Buying Equipment and Vehicles out of State

We have advertised a vehicle for sale on craigslist and a gentlemen from out of state is interested. Would you accept a bank / cashiers check? Is it unreasonable to request cash only. The vehicle is about $15,0000. Let me know what you think. Thanks in advance!

The bank or cashier's check will be no good, but the cash might be phony also. I have no problem with cash - - just look it over like the store cashiers do before you accept it..

I have been a used tractor truck farm machinery and RV dealer and I just figure if some out of state dude Ive never met and may not see again is driving away with my car and title ID LIKE MORE THEN JUST A PIECE OF PAPER IN RETURN (even if a supposed sure fire Cashiers Check) IE cold hard cash. If that costs me a deal FINE SO BE IT I still have the car. If that makes me a bad guy just call me Mr Bad. However if others are comfortable doing it fine, its their free choice and their risk not mine. Ive taken bad checks before but never bad cash lol.

John T

Call your banker, ask if the transaction can be made there, and if the check can be verified and deposited on the spot.

If so, it should be safe.

If not, no deal.

Even if he comes up with the cash, meeting at your bank would be the safe thing to do. That way the money is verified as good, it is safely deposited, and everything is on video.

Bank/ cashier checks can be forged, also. (My son's friend got nailed by one) . Cash is safest since you can check it on the spot with one of those pens.

That seems like a good enough idea.

I became a new member of Ebay about a year or so ago after I bought a set of Dana 60 and 80 axles for one of my Dodges. I paid the seller through PayPal and over 3 months later he was still making excuses why the axles hadn't been shipped. PayPal has a policy of 90 days for return or whatever and I had just exceeded that when I contacted them for help. I easily proved my case and they still went after the guy and got my money back. Probably not a bad idea to approach one's bank and ask them for help as a service, and if it goes bad, let them clobber the guy. Seems like a good idea to me.

Mark

A good friend of mine always says "In God We Trust", all others pay cash.
Richard in NW SC

"Is it unreasonable to request cash only?"
How bad do you want to lose your vehicle and your cash? If the party legally and legitimately wants your truck, they can make arrangements to give you cash OR would have no problem with their bank doing a transaction with your bank. Go talk to your bank on how to do a safe transaction. If your bamk is a full-service bank, they will gladly help you. Also, if you do cash, spend a few bucks on a marker that you see the people at Wally-World have. One more thing: if you do a cash transaction over a certain amount, I BELIEVE it's $11,000, you must legally and immediately report this to the IRS. (As told to me by a car dealer just about a month ago. Not certain on the exact amount)

If it's cash, get one of those pens and check every bill. We sold a truck, and many of the hundreds were actually good. Police did not care, but the bank did.

Several folks mention the so called pen, how does that work I have seen it used many times.

I just looked up your area and see that you're not anywhere near a state line. That leaves me asking two questions:
1) Is there anything particularly interesting, special or rare about what you're selling?
2) Is the asking price an exceptionally good deal?

If neither of these has any significant answer, then I would definitely be leery of this potential buyer. Why would someone want to drive hundreds of miles away to buy a $15k car only to haul it back several hundred miles? Are there no cars like it in their area?

Now, that said, I have bought ALL of my used vehicles (not that there have been a lot) from out of state over the past 15 years or so, as I've been buying from southern states with no rust, low mileage and well taken care of. These are getting increasingly difficult to find! My next truck will be having a frame-off resto anyway, so will buy it wherever I find it.

I like the idea of meeting at your bank and having them verify the funds. Both you and the buyer would be on camera, there would be witnesses, and all funds could be checked and verified through the institution. ...I'd make sure to ask your bank first rather than waiting until last minute! Ask for cash from the buyer, and try to set it up so that a more experienced teller could look over the cash for you. Wouldn't even be a bad idea if during the transaction, if your hands never actually touched the cash. That way there could be absolutely no doubt from the buyer trying to pull a fast one and saying you pulled a switcharoo on him! Also, keep your bank account number well hidden - after all, you're only selling a car; not your banking information as well!!

There's one more thing I'd like to add here. I just recently upgraded my wallet to one that blocks all RFID. We also got an aluminum case for the wife to have all of her cards in. While the cards are unprotected when outside of these, another potential scam might be to try and buy a car out of one's area, scan their wallet, then try to scam the seller knowing that they have at least X-amount of dollars in the account. As a last resort, anything with a magnetic stripe could also be wrapped in 2 or 3 layers of aluminum foil for protection as well.

RFID can be read using an RFID reader "WITHOUT -- THE -- PERSON -- HAVING -- TO -- HOLD -- IT"!! They can simply download an app for their smart phone, have it turned on with the app running, and they can scan, I think up to 2 or 3 feet away! Can also buy inexpensive stand-alone RFID readers also.

