Are all cashier's checks good...selling a vehicle

[mrcvs]

I had been trying to sell a Model A Ford Fordor, unsuccessfully so far...but for storage issues, I would keep it.

 

Out in the driveway sits a 14 yr old car with much life ahead.  To keep the wife happy and move something off of the property, I listed it on Craigslist this evening.  I was honest and posted photographs and a fair price.

 

Within an hour of listing, a fellow next state over texts me and asks if I am the original owner and will I accept a check.  I stated cashier's check only.  He states consider it sold and due to trouble it will cause me to meet his guy to haul it away, he will pay an extra $100.  I stated it can only proceed once check has cleared, and bank gives the okay that the check is good and cleared, maybe even 10+ business days.

 

I smell a rat. But should I?  Not sure if all cashier's checks are created equally.  I told him I reserve the right to cancel the deal if anything seems suspicious and e seems okay with this.

 

?????

[Matt Harwood]

I have a stack of very convincing yet very bogus cashier's checks and certified checks on my desk. Unless the teller at the bank hands it to you directly, I'm not sure I'd trust it. If he is willing to give you the check and wait for it to clear before taking the car, that should be OK. Fortunately, most of the bogus checks I've received have had real phone numbers for the bank from which they were ostensibly issued, so you can call and ask them about it. Or take it to your own bank and tell them about your concerns and let their experts take care of it.

 

Better yet, see if he'll simply wire the money before he comes to collect it. Wiring is not difficult, you can ask your bank to provide the digits, and he can go to his own bank and ask them to send the money. It'll cost him a few bucks, but whatever. That's safer. He can send the wire and pick up the car the next day if he wants. No reason not to wire funds unless there's something fishy afoot.

[mrcvs]

I stated he could pick up with cash in hand.  So far, no response.

[mrcvs]

14 minutes ago, mike6024 said:

 

So you're selling a newer car, to give you more time to sell the Model A Fordor.

 

Or get rid of a car and not sell the Fordor.  I have a 2017 Jeep.  I don't need the 2005 VW.

[victorialynn2]

Worked for title companies for 15 years. We do not accept them because they are easily forged. There were too many issues with bad cashiers checks and money orders. 

[John_S_in_Penna]

2 hours ago, mrcvs said:

...He states consider it sold and due to trouble it will cause me to meet his guy to haul it away, he will pay an extra $100....  

 

Volunteering to pay you an extra $100?

That sounds a bit questionable to me, especially

the way he jumped so quickly at the deal on a 

2005 Volkswagen that he has never seen.

 

There could be a few honest people who might do that.

But if the check is worthless, it's easy to give away an

extra fake hundred dollars.

 

You're absolutely right not to let the car out of your sight

until the payment of any kind is cleared.  You might also

require him to meet you at the local police station while

you interact with him--for him to see the car, or to give

you payment, and later when he receives the car.

No honest person would balk at that extra level of security.

[cahartley]

It's easy to get the funds wired directly into your checking account.

There is no excuse for not wanting to do it.

[marcapra]

I talked to my bank manager about cashier's checks.  She said they are the same and no better than a personal check.  She also said there is no such thing as a check clearing.  All the bank can do is wait about ten days, and if they haven't heard anything, they consider it good.  I have to say this sounds like a scammer to me.  Even though he hasn't done the suspicious thing yet, it will come.  People don't buy cars without inspecting them in person.  

 

[mercer09]

walmart to walmart cash transfer- takes 5 minutes and you get cash

 

enough with checks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[John_S_in_Penna]

21 minutes ago, mercer09 said:

Walmart to Walmart cash transfer- takes 5 minutes and you get cash

 

That is a sure sign of a scammer!

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Funds transfer works.  Brown paper bag of cash is also generally pretty safe!

[padgett]

Agree - wire transfer (even my credit union does that, no charge to transfer from a shared branch (most credit unions)) or meet at bank. Benjamins are also good. Bring back the McKinley and Cleveland.

[R Walling]

 I once repaired a truck for a company a few thousand miles away.

 He paid for it with a certified bank check for $10,000. 

It bounced, so I called the bank and they told me that the customer stopped payment on it.

 I asked why he stopped payment and they said that they don't know.

 That saved my ass, as by law, the bank must have received a reason why they were instructed to do so by law. They had none, so I received another one that was good within days.

