Has anyone ever sold a car through CarGurus? They have a service through Autopay that collects the money from the buyer and pays it to the seller. I'm getting ready to start this process with an out of town buyer...just wondered if anyone has any advice or has used this before and can share your experience with me.

thanks,

Mark

 

I sold a car about a year ago on CarGurus and it was a smooth transaction. This was my first time using CarGurus and I’m happy with their service. They collect the funds from the buyer and wire it to the seller when the transaction is complete, thereby protecting both parties. My car was purchased unseen and once the title was received by the buyer, I received the funds. The buyer had the car shipped and sell complete! Easy peasy.

 

Earlier this year I had my 981 CS listed for sale on PCA and Rennlist sites. Someone took my ad including pics and listed the car on Car Guru at a price that was six thousand less than my listing price on the two aforementioned sites. A gentleman interested in the car started corresponding with the scammer who listed the car on CG. He had seen the car listed on the two other sites and now saw it on Car Guru for six thousand less. He thought he was corresponding with me when he closed the deal. He wired the scammer a substantial sum of money. He waited for the title to arrive NDA. Title never arrived. Scammer disappeared along with his money. He called Car Guru and was told they were not liable which is no surprise. He was quite disappointed as they did little to assist in apprehending the scammer. The man lost his money. The scammer has yet to be apprehended.

 

Wow I thought this scenario sounded like the money was held in escrow and was only sent to the seller once the car and title arrived. That was obviously not what happened here. Very odd situation. Can't see any advantage to using Cargurus for this funding service given what went down here. Wow.

 

Looks like the escrow service was not used

 

Why would the buyer wire the money him/herself? Sounds like proper protocol wasn't followed which ended up biting the buyer.

Exactly.

 

The man didn't use the services provided to him to avoid situations like this. I get the emotional motivation to get the car ASAP, but yeah, this one's on the purchaser.

 

After doing a bit of research, Autopay verifies the funds are available and the title is clear but that's it. There is no escrow. You are on your own to ensure you actually receive the funds. Escrow.com is the service Cargurus recommends for safe escrow transactions.

 

I've sold cars through forums, Lotustalk, GTO forum, etc.
- Never test drive, but I would drive car they can ride along -
I would meet the customer at my bank , inspect the cashiers check ( have it verified at the bank ) - Have him pay the bank including the lien - Bank holds complete funds for the check- ( I wouldn't pay car off purposely, it makes bank involved as third party to verify the funds. ). Than (wait at the bank for up to 30 minutes) I would sign the title over to the customer (infront of the bank consultant) once they verified the funds.

I have done this many times, both the customer (buying my car) and myself feel transaction is safe.

Lately, I gotten tired of dealing with all this crap to be safe because of scammers... I just trade vehicle in and get top of good trade in value KBB at the dealer, call it a day. Its always fair (work the new in the 4 box sales process )

 

The buyer didn't use services offered by CarGuru. He dealt directly with the person he thought was me. He wired money to an address/bank requested by the scammer. Big mistake.