Randy M

Back in 1997 when I lived in the Bay Area I was selling a 1987 930 Turbo. I had it listed for sale for $32,900 in the SF Chronicle. I showed it to a guy by the name of Christian Holmes. He seemed to be a nice guy, kinda book worm looking, wearing glasses, cordeuroys and a wool sweater. He said he was a financial consultant. So I let him test drive the car and had good conversation while in the car. We came back to the house and he looked over the car further. He said he was really interested in the car and that he would be in touch w/ me after speaking w/ his wife. An hour later he came back to the house and asked if he could look in my car as he had misplaced his wallet. After looking in my car, between the seats and otherwise, he had remembered that he had left it on the table at Ihop where he had breakfast that morning. About a week and a half went by and I get a call from him stating that he wants to purchase my car. We agree on price and payment method of a cashiers check. He wanted to buy the car from me on a Sunday as he was out of town on business until late Saturday, and I had a company party to go to down in San Jose Saturday night so I agreed. He gets to the house Sunday AM being dropped off by his friend. His friend leaves immediately, and I only see him from a distance. He comes in to the house and we do the transaction. He shows some of the giddyness that we all have when buying a car. The cashiers check looked legitimate w/ accompanying watermark. I did not ask to photocopy his ID as he had said that he lost his wallet. He seemed like a good guy so I even threw in my Alpine deck as a good gesture. 10 days go by and I get the cashiers check back in the mail from my bank stating that the check is NSF. I go to my bank, they say that the bank where this check was drawn from did not honor it. I drive over to this bank in SF. They tell me that the cashiers check is a counterfeit. I immediately call my agent and file a police report. The cops tells me that my car was probably loaded onto a ship in Oakland bound for Asia. After a taped phone conversation w/ State farm and a few weeks they covered my loss to the tune of $44K as I was covered for the value of my car and not the selling price. Two years go by and I get a letter from State Farm asking me to release my interest in the car (again) as they had found the car in Seattle. The feds busted the whole car theft ring that was doing this sort of thing up and down the west coast. The particular guy that stole my car ended up doing only 14 months in a federal prison outside Vegas.
How many of you have taken a cashiers check for payment on a car? Learn from my mistake and go to his bank with him to protect yourself. <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" />

Robin 993DX

We get plenty of counterfeit cashier's check in the computer business.

Now we make a practice of asking the customer to fax over the cashier's check first so we can call the bank to verify the check.

If it is in person pick up we ask the customer to wait while we call the bank to verify the check.

GTR 993

Thanks for the advise you can't trust anyone these days. When I sell a vehicle I usually do the transaction at the buyers bank assuming he is in town. I have also sold to a guy in CA. I felt fairly confident just due to the fact he was an Air Force Pilot at Travis. But you never know.....

Pete K

I did a wire transfer when I bought my car, it went very smooth, I did not even have to go to the bank. And I know the seller really apprecitated the security of the funds being in his account as we signed over the title.

Pete

adsc4s

That is a really scary story. I am in the process of selling my 964 C2 Cab and I will learn from your experience.

Rohan Nath

i'll share a story on the other end of the spectrum -

when i bought my car i gave the dealership $ 10k on my credit card (wanted to do it all on the card - for the miles - but they refused). i wrote them a personal check for the rest. they happily let me drive the car away. at best the sales guy called the bank to confirm funds availability but if i wanted to cheat them i could have moved the funds out before the check cleared.

Jeff 993TT

Sorry to hear your story Randy. When I bought my TT, I gave the guy a cashier's check. We went over to _his_ bank and waited until it was deposited.

Then we signed over the title, etc. If I ever sell a car via private party, I'm going to be sure that I get his/her ID and go over to the bank to deposit the check.

But it sounds like there was a happy resolution, since SF gave you 44K instead of the 32.9K that you sold it for. Since they found the car, does that mean you have return the difference, or something like that???

Randy M

This happened over 5 years ago. I know alot more than I did back then. And no Jeff, I did not have to return the difference as the claim was closed with my signature. Luckily I came out of it unscathed, having learned a valuable lesson and made a little money while being a victim of crime at the same time. Crazy.
Last summer I sold a 1970 Boss 302 Mustang to a guy in Walnut Creek. He sent me a cashiers check for $22K as payment in the mail. For all he knew I could have cashed the check and moved out of the country.

mick

I have been in the banking business for over 30 years. We see examples like this frequently. My advise to all of you selling a car is to call the bank that issued the check and ask them if the check is legitimate. Even then make sure the check looks original. Take a good look at the type of signature and the quality of the paper. when in doubt take it to the bank that issued if you can.

Terry Adams

I received a cashiers check on the Bank of Lagos in New York, for a large shipment of consumer electronics products. While I was in shipping to check we had enough product available, my coffee cup sprang a fortuitous leak on the watermark, and it ran. I made a few calls to NYC and found there was no such bank, saving myself a dumb mistake to explain to the boss. I am sure many of you know that Nigeria is a hotbed of this sort of activity. They include fax and letters to "share" in an inheritance, missing military person's bank account, etc. All they ask is that you pay some "admin fees" up front, or provide your own bank info so they can transfer the $$ to you. The only way I will accept a cashiers check is if I am standing at the counter at the buyer's bank when they make it out.

KC993

Same thing had happened to a friend of mine when he was selling his 964 3 years ago. Except the whole thing happened on a Friday night, when the buyer with a cashier's check was going to the bank with my friend to verify the fund. He was late coming to his house claiming traffic and there's a party he's going to show off the car to his buddies so he NEED the car that night. The guy left a copy of his driver's license and insurance and the cashier's check and my friend agreed to verify the amount on Saturday morning when bank opens. Well, the rest of the story is about the same but the guy is still at large as far as I know...

Greg Fishman

I was trying to sell a car a year or so ago and I was contacted by a guy in Nigeria (big, HUGE red flag) but I decided to play along. He wanted the truck shipped to some god forsaken place in Africa and I said I would ablige once the check cleared. A month later I got a check for $10K more than my asking price and he sent me an email requesting that I Western Union the difference to him ASAP because he was overpaid on some contract. The check was written on "his" companies acct, Duke Energy. Well I figured that someone at Duke would now if they had sent me a $50K check and why would it come from Nigeria when their headquarters are in the US. I decided to make some calls before I deposited the check, I got to someone in accts payable fairly easily at Duke and they confirmed that the acct. was closed due to fraud and that it was a counterfeit check. Someone in their security area contacted me, as well as the FBI. They said this stuff happens all the time. Fortunately I had a bad feeling from the begining and just played along. Many get too caught up in their own greed and can't see that they are getting scammed.

Edit: I don't remember if it was Terry or another Rennlister but I posted a question about shipping my vehicle to Nigeria and got a response from him and a nice warning of the scams they try to perpetuate.

Greg Fishman

Kim,
EJ is gullible enough to fall for it too. You missed your chance

amfp

Randy,

Did you immediately drop the insurance when you sold the car ? Interesting insurance paid after 10 days (great for you). Suspect it was insured on day you sold, and because car was considered "stolen" they reimbursed you. Just curious.

Thanks for sharing the experience.

Randy M

I called my agent the very next day to drop the coverage on the car. Because my loss happened the day prior to my cancellation (even though I didn't know it at the time) they covered me. This may very well have been a gray area for State Farm but they stood by me. State Farm is a great company and I've never had any trouble with them not covering me. Thay are not the cheapest, and there is a reason for that THEY INSURE YOU. Other companies do not do what they say they do.