Lets Talk About Selling a Vehicle Privately

[Northendzone]

looking for some insight as i am selling a vehicle privately for the first time in my life.

i rec'd a phone call from a company called vehicle connect. they claimed they dealt with bad credit customers and they had a buyer for my vehicle. They were going to offer me pretty much the asking price for my vehicle and all i needed to pay was some type of refundable $500 fee.

they made it sound like all i needed to do was show up at the bank with some personal information and they would provide me with a certified cheque/direct deposit.

they guy on the phone then wanted my vehicle id and he then said he was going to record part of our coversation.

at that point i became very uncomfortable and declined to go any further. he then blew me off saying he did not want to work with me.

what is the deal here. to me it had all the earmarks of something fishy as he did not mention a test drive of viewing of the vehicle and there seemed to be urgency to get this done.

[burn_this_city]

Scam, ignore these calls

[Weitz]

You're selling a car and think its reasonable to pay $500 to someone?

[zamler]

Did you mail out that cheque to Nigeria yet?

[you&me]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

looking for some insight as i am selling a vehicle privately for the first time in my life.

i rec'd a phone call from a company called vehicle connect. they claimed they dealt with bad credit customers and they had a buyer for my vehicle. They were going to offer me pretty much the asking price for my vehicle and all i needed to pay was some type of refundable $500 fee.

they made it sound like all i needed to do was show up at the bank with some personal information and they would provide me with a certified cheque/direct deposit.

they guy on the phone then wanted my vehicle id and he then said he was going to record part of our coversation.

at that point i became very uncomfortable and declined to go any further. he then blew me off saying he did not want to work with me.

what is the deal here. to me it had all the earmarks of something fishy as he did not mention a test drive of viewing of the vehicle and there seemed to be urgency to get this done.

Total scam. If listing a vehicle on Kijiji or Autotrader, get used to it.

[Northendzone]

yeah the vehicle is listed on both kijiji and autotrader. i am assuming the scam is me paying the $500 and then the buyer presumably vanishing and then me not hearing from these hard working folks again? or is there more to the scam? i felt that because he wanted the VIN and to record the conversation that there was something more going on.

as an aside, i had no money to provide to my good friend Richard Mugumba Harumba from Nigeria as I recently paid my tax bill to the CRA (who now accepts cyrptocurrentcy in addition to Itunes cards), so it would apepar that I will not be able to get those Nigerian funds expedited to my name.

[alan21]

It wasn't worth the scammers and low ballers.
At the end of the day, trading it in hurts the actual value of the vehicle but for something 20K and above there was just little to no private market for it.

[snootchiebootchies]

I've sold three cars privately. Try to deal in cash if at all possible. If it's a cashier's cheque/bank draft, make sure the money clears before letting the car go. I would explicitly state in the ad that you will not release the car until the funds clear, so there is no misunderstanding about this.

[Regorium]

Scam. They just want the $500.

I bought and sold my BMW M3 privately (>70k bought, sold for >40k), both times were reasonably smooth.

I was paid with a cash deposit and then a bank draft for the remaining value. I was a bit worried that the draft wouldn't clear, but it ended up being okay.

Based on the quote I got from the dealer, I sold it for about 6k (~15%) more than what the dealer would've paid me.

[Fuzz]

I'd imagine they want to record the conversation so they get you to say certain things, then edit it so it sounds like you agreed to things you didn't if they need it later on. Like you offered them 500 to dispose of the vehicle, then they come tow it when you are at work.

[topfiverecords]

Need to sell my Jetta this summer and am not looking forward to fending off all of these scammers.

[Cube Inmate]

I may sound like a tech idiot here, but is PayPal a possibility for private sale - say on the lower end... $6000? Most people aren't comfortable walking around with that kind of cash, and I don't have a lot of faith in cheques / drafts.

Any other options?

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Need to sell my Jetta this summer and am not looking forward to fending off all of these scammers.

It's really not that bad. If anyone offers to 'sell it for you', hang up. If you get an email saying they'll pay you more than you're selling it for, ignore the email. Really no worse than selling anything else on kijiji.

Originally Posted by Cube Inmate

I may sound like a tech idiot here, but is PayPal a possibility for private sale - say on the lower end... $6000? Most people aren't comfortable walking around with that kind of cash, and I don't have a lot of faith in cheques / drafts.

Any other options?

I think you'd have a hard time getting anyone to use paypal and I think you'd eat a lot in fees.

10k or so I've never had an issue with cash. Other options would be email interac, but I think there's a daily limit of 3k. I've also done an EFT, but wasn't a huge fan of that method.

