You're probably tired of this

G

Geo. H

Senior Member
I'm now processing the third weird offer to buy my car. As on the others, Vanessa Haynes from South Dakota wants to send me the money to pay the shipper, but she's willing to wait until her check clears my bank. What's the catch?
I told her my car has the rare, optional, seven cylinder engine with counter-rotating lock washers, and she had no problem with that.
Unless someone on the board can explain the scam, I'm inclined to tell her to send the money, and see what happens.
 
George H, Seriously, don't mess around with some of these folks, send her a reply that she's a scammer & she will go away. I will NEVER sell another car on the Internet, I could write 6 pages of things I went through! You CAN sell your locally! TRUST ME! Bill W.
 
I agree with Bill here..

They will send you a check likely stolen from a compromised account.. the $ will go to you r account until the owner of the account that has been compromised discovers the issue, the banks unwind the transaction and everyone gets paid but you..

Cash talks, BS walks...

- Dave :)
 
Dave in Boise said:
I agree with Bill here..

They will send you a check likely stolen from a compromised account.. the $ will go to you r account until the owner of the account that has been compromised discovers the issue, the banks unwind the transaction and everyone gets paid but you..

Cash talks, BS walks...

- Dave :)
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Yes, George & Dave, I entertained a $22,000.00 COUNTERFEIT check that looked real!!! The bank took it, I did research & found a discrepancy in the address & mapping of the writer & notified the bank that it was phony! Only cost me $12.50 service charge, WHEW!! Bill W.
 
Just have her wire the money to a new account that you set up. You could then just use that account for all wire transfers.
 
Ross/Kzoo said:
Just have her wire the money to a new account that you set up. You could then just use that account for all wire transfers.
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I did that once. I opened a savings account with $100, had the money transferred to that account, and the day the money was transferred, removed the money from that account, so it could not be retrieved.

The part about paying the shipper is the tipoff that the offer is a scam.
 
I have a 52 Plymouth for sale and get some long distant offers I keep it simple and tell them only option is cash in my hand and that is how I sell something. Maybe I lose a serious buyer but I always wonder why someone is willing to spend thousands of $$ on a vehicle they did not see.
 
I have sold several cars over the internet and the first red flag is if they don't ask anything about the car. The second is when they are more interested in how to pay for it or shipping is there primary concern. I say it is a scam and which particulate one I don't know they are always trying a new angle. If she is serious have them send a non refundable down of say 500.00 to a pay pal account and demand the rest in cash when they pick it up. I have gone as far as getting a pen that checks for counterfeit cash. If they say they can't do it that way say sorry and move on if they really want the car they will meet your terms.

In short ignore them unless they pay cash cashiers checks can be forged.

Todd
 
:cool:Over the years of buying and selling automobiles,I have never delt with people like this .Ive always gone and looked at what I was buying, and yes Ive buonced an empty trailer both ways sometimes 10 or12 hours away.Any that I have sold was cash in hand just like if I was buying ,never understood way people would buy autos site unseen.It sounds hinkey to me ,but im sure you can follow the other posts and protect yourself.Theres and old saying...If its to good to be true well maybe.....your car will sell dont rush into something that doesnt feel right to you
 
In selling any costly item, did anyone ever experienced a problem with cashing & depositing a buyer's "certified check" written out to the seller, which incidently used to be a "required" form of payment by many auto dealerships years ago?
 
Ross/Kzoo said:
Just have her wire the money to a new account that you set up. You could then just use that account for all wire transfers.
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Just make sure this "new" account is at a different bank than the one you have other accounts in. The bank can "recover" funds from wherever they can, even if you are just a signer on your kids accounts.

Back when I had a teenage kid that wrote a hot check once, the bank took it from my account. I wasn't a signer on his account, but my wife was a signer on both his and my accounts. They made the connection.
 
we sold 2 old vehicles last month.

31 Town Sedan sold through the MAFCA classifieds to a couple in KY, long time members of MARC. that membership was a good recommendation to me.

58 Chebby truck did not meet reserve on eBay, but a guy north of Boston saw it on the Asheville Craig's List. he drove a rental car down and drove the truck home in very cold weather. your typical scammer would not do that.

both payments were cashier's checks. I got good ID from the Boston guy just in case.
no problems with either transaction. both buyers asked all the right questions going in, once again your typical scammer will not.

a Canadian eBay bidder tried to negotiate purchase of the truck after the auction ended. he was planning to dump another $4000 into the truck (transportation + paint job) and try to flip it. converesely, the Boston guy was in love with the ruck and wanted to just drive it as is.
with 2 buyers willing to pay our asking price, we needed to trust our gut feeling and go with who we felt was most worthy.......
 
