayPal/Credit Card--maybe for deposit but a no-no for full payment as it can be disputed for nearly any reason.

Check-wait for it to clear-no matter what type. U.S. Postal Money order-safe but cash it at the post office.

Cash-make sure it's not counterfeit.

Ideally--if they are using a check-and they have a branch of the bank or credit union they use nearby to where you live-have them cash it at the counter (assuming they have the money in the account they can cash it). If they use a national bank like Chase or Citibank, Wells Fargo, etc., have them arrange to cash their check at a local branch and pay you in cash at the counter. If you are uncomfortable with carrying that much cash, immediately have it converted to an official bank check-then deposit it at your bank.

You can also use Escrow services but I have no experience.

Michael

Bob Rouleau

Bigs - let him drive the car - sensibly. There is a lot of fraud involving so called cashier's checks. A wire transfer is dead easy for both parties and 100 percent fool proof. he can prepare his end before he visits. Talk to your bank manager about setting it up on your end. Usually takes about an hour for the money to clear and there is no possibility of fraud.

Best,

Marine Blue

Bigs I'm disappointed. You missed one very crucial part of the 928 car sales etiquette. You need to tell him about Rennlist and Reuterwerks at the time of the sale.

Otherwise I would follow ChuckZ's advice and I've done the same on previous purchases and sales.

Good luck and sorry to see you leave the fray.

pcar928fan

I always love this...my last 4 928 purchases I didn't drive the car till I got it home! Of course the caveat is that I had SOMEONE drive the car for me! So, I guess it is the same as me driving it...they are my eyes, ears and road feel gatherers, the cars were just to cheap and to far away to bother actually getting on a plane to go see... Well, BLUE82 was the exception...car was PERFECT and was not bought to be a driver anyway...

jeff spahn

Wow. I just paypal the deposit to him and paid with a cashier's check. I sell high dollar stuff all the time and paypal really works well. pay the fee and consider it a cost of the sale

jeff spahn

I must live in a part of the country where we still trust people.
I paid for the last three new cars of mine at a dealership with a personal check. No questions asked, no calls to the bank. Left with title in hand.