For higher amounts, I've done a bank draft. Buyer and seller go to the seller's bank, draft clears, buyer gets keys and all sales documents. Really no way to get scammed. Takes about 15 minutes.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by DownhillGoat

It's really not that bad. If anyone offers to 'sell it for you', hang up. If you get an email saying they'll pay you more than you're selling it for, ignore the email. Really no worse than selling anything else on kijiji.


I think you'd have a hard time getting anyone to use paypal and I think you'd eat a lot in fees.

10k or so I've never had an issue with cash. Other options would be email interac, but I think there's a daily limit of 3k. I've also done an EFT, but wasn't a huge fan of that method.

For higher amounts, I've done a bank draft. Buyer and seller go to the seller's bank, draft clears, buyer gets keys and all sales documents. Really no way to get scammed. Takes about 15 minutes.

This is good advice but you should go to the buyers bank, not the sellers. Have them issue you the draft right then and there. Guaranteed funds, no concern about making sure the draft clears or getting it verified at your own bank (which can take forever).

Never use PayPal, funds aren’t guaranteed. Never accept a cheque, same thing. Draft or cash are the only two ways to do it. Etransfers are an option but the daily limit is, well, limiting. Only works for lower priced purchases/sales.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

This is good advice but you should go to the buyers bank, not the sellers. Have them issue you the draft right then and there. Guaranteed funds, no concern about making sure the draft clears or getting it verified at your own bank (which can take forever).

Ha I had buyer's in there the first time and changed it because it didn't look right.

Last time I actually went to both banks, since they were conveniently right beside each other. We were both there to get the draft, then he came along when I cashed it. My bank manager had to call his bank, but it was still fairly quick.

But yes, if you're only going to one bank, go to the buyer's when he gets the draft.

[Red]

Originally Posted by Cube Inmate

I may sound like a tech idiot here, but is PayPal a possibility for private sale - say on the lower end... $6000? Most people aren't comfortable walking around with that kind of cash, and I don't have a lot of faith in cheques / drafts.

Any other options?

Meet at the bank and get the certified check or draft right there.

[Erick Estrada]

OP I get a new car every two years so I'm basically selling cars a lot and just sold my old Golf R a month ago and I will say the market is slower now than I have seen for a long time in this city so patience is key. First of all what's the year and model of your car as it's helpful to know the audience your car caters to. 2nd of all as has been said ignore any calls from companies willing to help you sell your car. They are scams and you should be able to sell your car by simply placing it on Autotrader.ca and Kijiji for free. The latest thing is that dealerships will also call you looking to take the car off your hands. They are basically preying on those that are desperate to sell as they will ask you to come in and then give you a below market value offer on your car so they can flip for profit. I would politely decline any dealer offers to come in and discuss them buying your car as well.

Best advice I can say is make sure your car is clean and detailed. I usually sell my cars to the first person that looks at them because the car is so clean and looks so good the buyer is hooked before he/she even gets behind the wheel. There's nothing worse than driving across the city to look at a car that's dirty and the interior hasn't been cleaned since winter and has coffee stains, pet hairs, etc. Right away the buyer is wondering how well the car was taken care of and maybe thinking the last car they looked at which was cleaner is a better deal even if yours may be lower mileage or better mechanically. Appearance is everything!

[Northendzone]

lots of good advice in here as always.

yesterday i rec'd a text from a dealership. the message said they were interested in my rig wether i was buying one from them or not and the message asked me to call them. i replied telling them that they had my number and could call me.

my vehicle is almsot always clean as it is a hobby of mine. since it is currently sitting outside, i will wash it and dust the interior before anyone comes to look at it.

[Erick Estrada]

Not sure how much your car is worth but I prefer bank drafts over cash as you can verify a bank draft is not counterfeit by phone but you can't do that with cash nor is it ideal to have a large wad of cash in your possession. You just need to ensure you call the issuing bank to verify it's good before handing over the keys or if your bank is close by you can have the seller accompany you to the bank where you deposit the draft and then hand over the keys. Drafts are basically cash so if the draft is in your hand it's the equivalent of having the cash in hand. I wouldn't accept any other form of payment than bank draft or cash unless your car isn't worth a lot as e-Transfers work for stuff under $5k.

[Bill Bumface]

My personal opinion on selling cars is list them low, get them out of your hair fast. I have always done this and figured I was leaving lots of money on the table, so for my last sale I tried to be patient. It was painful and totally not worth it.