If they buy a car from you, they have your full name, address, signature - what better to top it off than your card or bank info?? Not trying to scare you off, but I "am" trying to make sure we stay safe out there! I barely have much knowledge of this stuff, but all it takes is a good web search or two to discover a wealth of information!

I am with Steve, Meet at your bank and let them handle transaction and they can also help with the tital.

Whenever someone wants to pay with cashiers check, I think scam. I learned that even if a cashiers check is good at the time you get it, they can stop payment before you get to the bank. Our bank says that they don't worry about counterfeit 100 dollar bills because the $20 is much more likely to be counterfeit. Our bank does not use the pen. I take cash or personal checks. I am leaning more toward cash all the time. I sold a Semi tractor for $22,500 and they paid cash.

over $600 bad check is a felony. that being said; all i would do is meet at the bank. that way a person could let the bank take a personal check. then hold the title until the transaction goes thru, then send the title. If he takes the vehicle without a title and the transaction falls thru, then he up for stealing the vehicle. Never cancel your insurance until all paperwork is final + 2weeks!

I would contact the potential buyer and ask if they would have a problem with meeting to look the vehicle over before the final deal is made, then to go to your bank have just have a simple bank transfer done. Generally cost you a few bucks but the money is directly transferred from their bank to your account. They of course take possession once you bank verifies that the funds are in your account. Check, most banks do charge a few but it isn't that much.

Rick

Its a felony but good luck getting it prosecuted if you are not a business.

Short answer, NO. If the buyer has a problem with cash he either isn't serious, or has no experience in how such things are done, or he is a scammer. Once that car leaves your procession you can be certain that if there is a funding problem you will be in for a long rough journey. You can buy the pens to check the paper money at Staples or any other office supply place

Yea it ain't that simple to collect on a bad check,there are many ways to wiggle out of them and if the person that passes the bad check is out of state good luck getting them to court and
then you still have no guarantee you'll ever get your money.My wife worked at a collection agency and she used to handle bad checks BTW.

I have bought a few vehicles far off. I always take cash! If his check is good, not a big deal for him to get cash from his bank.

Lot of trusting folk on here! Let me throw in a buyer's view.
I buy a lot of things out of state, wife's truck came from NJ, mine from SD picked up in Mn, tractor from Al and tractor cab from NC to name a few. Only one was a cash deal and I nearly backed out of that one.
I'm driving or flying hundreds of miles to purchase a item you have advertised, I'm trusting the photos you posted to be real and trusting your word on it's condition to be what you say it is.

Now you don't trust me to bring a good bank or certified check we can take to your bank to verify or to do a wire transfer, you want cash.
Why should I trust you not to rob me of my cash once I get there.

Trust is a two way street, if you don't trust me why should I trust you, let's meet at your bank that way we both leave happy with what we want, me with what you have for sell and you with my money.

I use Paypal a lot, it cost a little but they'll help you if someone tries to rip you off.

Checking with the local bank sounds like a good idea. Also make sure they can do title notary or whatever is required in your state. Don't let it leave without secured payment and the title properly signed over to the new owner.
I sold a 1997 Rav 4 once and it was a weird transaction. I'm in Ohio and these people called from Georgia or something ? They were renting a car and driving up here to get it. I think they were going to send it to some relatives overseas ? I told them to bring CASH only. This was only like $ 4,000. Well they got here and didn't bring cash ! I was going to send them home. We happened to go to the local bank and it turned out the checking account they wanted to give me a check from they also happened to have it linked to a credit card. So the bank did a cash advance on their credit card and then gave them the cash which in turn they handed to me. I think the bank also notarized the title to their name and off the went.

Even some counterfeit cash can pass the pen test.The only absolutely sure way to make sure you get paid would be to meet at your bank you have the title to the vehicle and he has
the cash.You deposit the cash in the bank they can check it out to their satisfaction and you have the cash in your account and he gets the vehicle and clear title.Also if the title needs to be
notarized the bank can do that too.If he's legit he would be more comfortable handing over that amount of cash in a bank rather than at your house.
Another way is I had a guy coming from out of state to buy a tractor (not a lot of money) he had US Mint Silver Eagles he was going to have to sell to buy the tractor,so we agreed
to check the spot silver price at Monex and we used that figure to do the deal.We both were ahead doing it that way.

The common scam is the person wants to buy the car sight unseen, wants to send you a cashier's check, and will send a shipper to pick up the vehicle.

