Selling a car on Craiglist...buyer out of town

[Firehawk]

If you guys want to see the ad, it's on craigslist in detroit metro area, just type in WS6 and it'll come up in location of Woodhaven.

Here's my dilema, and i hope some of you finance/car savy people will know for sure (this may be a long post, so sorry).

I got a call from a guy wanting to buy it, he lives in Pennsylvania. He said he's in CA right now and wants to fly here, look at it, give me a certified check for it, and drive it home. Now i didn't want to do the Certified Check because my buddy was scammed on that before. He took the check, let the car go, went to deposit it, and the bank said it was counterfeit.

So, i said "well lets go to the bank, do a wire transfer, and then i'll sign it over to you". He said that was no problem at all. So then i called the bank and said "well, is there any way at all for a scam to occur with this method of coming in, doing the transfer, and then signing the car off?" The lady said she would suggest i wait until that money is in my account, and wire transfers take 12-24 hours to complete. So, the guy said he couldn't waste a day staying overnight here and had to get home. He said he didn't think he could get that much cash (16,000 was the deal), and certainly was not going to pay me until he saw the car (understandable of course), and suggested he give me the check or do the wire transfer, take the car, i can keep the title and send him the title once the money gets deposited.

I called my insurance lady and she said no way. She said even if i signed that title over to him, because it wasn't taken to the sec of state, it isn't transferred over to him and the insurance company would still come after me, and that's why it's always smart to go to the sec of state with the buyer to make sure that the title is transferred (fo course I can't, since he's out of state).

What do you think? I ended up telling the guy I just was not comfortable enough doing this and i turned down the sale. There are a few things that trouble me here.

1. It's an out of state buyer
2. He was offering me a deal without even seeing 1 picture of the car, and taking my word for it that it's in excellent shape, etc.
3. Willing to fly here without even seeing a picture of the car (so he's invested flight money, and he may not be 100% happy with the car).

I ended up turning him down and saying no thanks, but was I wise? It could have been legit, but I didn't want to risk losing my car.

If he wants the car bad enough he will meet your comfort demands.

The alternative is to not sign the title over to him until the cash clears.

I think your cautious approach is wise.

[westside24]

yea... really who buys a car out of state in these conditions anyways? Dude im not about to look through minnesotas used cars and try to buy a car from there... everything adding up sounds like a scam, everything you said about the guy. You should figure out a way to scam his ass back. counter scam him! or like put sugar in the tank, so the joke would be on him... haha, oh wait, thats not suppose to be funny, im sorry guys.

[ajarvis]

Scam. When I was selling my car online I got tons of responses like that. Played it all the way through with the one guy. In the end he realized I knew he wasn't telling the truth and didn't even bother to send me the "certified" cheque lol. I left the ads up for a while cause I couldn't believe how many scammers there are out there!

[arbit]

Originally Posted by Firehawk

It could have been legit.

No, it could not have been.

[Firehawk]

I told him nevermind, too many flags were raised in my mind, even though I was still heavily considering it. But I would have had to see cash in my account before letting him take my vehicle.

1. He didn't want to spend the extra 12 hours here to wait for the transfer to occur.
2. He was fine with trusting me to keep the title and send it to him later.
3. He didn't want to pay cash.

I don't sell cars everyday on craigslist, so I was not aware of just how many scams there are out there, and how genuine the scammers can come off sounding...but I mean, there were enough flags to have me cautious enough to proceed.

[The Flash]

There are so many scams on the internet these days you really have to be careful. I've heard of reports where people post a "fake car" on Craigslist and get a prospective buyer to show up to the "location of the vehicle." Once the prospective buyer shows up there's a gang of people waiting to beat up the buyer and take whatever they can.

I remember another instance a few years ago when I first got my license and was searching online for a car. I found a really great deal for a Volkswagen that was located at one of the local ports. I emailed the buyer who stated he had to give up the car because he was moving overseas and needed money fast. He kept insisting that I Western Union the money to him which was red flag #1. Never pay for anything online through Western Union because you wont get your money back.

Firehawk, you did the right thing. While there is the slight possibly he was legit I dont think it was worth the chance. Lots of people buy cars out of state because cars in certain states are thousands cheaper than in other states. For example, I know a lot of people in New Jersey who have purchased vehicles in Pennsylvania, Florida and Texas because cars are usually cheaper in those states. At the very least, however, they were shown multiple pictures of the vehicle and ran Carfax checks. The fact this buyer was so willing without even seeing a picture of the car is a red flag for me. The fact that he was willing to fly across the country and drive across the country back home is another one. It would've been much cheaper and easier to simply have the car shipped by truck than to go through all the trouble he was planning on doing. Was your vehicle priced so low or is it so rare that he was willing to do all of this? I doubt it. At the end of the day, better safe than sorry.