Advice for personal sale of used vehicles (avoiding scammers)

[kenny1773]

I am going to sell a used vehicle here in the near future, nothing high dollar, an old minivan with 160k on it (it isn't for sale now I need it for a few more months)

Looking for what any of you might have done to prevent fraud and avoid scammers? I should probably avoid Craig's list, but where else it good to list it?

I am not worried about filling out the title or writing up a bill of sale, I got that covered and will take pictures of both when done.

I am worried about counterfeit money or something like that happening. I haven't sold a used vehicle in over 10 years and I am sure the scams are better these days. The van is probably worth $3000 or less, so my guess is someone might bring 20's lol

Any tips from those that sold a used car recently? anyone get scammed? and how?

I know better than to take a check, especially one for over the amount I am asking.

 

[jbuck88]

Buy one of those counterfeit detecting markers or meet at a bank.

 

[kenny1773]

I hear the markers are easy to bypass these days. I already own a black light flashlight, so was thinking that might be a better test

Black Light: Identifying fake US currency

www.cycleback.com

 

[jbuck88]

Meet at a bank then. I haven't bought a car, but have bought and sold a couple of boats in the last year. I'm not sure if there is any better services then craigslist. It does reach your target audience and just have to weed out the nonsense.

I would meet at a bank if your that worried about it. Either yours a deposit it while he is still close by, or his while he withdraws it.

I wasn't hugely concerned. I took pictures of his license and had all of his information. So it would come back to him really fast if anything happened.

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

Buy one of those counterfeit detecting markers or meet at a bank.

Or the Sheriff’s Department.
Our Sheriff’s Department encourages people to make transactions in their parking lot to avoid getting robbed and scammed. Just something to think about.

 

[168BTHPM]

Hello, I am Prince Namubu from Nigeria. I am pleased to buy your van. I will include monies for shipment and extra for your inconvenience if you will ship the van to my cousin in Mexico. Please respond positively and I will make arrangements to send you a fake money order.

 

[KZP]

Most common scam I've run across is a person texting/emailing that they will "buy it for full asking price, it's a totally fair number, looks great in photos". They will send me money ASAP and have someone with a tow rig come pick up the vehicle for them.

Always ask to talk on the phone first. Scammers hate that. Had a guy refuse, claiming to be deaf, said the only way we could do the deal was texting. I told him to get a friend to talk for them....they said they had no friends. Told him to ask his local police station to help him talk. Somehow he didn't want the car anymore.

I've had good results with autotrader.com. Pay the $100 or so for the premium listing, post lots of photos, even if they feel redundant, say about 20+ photos. One of each rim, lots of interior dash angles, some of the biggest damage spots and some of the minor ones. Usually got a few dozen or so lowballs within a week, then a handful of serious buyers.

 

[Sniperwannabee]

Meet at his bank to withdraw cash or a cashiers check. Or do PayPal Venmo or zelle and get it instantly

 

[264win]

Just meet at a bank or Sheriffs office.
I have bought and sold lots of vehicles on Craigslist, etc.
Use common sense and you will be fine

 

[GUN NUT in IA]

Trade him for something you are probably familiar with. I would suggest ammunition.

Make sure you take a gun of appropriate caliber so you can . . . ummm . . . test the ammunition for quality. If he wants to meet in the alley behind the liquor store, bring some of your own ammunition to compare to his ammunition. Save time and already have your ammunition in your gun.

 

[MtnCreek]

Has anyone successfully purchased anything from craigslist? I contacted a couple of people that had enclosed trailers listed. One was a scam and the other backed out when I wanted to meet at a branch of my bank local to him. Pretty sure that one had robbery in mind.

 

[Maggot]

Has anyone successfully purchased anything from craigslist? I contacted a couple of people that had enclosed trailers listed. One was a scam and the other backed out when I wanted to meet at a branch of my bank local to him. Pretty sure that one had robbery in mind.

Yeah, I have, no problem, as mentioned above just use common sense.

The big scam on Craigslist today is for them to want to send you a 6 digit code you have to send back. Then somehow they get access to a lot of your private info.

 

[rjacobs]

I'm getting ready to sell a truck. Planning to list on AutoTrader and Facebook Marketplace.

Marketplace is easy to tell scammers... they generally have a blank profile or some wacky ass profile, zero friends, russian, etc...

I dont think most scammers are cruising Autotrader either.

 

[hollowoutadime]

Some good advice above. I have a few Wranglers I'm going to sell, I like the idea of getting a cashiers check(in person) from their bank.

 

[BrienM]

I sold 2 vehicles on Autotrader and sold a camping trailer on craigslist. No issues to report. Just use caution.

