the scammers are pretty easy to spot. First off, they NEVER call you in person, they always text. when they do text you, the area code will be from a different city. Most of the time they ask you to "run the vin report" and they send you a link IE www. checkmyvinmonkey. com ....they are trying to scam you because people enter in their credit card and personal info. The best thing to do is have her talk to the buyer, no texting. Then meet in daylight, at a place with cameras, such as the police station or the supermarket. If they want to test drive the car.....1st step, take a pic of their drivers license and ask for their insurance.
Looking for 'selling safe' tips for my daughter who is selling her Mercedes SL.
- Thread starter CobraBob
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All the local police stations here have a room you can use to do transactions. Have her check with her local law enforcement. If not, go to a bank.
Only accept two forms of payment. Cash or cashiers check/deposit to your bank.
Never accept money orders.
Only accept two forms of payment. Cash or cashiers check/deposit to your bank.
Never accept money orders.
That's great advice, and I will pass it along to her. Thanks.
And....thanks to everyone for your comments/advice.
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wire is the safest. if cash, you have to use a pen checker. NEVER take a check. certified or cashiers can be faked easily. usually I goto the bank with the person to do the deal (unless they have cash)
I used to work at a bank for years. Never saw a fake cashiers check. Fake money orders a few times.
I'm pretty sure she will do wire. I've already told her I don't advise checks of any kind, and do not do PayPal for a car sale. If she does do a certified or cashiers check she knows to wait until it clears. She's pretty savvy. Her late husband taught her well. I like to think I did a bit of teaching, too, over the years. LOL.
Call me an asshole, but with people today, I would want cash in hand, withdrawn from the buyer's bank as I stand there. Then I know it's real.
I recommend doing sale at buyers bank and get cash. Never do sale at home. Have a couple friends present to "witness the sale" and a few pics from cell phone won't hurt. If buyer is from out of town....bring cash and go to your bank for completion of sales agreement the bank will notorize. If cashiers check- have bank check it out and put hold on funds. If buyer is coming from out of town-he will have someone with him to drive him there.
I've done this twice now and no issues.
I've done this twice now and no issues.
Cash is nice, but if it's large amounts of cash that's just as scary as anything else.
I remember being so damn nervous when a dude handed me almost $18k in cash for a car.
I remember being so damn nervous when a dude handed me almost $18k in cash for a car.
Thanks again for all of your comments and advice.
Just one more piece of advice.
If you do accept any sort of non-cash payment, make sure to tell her to require government issued ID and take a picture of it.
As for cash only, you can buy counterfeit markers from any business supply store. They're dirt cheap.
If you do accept any sort of non-cash payment, make sure to tell her to require government issued ID and take a picture of it.
As for cash only, you can buy counterfeit markers from any business supply store. They're dirt cheap.
I'll add this because I hope this never happens to anyone else. Meeting in a public place with a lot of people around didnt do much for me. Vehicle was stolen with my friend with me who was sitting in another car nearby (they didnt know). Luckily I had gps on vehicle. Police would not help so we literally had to go track the guy down with the gps and at gunpoint to get my vehicle back. Took about an hour. I retraced everything and there were no red flags at all.
Do the bank idea. That's all I'll do from now on.
Do the bank idea. That's all I'll do from now on.
A roommate a couple years back, had a friend shot/killed when trying to either buy or sell a car, I forget which. So yeah, police parking lot or bank parking lot.
I wouldn't be nervous about 18K amount wise, just that it's fake. That's why I would do it at a bank where the buyer and I can walk in, and they withdraw the cash.
Bring a friend and if super worried, you just open an account there and then deposit it. Otherwise you and friend drive over to your bank and deposit it there.
I bought a car for 13K cash and the seller was at work, so his wife handled it. First she was gonna trust me on the month until I asked her to count it. Then she set it on the work bench and went inside to get her kid a bottle or something, right as I was leaving. I saw it sitting there, so I waited a moment, started up the car and she came out to I guess wave, at which point I told her to put the money somewhere safe. She had that "oh yeah" look. Some people....
Car max, vroom, caravana, autotrader all have car buying services that are very safe and damn efficient.
I’ve sold 2 cars to Vroom and Vroom was a few thousand dollars higher than my local Carmax both times
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I’ve sold 2 cars to Vroom and Vroom was a few thousand dollars higher than my local Carmax both times
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I wasn't worried about the money being fake because I stood there at his bank when they handed it to him.
I was hugely worried about driving to my bank which held the title (I owed like $9500 on it), and back in that day, $18k wasn't an amount I could afford to lose. That was like half of what I was making per year after tax.
This. Definitely the safest option and what I would advise my wife or daughters to use if they needed to sell a car without me.
What's the limit of withdrawal in cash from a bank, or heads up wanted?
IE if you go in on the spot and ask for 20k, don't they want a notice of advance, or is that certain banks?
IE if you go in on the spot and ask for 20k, don't they want a notice of advance, or is that certain banks?
Every bank will be different, meaning each physical location.
I once got approved for like a 7K loan and used 6K of my own money. They day the approved the loan, they told me it would be like $8 to print a check. Um, no! I said I'll take cash then. They said they require 24 hour notice for large sums. I then nicely asked if I could speak to a manager. then and see if they will waive the $8 fee. Dude threw me some attitude, "She's probably busy!" I nicely said, "I'm in no hurry, I can wait." He left for a solid 15 minutes and came back with the cash and threw in some more finger pointing about how his manager had to go into the vault, and how taking this reserve would effect business tomorrow or something. Maybe someone should have just printed me a free check then?
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