Acutally it's a question and not an answer. Let's just say someone is selling their vehicle for about $15K and doesn't want to get ripped off when making the transaction. What forms of monetary exchange would you accept besides cash? Also if you got scammed let me know. Thanks.

 

certified check that has been thoroughly cleared by BOTH banks (yours and his)

I hear USPS Money Orders are also good as cash.

 

Hold the transaction at the financing bank, they either have it or not.

 

Sounds good but I read this,

"Banking Myth #2: "Bank drafts or cashiers checks clear the next day, right?" Wrong again, another urban legend exposed. Propagating the problem further, many bank tellers, ignorant of their own bank's internal operations, are disseminating bad information to their customers, telling them the bank drafts clear in 24-48 hours. What really happens is that per the 1992 Federal Reserve Board Regulation CC, the bank MUST make the funds available in you account in 48 hours, but the check has not cleared/bounced yet.".

CarBuyingTips.com

 

Just because you read that on a ghetto website does not make it so. Unless I'm mistaken, about 6 months ago, new measures went into place where checks are now completely cleared withing 12-24 hours. Not going to take the time to look it up so

 

Thanks.

 

Somewhere up there, I saw drafts. Drafts are not the same as checks. I guarantee you. A draft will not clear as quickly as a check.

 

isnt that the check 21 thingy.

 

There are escrow services for these kinds of transactions. You would have to search around to find out about them. I read about them some time ago with some people dealing with large money purchases from sources like ebay.

 

Maybe I dont really know. I dont ever come in danger of bouncing a check because of this sort of thing. Where I work, however, most the employees live paycheck to paycheck and they were talking all about it at the time.

 

OK, this is something I can offer some insight to. I am a fraud investigator for a bank and I see people get ripped off selling stuff on the internet all of the time.

Some of the things said here are simply not true.

First of all US Postal Service Money Orders are not as good as cash. I have several dozen counterfeit USPS Money Orders in my desk that customers have brought in. The worst part of all with these is that the USPS can return these counterfeit money orders several weeks after they have been deposited, so waiting for a week or 10 days will do you no good. Banks across the country are seeing counterfeit USPS Money Orders as well as Wal-Mart Money Orders.

Secondly, no check clears in 12 hours or even 24 hours. Check 21 set the stage for faster check clearing but only a small percentage of banks are participating yet. The technology is just too expensive yet for most. Checks can take anywhere from 2 days to over a month to come back and if a check you deposited comes back you are liable.

Escrow services are an option, but there are a lot of fraudulent ones out there so you have to be careful.

Generally checks drawn on US banks will clear within 10 to 14 days but if the check is drawn on say a Canadian bank all bets are off. They can come back several weeks later.

Be careful about what you are told by tellers. They may tell you that if you deposit a check, the money will be available in x number of days. What they are really telling you is that that is the maximum amount of time they can hold the funds represented by the check, not how long it will take to clear. If it comes back after the hold has expired you are still liable.

Cash is always good, but if you do accept a check or cashier's check what I would recommend is taking the check to the bank that it is drawn on and cash it there. They can examine the item and tell you if it is good or not. If that is not possible, have your bank send the check in for collection. This involves the bank sending the check to the bank that it is drawn on and requesting a cashier's check in return. This eliminates the question of whether or not the check has cleared, once the bank that the check is drawn on has examined the check and issued the cashier's check to your bank you are good to go.

Don't think that cashier's checks are as good as cash either. I have a whole folder full of counterfeit cashier's checks in a folder on my desk. And if you are thinking about calling the bank that it is drawn on to verify it is legitimate, look the number up yourself. Crooks have 800 numbers that forward your call to their cell phone outside the country and will print them on the checks. Be especially leery of someone who sends you extra money and asks you to wire it back to them or wire it to their shipping company.

Hate to sound cynical, but like I said, people get ripped off everyday with this stuff and I hate to see anyone victimized by these scumbags. I would gladly help anyone out that has any questions about this stuff.

 

For a private vehicle sale, I'd meet the buyer at his bank to exchange funds and hand over the vehicle. When he hands you the check, walk right up to the teller and cash it. When you have cash then you hand him the title and keys to the car. The bank will usually have someone who can notarize the title signatures as well.

If the buyer isn't fiscally responsible to have a bank account, then cash only is a safe bet.

 

Instead of cash, you could accept gold……
You wanted an idea, you didn’t say it had to be a good one.

 

I sold my SCrew over eBay back in '01 to a guy from California. I made him wire transfer 50% of the money, and when we met in Denver (halfway for each of us) he knew I would not release the vehicle or title until he handed me the rest in cash. He had an alternative, and that was to not buy the truck. In this case, the seller can dictate terms. The buyer can try to dictate what you will do, but some points become non-negotiable.

 

I take girlfriends too.