 

[300zx_tt]

I’ve bought and sold at least 350k worth of stuff (cars, trucks, dump trucks, forklifts, boats, quads, antiques etc...) for myself, friends and family. I used to use Craigslist exclusively... I haven’t listed anything on CL since Facebook market place came out. It’s so far superior it’s unreal. You can tell easily if it’s a real person or a scammer on Facebook.
I personally like cash, bigger stuff I’d take a bank check for. Took a personal check for a dump truck once, kinda goofy but wanted the deal and he was a local business owner so I figured he was GTG.

 

[Biggie1976]

Small amount donate it and get the tax write off if you itemize

 

[oneshot86]

A 3k deal is small these days, but do a bank transfer using routing numbers

 

[Rthur]

Watch out for these guys.

R

 

[Lightning8]

Just sold a car - listed on Autotrader and Facebook Marketplace. Sold on Facebook Marketplace. Cash deal. I think you have to use common sense plus intuition on who can be trusted, etc. $6000 deal.

Have used Craigslist in past.

Small used car dealers need clean cars. If they buy at auction they have to pay fees, pay for shipment, and wait for title. I have a friend with used car lot and he prefers to buy from individuals and get the title on the spot.

 

[79steeler]

Just make sure they pay in cash money and use a pen to make sure its real. I've sold alot of cars in my day and never got a counterfeit bill. Counterfeit money is alot rarer than you think. Your worrying way to much.

 

[eddie102870]

was gonna say facebook marketplace

 

[kenny1773]

I am not on facebook, I would need to use my older daughter to sell it there to not look like a scammer myself lol

I am worried that a low priced car with paint peeling off and 160k + miles is not going to attract the highest quality buyer, that is where my concern comes from,

No one truly WANTS this van, the only people that would want it have no choices in life
or
They are doing what I did with it, letting 2 kids learn how to drive on it and get through their fist few years
this was going to go one of two ways, either the van was going to get totaled, or we would be lucky and neither kid would wreck it - we got lucky, van was never wrecked

The youngest is ready for a better car later this year.

Thanks all for the advice. I figure scams on these sorts of sales change every couple years to keep it fresh, just updating my info.

 

[frankxtc]

I bought one of these UV devices to check for counterfeit, works great.

https://www.amazon.com/Safescan-Ultraviolet-Counterfeit-Bill-Detector/dp/B017DQBV88

 

[D1gger]

The one piece of advice I would give is to not bid against yourself. If you list a car as OBO, then someone will say "whats the lowest you will take". I never give them a number, I say once you see it in person, we can talk price. Just my 2 cents

 

[Gommer]

Cash. In person. Solves a ton of problems. Don't meet some random place, that's how people get robbed.

 

[rjacobs]

I am not on facebook, I would need to use my older daughter to sell it there to not look like a scammer myself lol

I am worried that a low priced car with paint peeling off and 160k + miles is not going to attract the highest quality buyer, that is where my concern comes from,

No one truly WANTS this van, the only people that would want it have no choices in life
or
They are doing what I did with it, letting 2 kids learn how to drive on it and get through their fist few years
this was going to go one of two ways, either the van was going to get totaled, or we would be lucky and neither kid would wreck it - we got lucky, van was never wrecked

The youngest is ready for a better car later this year.

Thanks all for the advice. I figure scams on these sorts of sales change every couple years to keep it fresh, just updating my info.

for a $3000 car you are in "cash car" territory... usually relegated to $2000 cars, but with the way things are right now that territory probably stretches to $3000.... Yup, not the best people in the world. They buy cars for 2-3k bucks and if they get a year or 2 out of it, great. Ive sold 2 cash cars. I was asking $2500 for a Jeep and the guy pulls out $2000 and I say sure, that and a cigarette from your front pocket buys the car... ok... so we smoked a cig while the guys son drove the jeep around the block to check it out. I dont get bothered by those kind of people though, ive learned you NEVER know what people have gone through in their lives to arrive at their current situation in life. $3000 likely WONT be counterfeit, no reason to. Somebody shows up with 70k in cash...yea thats going to be a trip to the bank to have it all checked.

 

[300zx_tt]

for a $3000 car you are in "cash car" territory... usually relegated to $2000 cars, but with the way things are right now that territory probably stretches to $3000.... Yup, not the best people in the world. They buy cars for 2-3k bucks and if they get a year or 2 out of it, great. Ive sold 2 cash cars. I was asking $2500 for a Jeep and the guy pulls out $2000 and I say sure, that and a cigarette from your front pocket buys the car... ok... so we smoked a cig while the guys son drove the jeep around the block to check it out. I dont get bothered by those kind of people though, ive learned you NEVER know what people have gone through in their lives to arrive at their current situation in life. $3000 likely WONT be counterfeit, no reason to. Somebody shows up with 70k in cash...yea thats going to be a trip to the bank to have it all checked.

I sold a Mack granite, triaxle dump truck for my father in law. Guy showed up with $65k in cash, in brown paper lunch bags. Pretty wild!

 

[WeiserBucks]

The fuck kind of world are we living in where people don't know how to sell a pile of shit car?