I agree with Todd in post #10 If its a lot of cash, you better have one of those pens that they use at the bank to check for counterfeit. If it is indeed counterfeit and you try to spend or deposit it, chances are good that besides losing the money, you will get arrested and go to jail. As far as checks go , I sold a guy a performance manifold and a pair of model 94 carbs on the Ford barn swap site. I waited until the bank said that the check had cleared. I mailed the guy the parts and actually lost money on the shipping. in a couple of days I got a letter from the bank stating that the check had bounced and they took the money back out of my account. I finally got it straightened out and got the money back. It was a real pain and took a few weeks. After all the stress that it caused, I really should have just kept the parts ..
 
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Chris in WNC said:
both payments were cashier's checks. I got good ID from the Boston guy just in case.
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Glad it worked out for you, and thank you for sharing the story! Good to know.

On the flip side of this, when wife and I bought the Model A, the seller wouldn't accept a cashier's check, and he didn't want us to pay cash, fearing getting mugged I suppose?

Anyway, we almost thought about walking away from the deal because he was being so difficult. Despite weeks of communications with questions about the car (while we were shopping) and upon getting serious about buying the car, providing full ID, business card, and professional qualifications, he treated us as if we were a couple of tramps. It took 3 days of back and forth emails just to decide how we were going to pay. We weren't even quibbling over price, we agreed to pay his asking price (which we both knew was about 1K too much). I first suggested bringing the total amount in cash, he said no. I proposed writing him a check, he said no. He had us do it his way, or no way at all. That was- get a cashier's check from the local branch of our national chain bank, made out to him. Then, he had us drive the 3 hours to meet him (empty trailer in tow) in a parking lot near the branch of our bank in HIS home town. Same bank-different branch. Then he had me walk in to the branch with him (while wife kept guard on the truck/trailer across the street) and present the cashier's check to a teller to confirm the check as real. Upon the teller confirming the cashier's check was real, we had to walk out to the parking lot across the street where our truck/trailer was. At that moment, it felt like I was the one about to get mugged! Then after that giant cluster foxtrot, he had us follow him to his house to pick up the car.
 
Appears that if today, a "certified check" was issued to a buyer by a responsible well known bank, the bank's board of directors would insure that the responsible person for certifying the check would be an intelligent, mature, trustworthy individual, very well experienced with today's scammers, & all types of fraud that is so prevalent "throughout" the World today, including buyers coming from a different country.

Then allow the "certified check" to clear the bank where the seller cashed it.

This may be a better form of payment than receiving "possible" counterfeit cash from a scammer.

Maybe someone can shed even more light on how to best avoid a vehicle selling deal which can result in not getting paid in full.
 
I'm sure we all have our "war stories" about dealing with buyers and sellers alike with these "old" cars. Mine is no exception. I won't go into the gory details, but just thankful that it finally came out OK, despite the fact that the seller was a genuine jerk!
 
Timmy,

Thanks.

This sounds like even a more secure method of receiving payment.

No doubt some thieves stay up all night trying to concoct a method to beat the system; however, our U. S. recycled prisoners also get further educated with continuing education every time they re-enter our jails & prisons, all at our expense.
 
Timothy Kelly said:
The seller ALMOST got it right.........

Rather than presenting the cashier's check to the teller at the ISSUING back and asking to confirm that it was real, the seller should have CASHED the check at the ISSUING bank. And then immediately thereafter, while still standing at the teller's window, purchased another cashier's check made payable to him or herself. Taking this additional step would have insured against buyer's remorse and the buyer stopping payment on the cashier's check.......which could happen even after a cashier confirms that the check is real. No stop payment order can be issued AFTER a check (cashier's or other) has been cashed by the ISSUING bank. And since the seller was the purchaser of the replacement check, he could be certain that no stop payment order would be issued.
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Yes, excellent.

I suggested something similar. However, my suggestion was that he accompany me to the branch of my bank and have me withdraw cash. Then, simply hand it to him and fill out the paperwork right there at the bank. No go.

Your suggestion would have been a much better way to go.
 
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