States have different rules. In some you hold the title, but the title shows a lien holder.

 

Note to self: if you ever sell your car, sell it to someone face-to-face who has cash in their hand. This is way too complicated.

 

Sean, be very careful. I sold an MDX earlier this year on Autotrader and there are a lot of scammers out there. Did they call you first or write you an email first? I had a lot of people email me asking questions about the car and then tried to set up things like they are doing with you. A lot of times they would ask stupid questions like "What is your lowest price, condidtion of car and current pics?" all of which were in the description anyway. Be very careful. I swear I had one a week and sometimes they said they were "buying it for a client." I told them all I would only do any transactions face to face and like others stated, get the money before releasing the title. Sounds like a fraud to me that they even asked for the title first. There are way to many people scamming on crap like this now days. Good luck, keep us posted.

 

firulice:
Yeah, I got more than 10 e-mails from scammers via Autotrader. Fortunately, there are tips when sell your car in autotrader, and they describe several cases of scams and frauds, and some of the guys fell in exact same category based on how they act. Like, they even slightly mention "Western Union" wire transfer as a payment. or "buying it for a client" crap. Who the hell "hires" the people to buy cars off of Autotrader anyway? lol. And then the "client" went abroad for business trip and left a check with amount way bigger than my asking price. Scammers want me to refund the money minus my asking price via Western Union. Tada! There goes the scam. Thank god I read this scam tactics in Autotrader. My friend's friend actually got screwed by this scam and lost like $5000 along with his car.

After valuable advices from you guys and research on my own, I set up follwing rules for safe sale of my car:

1. Never, ever sign off the title before I get the payment cleared and secured in my bank.

2. Do the transaction face to face, and after the payment is cleared, sign off the title and other documents.

3. I am not shipping the car. It's already too much off a hassle anyway, and buying a modified, used sports car without seeing it and test driving it in person simply doesn't make sense to me. I'm sure others would feel the same.

4. Do the homework before I take any kind of action.

Thanks guys. I will keep you guys posted.

Sean

 

Yeah, I hated that. Sounds like you have it all under control. I have seen some people even have their sale documents notaraized, but I have bought and sold several cars and never gone that far. Good luck with the transaction, sorry you have to sell the Z.

 

You seem to have gotten a lot of good advice from the posts that I have read but I justed wanted to throw in my .02 anyway. I sold a vehicle on autotrader last year and it went smooth. Always get a certified bank check or cash in hand before you sign the title. I've heard of some people sending you a check for more than the amount that you asked for. Then they'll ask for you to send the extra back to them with the hope that you will send them a check before you realize theirs is a fake or will bounce. Also, in NY the person purchasing the car always "holds" the title not the bank. It will just state that the vehicle has a lien.