Debunking Myths About the Danger of Selling Your Car

[matwil74]

The past couple years I have noticed the American-private-party-car-seller Zeitgeist changing in an alarming way. We all know how nerve-racking it can be to buy a car, but would if the seller is more nervous than you?

You finally find the car of your dreams. It’s far away, as they always are, you emailed the seller and asked every pertinent question in that ‘Mercedes Buyer’s Guide’ book of yours, you’ve even requested additional photos from him and you’re finally ready to make a deal. It’s too far away so maybe you can’t look at the car in person, but you get a good feeling about the car and you think you know enough about it to make an educated purchase. You make the call. You ask more questions about the car just to make sure it’s what you want and develop a good feeling about the seller. He’s nice, he’s friendly and he seems honest.

But he refuses to sell you the car.

What?

That’s right. He just told you he would rather sell the car locally because of all the scams he’s heard about.

Welcome to the new American private seller. Fear of being defrauded has taken over logic and is making it terribly difficult for savvy internet buyers to make a deal. Especially if you are not American. This is not just isolated, but widespread, permeating fear in nearly every city in the United States.

What is the cause of this? Is there a legitimate reason for this?

The answer is not simple, but it spans several years back with the advent of the Nigerian Scam. You know, the old scam where a ‘Dr. Smith’ wants to send you too much money for your car by way of official cashier’s check and asks that you send the overpayment to him in Niger via Western Union? I’m sure you’ve heard of it by now. Everyone has. This is, by now, nearly totally defunct and inoperable, simply because it’s so well known throughout the world. To my knowledge, there is no longer any current widespread going on related to vehicle sales. Now, ( must chuckle) the used car salesperson is a completely different story, more about that another day. So why does this still linger? I think the answer to this is because not everybody knows how the scam worked. In mainstream media the average American mind might have simply registered something along these lines:

car, cashier’s check, scam, far away buyer, something about Niger

Which translates to: When I sell my car don’t take cashier’s checks and don’t sell to anyone I can’t see in person

The ‘cashier’s check‘ part is phasing out and being replaced simply by ” Don’t sell to anyone I can’t see in person”

I have also noticed the increasing usage of phrases like: ‘ avoid scams and fraud by dealing locally’ on classified websites. This is completely unwarranted as you will see below.

Here is my best advise for selling your car: sell it and get paid! To me it doesn’t matter who pays me, which country s/he is from, or what kind of accent this person has. I really don’t even care if s/he is from Niger or Zimbabwe. If the money clears and I can take the cash out of the bank then I have successfully sold the car. It’s as simple as that.

In fact, the fear (for good cause) should come from the buyer, not the seller. The buyer is basically sending you money in good faith and hopes he gets what you are describing. And since you won’t provide the buyer the title until the funds are cleared, this means he has to have faith that you will eventually give him some form of ownership documents. It’s a leap of faith and many people are nervous about it, for good reason, but they still buy the car. Millions of cars in America and Europe have been sold this way since 1999 whilst almost no buyer scams (not including the Nigerian Scam) have been reported. However, seller scams are well-documented and are on the rise. Flipping back the odometer, switching VIN numbers, juicing up internet descriptions and photos,’ losing the title’, you name it.

Now I want to make some points why it’s even more convenient, safer and less time consuming to sell to an out-of-state or international buyer versus a local private party:

Why it’s safer to sell a car overseas:

* In 99% of the cases your buyer will send you funds via traditional bank to bank wire transfer. This is by far the safest way to send money (ask your bank) since once the money posts to your account it is 100% non-retractable. In other words, once the buyer wires you the money it’s gone…for him. There is absolutely nothing he can do about it, less walking into your bank and robbing it, but even then you have FDIC insurance. This is important when selling a car because once you close a deal and he takes his car home you don’t risk him ‘retracting’ the money if he wrecks the car. A traditional wire transfer withing the U.S. takes about 24 business hours to post to your account while an international wire takes 2-3 business days. Either way, and no matter where the wire is sent from, your money is clear once it hits your account. You can take it out and buy gold with it. Now, just to be clear, if you are offered a cashier’s check from anyone outside the U.S. you should know it’s a scam. The cashier’s check commonality is pretty much exclusive to the U.S.. Europeans pay for big ticket goods almost exclusively by cash-in-person or bank wire. Checks are unheard of.

* Dramatically reduces your risk of frivolous lawsuits. Used car sales lawsuits are big business and AS-IS disclosures usually don’t get the seller very far in court. Compared to most other countries, Americans are pretty sue-happy. And some just flat out make it a business, and one of those business targets are used car sellers. You do your best to describe your car, post thirty photos and you get a buyer. Well, the buyer drives the car to his home in our city and he get’s ‘buyer’s remorse’ and decides he wants you to buy it back. You refuse. A deal is a deal, right? He calls up his buddy mechanic and has him literally pick the car apart. Thousands of mechanical wear and tear items are now unaccounted for in your newspaper description. He’s close to you and it’s easy for him to call up his buddy attorney and open a case. You will probably win, but only after spending thousands of dollars and dozens of hours defending yourself in court. The fact that your buyer is far away from you vastly decreases the chance a frivolous kind of person will pursue a lawsuit outside his own state. And frivolous lawsuits coming from outside the country is just a silly idea. It would not happen.

* When selling to a local buyer you risk taking counterfeit cash, fake cashier’s checks, and even being harmed on a test drive. Who pays for the damage if the potential buyer crashes your car? You do! Who pays for the loss if you deposit a fake cashier’s check? You do! Then you have to deal with a likely complete stranger entering your home to complete the transaction. Also, if your buyer pays with cash, now you have to take that cash to your bank and deposit it. Under the Patriot Act, and new money laundering laws, banks are on the lookout for customers with large sums of cash. If it’s over $10,000 it must be reported to the IRS. If you ’structure your deposit’ (Google: stuctured deposits) then this is another crime in itself. A felony, in most states.

Why it’s more convenient to sell a car overseas:

* How many times have you gotten a call and the local potential buyer wants you to meet him halfway? Or he wants to take the car home to show his wife? Overseas or out of state buyers are simply too far away to see and drive your car. You are effectively avoiding tire kickers, kids who want to just drive a fast car, and penniless serial car dreamers who always seem to know it all. However, at times an overseas buyer will want a professional pre-purchase inspection (PPI). This can be accomplished at your local repair shop or by mobile inspection companies like CARCHEX® - Your BBB Accredited Resource for Extended Auto Warranties & Vehicle Inspections or SGS. If the buyer requests a PPI simply make sure he pays for the service beforehand. Verify with the inspection company or shop that the bill has been paid in full. PPIs take about 1-2 hours of your time and you may even learn a thing or two about your car.

* After you settle a deal with your buyer he will arrange shipping. Generally just a few days after your car is paid in full the transport company will contact you usually 24-48 hours before they arrive and will generally load the car from your home. If you have a strict HOA or a narrow neighborhood street you can meet them at your local grocery outlet or Walmart.

* If your buyer is out of state it’s generally a good idea to mail the title and bill of sale immediately after funds have cleared. If the buyer is overseas, give the title to the auto transport company when they come, they’ll need it for customs clearance out of the U.S. and into the overseas port.

* That’s about it. Very easy stuff here.

Continued....Go to part 2