?? about selling a car to overseas buyer

chuckw951 · 07:16 AM

Hi,

I have a couple of people interested in my car from Europe. My responsibility would be to deliver the car to a port to load into a container and then on to a ship. Baltimore is 20 minutes away so I could do that. My question is about how to handle the transaction. Any advice? I want to protect my interests and also make sure the buyer gets the car as promised.

Chuck

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

I would be very leary about an over seas sale. Wait long (LONG) to make sure all the financial transactions are cleared.

Even if the buyer is legit, I seriously doubt that someone overseas is paying you that much more $$ than someone stateside to justify all the hassle involved in exporting a car.

My $0.42,
-Z-man.

gaijindabe · 01-13-2005, 07:57 AM

DONT DO IT!

European flights are cheap. Have them fly over and pay you cash. When the cash is deposited, drive them to the steamship line and give them the keys.

Most people know these days about the African scammers, they are very sopisticated and are now brokering deals through Europe.

chuckw951 · 01-13-2005, 08:02 AM

Yes, I'm aware of the scams. But it seems to me if the money is wired to a bank account it can't be "reversed." Even if the buyer is in the USA you still could have problems with a fake cashiers check. How about PayPal. My concern there is that the money would be paypal'd to me and then the charges be reversed once the car is delivered. That would be bad. I guess the other option is an escrow service.

RickM · RickM's Garage

Escrow through a service you choose.

I would not give ANY bank info to an overseas buyer for wiring money.

id10t · 01-13-2005, 08:26 AM

Check with your bank, but I believe wiring the money is safest for you. Of course, you want to offer the buyer some protection as well, assuming its not a scam. See if your bank, lawyer or someone similar can suggest a not-online escrow service.

gaijindabe · 01-13-2005, 08:28 AM

Scammers prosper by staying one step ahead. Have they done a PPI? Have they requested a PPI? Do they know Porsches?

The dollar may be weak, but not that weak. If it is a low value car, why bother importing? If it is something special, they wont balk at flying over, or sending someone. Dont forget your time is valuable too...

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

Again, why go through all that trouble if you can sell your car here for a similar amount?

Also: wire transfers can be manipulated as well. Often with wire transfers and cashier's checks, it takes significantly longer for the transactions to clear than what you think. And that's how the scammers get away with it - you wait 2 weeks after cashing the check, and everything seems ok, so you send your $$ & goods off to the scammer. Three weeks later, and voila: you get a note from the bank stating that the check / wire transfer was invalid.

Be very, very careful.
-Z.

andrewgoh · 01-13-2005, 12:49 PM

Ask the buyer to go to a bank and set-up a Letter of Credit (LC) payment. The seller and bank will set-up a reserve fund account or line of credit to pay for the intended purchase. A Letter of Credit instructs the buyer's bank (aka "issuing bank") to pay the seller's bank (aka "advising bank") when it has been verified that the seller shipped the product.

The verification comes from the provision of the Bill of Lading document. This is a document provided by the vessel carrier company. It verifies the product was put on the vessel.

Your advising bank will hand the Bill of Lading docs to the issuing bank. Issuing bank reviews the shipping and invoicing documents. If docs are acceptable, the LC gets paid to the seller via the seller's advising bank.

Best way to start is to go talk to a freight forwarder to help you get started.

gaijindabe · 01-13-2005, 01:40 PM

"Issuing bank reviews the shipping and invoicing documents. If docs are acceptable, the LC gets paid..."

AND this is determined after the after the vehicle is has been loaded aboard the vessel??

If you knew the buyer and were selling 2 cars a month, this would be the way to do it. Not to be totally negative here (I do work in international trade, BTW), setting up an LC and the time and involved, plus potential problems is just not worth it for a private seller.

Cash in hand = Title + keys.

chuckw951 · 01-13-2005, 03:13 PM

In my recent conversations with the potential buyer he is willing to have a friend in the states deliver the cash which would be a whole lot better. We'll see.

350HP930 · 01-13-2005, 03:21 PM

Cash in hand. Anything else would be a waste of your time and/or could be a scam.

dkm_chgo · 01-13-2005, 05:18 PM

Chuck,

I recently sold my '70T Targa to a fellow out in the Netherlands via eBay. I gave him my bank information and he wired the money into the account. He arranged for all the shipping, too. The only negative thing was the transaction was in mid-October and the shipper picked up the car at the end of December. I didn't send the title until the shipper picked up the car. I still don't think he received the car yet. He didn't have a PPI done, but the transaction was $6500. So far so good....The buyer has a dealership in Europe. Just make sure you check out everything and my case, he sent the money before he got the title, car, anything. I could have easily scammed him, but that's just bad Karma. I hope this helps.