groovzilla

**appreciate the moderators letting me cross post this issue as it will be of help if anyone sells their car in the future. i have posted it on several of the forums because many owners who don't wander around this forum :

all,

sold my 996 2 weeks ago after several responses on pelican. buyer came up from california but because we had 8" of snow, was not able to drive the car.

he gave me a sizeable non-refunable deposit and flew back up last night to test drive today. whats ironic is today it is 60 degrees and pure sunny skies!

test drive went A+ and we came back to my house to do business.

he gave me a cashiers check from his credit union and the car went back in my garage for shipper pickup next week. buyer left and i leave the house and stroll down to my bank which is only minutes from our home and my teller tells me that the check cannot be honored.

w-w-w-wwhat?

the teller pointed out that in order for any cashiers check to be issued by a credit union or bank that is over $10K, 2 signatures are required by the bank staff...this check only had 1 bank signature.

soooo i phoned the buyer, he came to my house immediately and we agreed that he would wire the money into my account monday when he gets home.

just wanted to mention this because the outcome could have been upsetting if the buyer wasn't an honest guy and the car left my possession ...it was an honest mistake on the buyers part but a foolish overlooked error on his credit unions part.

BHMav8r

I would think worse case you could have taken the check to the bank and they would honor it or sign it.

The guy I bought my current ride from was a little hesitant to take my banks cashiers check. I guess he was worried it might be counterfeit. However, his bank guy verified it was a real check number and all but vouched for it.

groovzilla

take the check to the bank in california?...i live in seattle...bit of a drive don't you think

Porsche964FP

Either way it's simple -

Don't let the car go/ transfer ownership documents until:

1. You've made up a receipt of the sale - with both parties addresses, signature, the vin number, the amount and date.

2. Until the money has permanently hit your account regardless of cheque, transfer, cash etc.

Simple golden rules.

cobracarrera

Its nice that you posted this information as it may help a lot of people in the future.....

I was aware that you need to have two signatures on a check when the dollar amount is $10,000+ since I worked in the banking industry most of my life up until about 6 years ago. I thought that they would have changed that by now, but I guess not.

Grazie

Another option - a friend of mine who purchased a vehicle remotely, sight-unseen (PPI of course) from an unknown (prior to purchase) seller handled the transaction through escrow.com. You establish the deal through the site and they hold the title and payment until the parties have both "signed off" on the deal, the $ has cleared, etc. It worked well for him and I almost used this on a 964 deal (that fell through). While I haven't used it myself it seems like good protection for both parties at a reasonable cost. No affiliation and I can only vouch for one experience with it - just passing it along.

BHMav8r

Yea that would be worse case . . .

hawk911

there are lots of rules regarding any transaction for more than $10K. Tellers have to file paperwork on the transaction, documenting where the funds came from, who it went to, and all pertinent info. Thank 9-11 for that.

UncleRemus

fyi, same thing happened to me. how can the bank issue the check without signatures?

hawk911

new teller, possibly

Makmov

I would never take a cashiers check they can stop payment on cashiers check just like a regular ck.

The only good check is a certified funds check.

And, yeah, basically it's got to be reported to the feds over 10K, so there is additional forms that need filled out.

Bearclaw

The world is awash in bad cashier's checks, "bank checks", etc. People get burned all the time. Sometimes it takes weeks to get kicked back.

I've sold a lot of cars in various ways, but these days it would either be A) wire it into my acct, and when it shows up, I'll release the car/keys, or B) escrow. I've yet to hear of a problem with escrow.com, I like that option.