When you get the check, oh my, it's written out for several thousand more than the asking price of the car! When you contact the buyer, OOPS, that was a mistake, would you do me a favor and send the surplus on to account X at bank Y, and keep a few hundred for your trouble.

A few days later, the bank calls, and you're on the hook for the several thousand you sent along, and you don't get a dime for your car. If you're lucky the buyer's "shippers" never show up to take the car.

Heck, I had someone try that scam on me with a large pane of glass I was trying to GIVE AWAY in the free section!

If the buyer comes IN PERSON, I would be a bit more willing to trust a cashier's check.

Remember, Craigslist is about LOCAL transactions. If the person is not local and/or not willing to come to you, then it is a scam, period.

Nope, not for anything I have for sale. You are indeed correct trust is a two way street. But you aint leaving my property with a with an item paid for via Paypal! Or bank check, or money order. I was scammed by an out of state buyer on a pick up only sale on Ebay. Even though the sale stated cash upon pick up the buyer came to get it and said he was short on $$ but could pay via pay pal. I let him do it and he left with the item but later the scum bag claimed I didnt the have the item and he never got it. Ebay/paypal sided with him because I could not prove that he got it. Pay pal is fool proof,, for the buyer but not the seller. All kinds of checks and money orders have been forged. Cash is a term of my sales and same as any other term, those that dont like it are welcome to walk away.

I'd go the route of meeting at a bank. I did do a deal once for $10,000 cash on a tractor I was selling, but afterwards, I got a little nervous about what I had just done. It was 5pm or after when they came for the tractor, and yes, they brought cash just as I had requested. However, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the potential of being robbed that night. I had never met these two fellows before. First thing in the morning, that money was deposited in the bank. In my case, it all worked out just fine. Luckily the two fellows who came were honest individuals. However, when dealing with strangers, you can't be too safe any more. I'd only do a sale that large in my local bank.

Why not talk to your bank and do a bank transfer from his bank to your bank.

I buy most of my vehicles out of state. Up here in northern MN there is more salt on the roads than snow sometimes. Nice used vehicles that have been taken care of are high priced compared to out of state, that and up here, the dealers are high priced. The last 2013 F150 FX4 I bought in Inianapolis IN. I saved thousands what I would pay local for the same truck with all the bell & whisles it has. I have used a credit union certified check always in my dealings. I have bought from privite parties and dealers. The dealers I trust to send the title later, I have never had a privite party hold the title.

EXACTLY!!!

If he is nervous about carrying cash have him meet you at the bank or the police station.

If not sell it to someone else. its NOT worth it.

How much over is he wanting to make the check? Has he came and looked at it? Have you talked to him on the phone, and does he have a foreign accent? If hes legit, take the check. Once it clears, he can come get the vehicle.

i once sold a bull to a man in kentucky he sent me a bank cashier check.
i took it to my bank they would not honor the check his bank somehow messed up the check.
i called the man's wife and told her my bank doesn't like your check for some reason she was not happy even less when she learned her bank messed the process.

I might be wrong Galen but I think that a cashier's cheque removes the money from the account immediately and it's held off to the side somewhere. Are you sure that a person can put a stop payment on a cashier's cheque? If you can, where's the security in taking a cashier's cheque then, it would be no better than a personal cheque.

I hear a lot about scammers sending a supposed cashier's or certified bank check - only for the sell to learn later that the check isn't good; there isn't an account with that number nor a bank with that name!

Financial institutions and many stores have the means to authenticate cashier's checks, but extremely few individuals do. So, when someone accepts a cashier's check (or traveller's check!), they're taking a risk as to whether that check is good or a fake.

you can ck the new hundred bills with a paper clip 100% accurate

10 k plus deposit can trigger bells with the irs due to homeland security

DONT DO IT

Wayyy too many scammers to take a chance. I sell stuff a lot and only deal cash in person. If they really want it they will come and pay for it when they pick it up.

I gave up on Craigslist... The last time I tried to advertise a tractor for sale I had within the first 24 hours about a dozen people offering to mail me checks that I could cash and they would have their people pick up the item.

By the way I never look at Craigslist myself, I only buy from an add like in auto trader. The Craigslist is so corrupted by dishonest people it ruins it for the rest of us. If I was to sell a tractor related item, I would advertise on a local paper, or a site like this.

how is that?

I buy alot of tractors out of state and always use a bank check or personal check with no issues.

That's just what the bank told me. Maybe some are better than others. I always thought a cashiers check was guaranteed but they say it isn't. Not sure.

A true wire transfer or use an escrow company. You won't be sorry. There can be problems with cash now days. If you use cash, have two armed friends there and get one of those markers that detect counterfeits.

A wire transfer is different from an ACH transaction.

Garry