best form of payment when selling vehicle?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Cash or meet at the bank. I've met at the bank with people multiple times for cashier checks. Remember if they are getting a loan they often don't have the option for cash. If those two won't work, split the $20 for a wire transfer.

[billybek]

Sounds a bit funny but I have used travelers cheques (checks). Safe to travel with, do the deal and go to the bank to cash into the sellers account. No waiting for a cashiers or certified cheque to clear. Cost a bit to get, but worth it.

[JavaBrewer]

I took a personal check from a person. We drove down to his bank, which had offices near by, and verified the funds were there by cashing the check, and it bike was his.

[rnln]

most of you said cash, me too. Always cash for me. But what if all those $100 dollar bills are fake?

[Eric 951]

Cash and use a 5.00 marker from office depot, staples, etc. to verify the bills are genuine. I did this when I sold my P-car--just check each bill with the pen.

[tomphot]

There are a lot of fake Cashiers Checks and Certified Checks out there.

The problem is that your bank does not know if they are real or not - your bank will "clear" the check in a couple days and put the money in your account.
It could take weeks before the check comes back to the bank as being a fake - at that time, they come back to you for the funds.

Do a search on the internet - there are tons of articles on this out there.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rnln

most of you said cash, me too. Always cash for me. But what if all those $100 dollar bills are fake?

Not that hard to tell which bills are real and which are fake even without the magic pen.

[ramonesfreak]

thanks. i put in my add, "cash only". i am worried about fake bills or being robbed but i figure the bike is fully insured and i would just call cops and report bike as stolen?

[Shuie]

A bank wire is the absolute safest way to receive payment as a seller.

[campbellcj]

I concur. I would prefer a bank wire transfer over cash, unless I had an inordinate degree of trust in the buyer and it wasn't a huge amount (more than a few grand.) Not sure I would want to walk around with $50K in cash or anything like that but $500 or $5000, no sweat.

The banks are very distrustful of cashiers checks these days. They view every one as fraudulent until proven otherwise. I have even been royally hassled by one bank (US Bank - they suck) trying to cash a cashiers check issued by them - at the same effin branch - by a longtime customer. That may have been the only time I've ever actually lost my temper and yelled at some cube-dwelling dunderhead in a public place like that.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by masraum

Not that hard to tell which bills are real and which are fake even without the magic pen.

yep, i use my nail. If it's a really shady looking person, i'll look for the 100's on that little strip built into paper.

I hate when a buyer brings 20's too, takes forever to count!