 Now I only accept Cash on delivery.

[Ronnie]

Withdraw over $10,000 in cash and the bank is required to alert the Feds. It's never a good idea to give them a reason to start snooping around in your bank records to see where your money is going.

[mercer09]

That is a sure sign of a scammer!

 

WELL JOHN, SORRY YOU FEEL THAT WAY, BUT i HAVE SOLD OVER 150 ITEMS-CAR PARTS IN THE LAST TWO YEARS AND HOW MOST YOUNGER PEOPLE PREFER. THE OLDER FOLKS HAVE MAILED ME MONEY ORDERS- COMPUTER ILLITERATE IN MOST CASES......

 

sorry about the caps.

[Ronnie]

Another sure sign of a scammer is when they tell you that their AGENT will be completing the transaction or picking up the vehicle.

[mrcvs]

4 hours ago, padgett said:

Bring back the McKinley and Cleveland.

Amen to that!

 

With how much everything costs these days, why don't they?

 

My guess because of drug money.  But still, why inconvenience everyone else?

 

In this day and age, $10,000 isn't a whole lot of money.  Why is a transaction greater than this the Fed's business?

[Robert G. Smits]

You can save yourself all the trouble by simply stating  cash or wire transfer on your CL listing.  I sold two cars, a boat and a RV on CL  in June.  No one asked me about  forms of payment.  I agree with everyone that I wouldn't take a cashiers check from anyone.  

[John_S_in_Penna]

44 minutes ago, mrcvs said:

In this day and age, $10,000 isn't a whole lot of money.  Why is a transaction greater than this the Fed's business?

 

Actually, the threshold is $10,000 and above, not OVER $10,000;

and it's illegal to arrange transactions specifically to avoid the $10,000 reporting.

This is supposed to be to prevent money laundering.

 

It would have been interesting to live in the days

when you could get $500, $1000, $5000, and 

$10,000 bills in the United States.  Their purchasing

power was vast, because things cost 1/10 and 1/20

of what they do today!  

 

 

Edited June 29, 2019 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[Ronnie]

17 minutes ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

Actually, the threshold is $10,000 and above, not OVER $10,000;

 

Actually if you want to get technical a withdrawal can be less than $10,000 and you still might get reported if the bank employee thinks there is something suspicious about a withdrawal.  My daughter is an internal auditor at a financial institution and part of her job is to ensure the laws are being followed  by employees where she works.  She says this webpage gives a good overview of how withdrawing your own money from a bank can trigger a report to the Feds.

[mrcvs]

Why is how I spend my money any of their d**n business?  I'm a private citizen.

[prewar40]

You want at least one side to have a perforated edge,  if it does not have that he printed it at home. All checks cashiers or otherwise have that. It still could be bogus but that is difficult to forge.

[Matt Harwood]

80% of my sales are sight-unseen. People wire me payment in full before the car leaves. Happens every day.

[auburnseeker]

I bought my 60 Corvette for 61G and my 36 Cord both site unseen.  Pictures and a detailed description gave me the info I needed.  Plus priced favorable enough that anything short of a huge issue they were still a bargain.  Even in person I have missed stuff.  Probably because Im there in person,  trying to make the decision in short enough time to finish the deal and get the car loaded, where when you are at home viewing photos and such you have more time to think things through and analyze them.  

Either way I always find surprises when I get home that I missed the first time. 

[victorialynn2]

The flags for the 10k happened after 911. There was a lot of changes in the financial world to make it harder for terrorists, as well as other (drug), money laundering. The Patriot Act I believe was involved. 

 

We saw a lot of changes in the financial world after 911. 

[padgett]

And it was part of Johnson's "War on Drugs" that removed bills over $100. Even the Euro has a 200e and a 500e. Maybe I should start using Euros.

[Ronnie]

55 minutes ago, padgett said:

Even the Euro has a 200e and a 500e. Maybe I should start using Euros.

 

Haha. Converting a lot of dollars to Euros is another way to get the Feds attention.

[60FlatTop]

The method of funds exchange is a question taken out of the context of the deal. There is a lot to the process and checks that either the buyer or seller can use to verify it is a clean deal.

 

I think the safest way is a funds transfer to your bank. Those can only be reversed with the recipient's approval. I grilled my bank pretty hard on that one.

