Selling vehicles - accepting cashiers checks?

[aigel]

Simple:

Have him get his cashier's check and send you a copy of it (a high res image email or a fax). Then call the bank during business hours and verify it. When he gets there, compare his paper with your copy and you are good to go.

In my dealings, anything under $5k is cash territory.

George

[mthomas58]

This is good advice. Be aware that stop payments can be place on Cashier's Checks just like any other check so you need to verify the check is authentic and it will be honored before your accept it and even then there is risk (a stop can still be placed after your verification call and before it clears the originating bank).

I bought a 3 yr old Great Dane once on the condition with the seller that he would take the dog back if he did not get along with my 1 yr old female Dane (they did pretty well at initial intro prior to purchase but I could not be sure). He made a specific point of telling me that he was a good Christian man [so that I would trust him] and assured me that he would take the dog back - no problem. Well, the dogs did not get a long at all [huge problem] and when I called him to make arrangement to return the dog he told me that he could not take him back that he and his wife had been having problems specifically related to the dog and it had boiled down to him or the dog....one of them had to go. I immediately went to the bank and put a stop payment on the Cashier's Check and he called me later that day after he had gone to the bank to try and cash it to make arrengements to pick the dog up. I told him that he could pick the dog up at 3:00PM and that I would accept CASH ONLY. What a douche bag! These days, unfortunately, you can trust no one and you must verify everything.

[naparsei]

I have used cashier's checks repeatedly (probably on 5 purchases in the last 2 years) with no problems. I would generally prefer a cashier's check or a wire. Obviously, if you take a check, make sure all the information is exactly right. In a buying situation, always see a copy of the title before you buy (or even show up, if possible). Then you know the seller has it, that's there's no liens, and you can verify the vin for accuracy (getting an out of state vin correction is a massive pain...).