Working Man's Escrow
 

Someone suggested this method to me the other day. It seems like a logical solution to all the rip-offs we see online.

Buyer and seller agree on a price.

The buyer emails the funds via interac, but does not give the password that is required to finalize the transfer. (This email cannot go out from the buyer's bank unless the funds are present in the account)

The seller and the buyer meet in a public place for 'hand-off'. If the buyer is happy with the car he can disclose the password to the seller.

The seller can then use his phone to accept the funds and he will get confirmation from his bank that the funds are received. The email takes only a few minutes.

The seller can then sign over the title and hand the keys over.

I think it's a cheap practical alternative to lawyers.

Face to face transactions are cake.

The problem is when the buyer and seller can not meet in person.

The benefit of this system is you confirm the buyer has the funds, and you aren't carrying a large sum of cash when the deal is done.

I would never buy a car sight unseen, but if that is he only way, then you need a real escrow service.

Meet up at his bank, open an account there. Have buyer hand and over the check, cash, or money transfer from his account into yours. done. Are we talking 250k for an early car or are we talking about 20k here? Not everyone is a criminal, most people are good and honest. I know, you must protect yourself.

I bought a house from my neighbor two doors down on a hand shake. We opened up escrow did title search and nothing else. He handed me the key 10 days later.

There are plenty of online escrow services that offer this exact service for a small fee. It's really only necessary for sight unseen purchases.

Even simpler is to conduct the transaction with a cashier's check at your bank, have the bank verify funds before you sign over the title. Or have the buyer complete a wire transfer after inspecting the car, you sign over the title when the wire clears. Or just do cash, that's as simple as it gets.