I am in the process of purchasing a car that is located in Boston. I am in the Cleveland area. If all checks out well I will fly out there to complete the sale and pick up the car.

My question/concern is how should I get him the money? I will be financing some through Penfed and paying the rest with Cashiers Check or Bank Check. I am only concerned about getting held up while waiting for a check to clear from Penfed.

Is there another option other than sending the financed money ahead of time to not hold things up and would that be advisable?

Thanks all.

 

When I did this many years ago the bank cut me a check for the amount financed and I got a bank check for the whole amount and took it to the dealership.

Make sure the car checks out and if in the event you get held up with financing, put a deposit on the car (make sure it's refundable in case the bank decides not to give a loan)

 

Thanks, I know I am approved for the loan and if it were at a dealership it would be much easier. This is from a private party though so I am not sure how much trust I want to dish out.

 

I was in a similar situation not so long ago. I purchased a vehicle from Parma, Ohio (Close to Cleveland) and made some mistakes worth learning from.

1). Make sure you draft a legal document outlining what the payment is for and assuring you are getting the car advertised. I did that but I did not have it notorized properly. Ensure you have the vin number on the document. Make sure you do that so that it holds water in court.

2). DO NOT SEND A BANKERS CHEQUE. Sending a bankers cheque is like sending cash in the mail. Once you withdraw that cheque, you cannot cancel it right away or track its movements. It is already drawn out (a guaranteed fund) so the guy can say he never took reception of the cheque when he may actually have but you cannot prove it through your own account. Therefore, it is better to wire the payment through paypal or send a regular check. I regularly wire money back and forth from South Africa and have no problems with it at all. One can cancel/track regular checks so that adds a slight margin in safety.

3). If you must send the money through mail, insure the mail so that you can track its movements and you can be reimbursed if the money gets lost.

I know I am missing a couple of other tips but these are all I can think of now. When I shipped a car, it was a very nerve-wracking process for me but it went well and I enjoy my car even more given the hard work I put into getting it.

Let me know when you need to ship it because there is a great disparity in price and transport quality between companies that ship.

 

Use this for a bill of sale...it's pretty thorough and has you protected...

http://siy.cars.com/pdf/carscom_bill...e_socrates.pdf

 

Thanks Shoofin. I assume this would be something to complete at the sellers bank when we both are present?

 

You can fill it out in advance with all the information you currently know, then sign it in the presence of a notary if you wish.

 

Does the seller have a lien on the car? If so make sure he requests the title be sent to the bank ASAP in anticipation of paying the loan off or otherwise you're bank may not approve the transaction. At least that was the case in my situation when I was trying to purchase my car. He was from Boston and drove it out here. My credit union would not pay his loan off unless he had the title in hand because there's so odd law in MA that's different than any other state where the state considers the car to be the owners property not the bank's even though there's a lien on the car and the bank holds the title. Most other states consider it the bank's property until the lien is paid off and the owner has the title in hand.

 

Thanks guys, there is not a lein on the car so that makes this easier. I got a Intent to sell vehicle form from my bank so that makes me feel a little more secure.

 

I did this when I bought my Acura out of area.

I made it clear to the seller I had absolutely no cash on me when I flew to Chicago to test the car out. After an hour of driving and looking it over, we went to my bank where we signed the bill of sale, he gave me the title and keys and a teller gave him $14k in $100's. I told him to find his own way home and I headed back to MN.

 

Wow that was a dick move. Not sure why you'd think that was worth bragging about.

 

How is that a dick move? I'm certainly not bragging, I'm simply mitigating risk.

I'm not giving some stranger who I just met 60 minutes prior a ride home after the $14k in cash is already his. All he has to do is direct me to some barren stretch of road, put a gun to my head and he gets my money and the car with little proof of our transaction ever existing.

He called his wife and was picked up 12 minutes later, before I even finished up with my bank. Maybe I'm alone, but in these situations my first priority is to protect myself and my interests.

 

I think you could have worded it here differently. What you did was not unreasonable.

 

Perhaps.
It's not like I locked the door on him, gave him the finger and peeled out of the parking lot. I guess I didn't feel that level of detail was necessary. I'll be sure to be more thoughtful of my posts next time.

 

Just trying to save you from the feces-flinging hordes

 

I am sure he didn't say it quite like that. I would expect someone to get their own ride home in that situation as well. As If I pick up this car I would expect the seller to be able to get home from the bank.