 

I am probably too casual with money. But I am careful. The last suspicious transaction took place in a semi-secluded storage unit. I don't know how well armed the buyer and his friend were, but we felt secure. The buyer counted out the money and I handed him back a $20, said "That went smooth".

 

Maybe it's karma.

Bernie

[padgett]

And to answer the original question: I only consider a cashier's check good at the issuing bank. 

[misterc9]

A few years ago a friend sold a car to an out of towner and wound up with an envelope full of really good looking counterfeit money. The bank wasn't fooled the next day when he tried to deposit it. The law eventually caught up to scam buyer. But what an ordeal. To protect yourself meet the buyer at your bank let the bank examine the cash. Then immediately deposit it to your account. Nothing is fool proof but this adds  another layer of protection for the seller.

[PFitz]

 A few years ago my brother wired me 25K  as part of my share of a family estate settlement. I never had to go to my bank.  I just gave my brother the account number, including my bank routing number part at the beginning of the account numbers, ( but not my password or pin number). An hour and half after I got off the phone giving those numbers to my brother, a call to my bank confirmed the entire amount was in my account and ready for use. And no fees or charges to me.  It was fast, simple, and safe.  

 

Paul  

[alsancle]

Always use a wire or cash.  Those are the only two choices.

[NEMGs]

A related question.  How to pay for a car or other expensive item at an event like Hershey?  Cash sounds like a bad idea.  Can you wire money to the sellers account when you are hundred of miles from your own bank?  A few years ago I bought a car at Hershey.  The seller lived in the next state over from me.  I gave him $1000 in cash, he took the car back to his house.  I showed up a few days later with payment and took the car home.  In retrospect, I'm not sure it was a good idea for either of us.  Needed a lot of trust, and neither of us had ever met the other person.  Fortunately we were both honest.

[Matt Harwood]

Most banks will not do a wire by phone unless you set it up ahead of time. They almost always want to make sure that you're the owner of the account before sending money irretrievably to someone else's account. But sometimes you can set it up ahead of time so that they are standing by. That's rare, though.

 

Short of a wire, the best way to do it is to go to a branch of your bank with the seller and have the bank issue a cashier's check to the seller right there on the spot. That way he knows it's good and can cash it if he wants. Better still if you both share the same bank and they can simply transfer the funds instantly.

 

If your bank isn't local, well, I don't really have a good suggestion other than to find a bank that is local to the seller, open a low-end account with them, and put your car-buyin' money in there. You can find any number of national banks in Hershey, so open an account at one of those, put the money in before you go to Hershey, and you have it ready to go while you're there.

 

Fortunately, most car guys are honest and the stories of people being taken are few and far between. Only the complainers and guys who have been taken end up on the internet with their stories. Thousands and thousands of collector cars trade hands each year yet you hear relatively few stories about problems. It's easy to think that it's a dangerous process rife with deceit and graft, but in most cases it works out just fine with honest people on both sides each extending a little trust--not a stupid amount, but enough to make the deal go through. Don't be scared, just be smart.

[mercer09]

I take wires into my wells fargo acct and am charged a small fee of 15.

 

better yet- use Zelle and there are no fees............

 

all they need is your email address or your phone number and money goes right in.

[Brass is Best]

Which is more useful? 

[padgett]

Check paper is rough.

[Matt Harwood]

42 minutes ago, Brass is Best said:

Which is more useful? 

 

 

LOL @ some of the names on those checks. I can't even see the last name on the Credit Union of Texas check, but the fact that it starts with "Genital" is awesome.

[Brass is Best]

On 7/1/2019 at 5:17 PM, padgett said:

Check paper is rough.

 

Did desperate times call for desperate measures? 

[bdc]

I wire by phone all the time. I call my bank and tell them how much I want to wire and email them the wire instructions. Then as an extra layer of protection the bank's headquarters will call me back, verifying the wire and recipient and I've to give them a special code to confirm it. Usually my wire hits the recipient's account in an hour, except for California banks. California banks dont wire the money out till 1 minute before cutoff time in the afternoon so they can sit on the money till morning, but in the meantime they say they wired it. Same goes for sending to California: if the money gets send in the morning the main branch will sit on it till cutoff  time. Very frustrating to do business with California.