Questions About Private Sale Transactions

oray777

I have a question about my car and hope you might be able to help me. I'm going to sell my car very soon. My concern is the airbag system is not working and i don't have time to fix it but the seat restraints work fine. I'm just worried if the person i sold the car too might get into an accident and then maybe i could be liable because it wasn't working. I will be selling the car As-Is but not quite sure if that will be keep me from liability should anything happen after purchase of car. Could you tell me if there could be any problem and what can i do to protect myself from a lawsuit or who to contact about this matter. Thankyou.

akirby

Simple - either write on the receipt clearly that the airbag system isn't working and have the buyer sign it or have them sign a separate form acknowledging that the airbag isn't working. I would also attach a sign to the steering wheel saying the airbag isn't working and take a picture of it. As long as you can prove they were notified that it wasn't working at the time of purchase you should be covered.

(disclaimer - I'm not a lawyer but I do watch Judge Judy twice a day)

tayl0rd

How do you know the airbag isn't working? The dash light? If that's the case, the buyer can see the light just as well as you can. I'm sure he/she saw it on the test drive. If he/she still decided to buy it knowing the airbag wasn't working, then it's on him/her.

mschmal

Akirby, where is your license to practice law?

You just gave legal advice and only assume it to be true.

Hope you don't get fined.

Mark.

akirby

Didn't you read my disclaimer?

oray777

Yeah is was going to have them sign an agreement acknowledging that the airbag system is not working properly. Do you know what lawyer i should discuss this with just to make sure it will cover me? I will be selling car As-Is in the advertisement. Thanks.

mustangfan23

I believe that any car sold must have a proper working air-bag. The dealership I work at we were in the same situation with an aftermarket steering wheel... The car cannot be sold without one. I'm not totally sure if that is just a law for dealerships to abide by, but I think that it would apply to everyone--despite a disclaimer. Hope that helps a little. Good luck!

poorbuyinewbie

Thanks. I guess I am nervous about how to sell a car privately. How do you coordinate payment, and I would need to buy a new car, before I could let go of the one I drive. I know it sounds dumb, but how does all of this work?

Thanks!

jipster

Usually I'll ask for a certified check(or cash) from the buyer and then sign over the title and buyer/seller purchasers form if notarized. Or, make it simple and meet the buyer at the County Clerks office to transfer title. Make sure you receive payment in full before signing over your title though.

I would be ready with an attractive ad to the local newspaper and Bargain Mart the day you buy your new car. On a nice Prism such as yours, it should sell within a couple weeks if priced accordingly. I believe most insurers will extend coverage for a month on your old car at no charge, after buying and putting coverage on your new car. Good luck!

cccompson

Not to be flip but you simply coordinate things as best you can. My son recently went through this. Because of schedules, he ended up selling his old car on Wednesday and was without wheels until he picked up the replacement on Saturday.

As I understand your situation, you need to sell before you buy. Given your Prism ownership, you could make a deal on a new ride, put your Prism in the local paper or on craigslist, and then get the new one. Price your car aggressively and it will sell quickly. Don't and might sit on it.

My son used craigslist and sold his car in a bit over 2 hours. Granted, it was a popular model for cheap but, still, I was astonished at the results the ad produced.

There is LOTS of fake checks floating around and I would not now accept one from a buyer unless the deal was concluded at the issuing bank where I could verify it immediately.

rdhing

Hello, I am very much lost and can't decide on which Intro. Luxury car I want to purchase. However, I do know what I am looking for and below is my list:

1) GPS
2) Mobile Link
3) Entertainment system to watch DVD
4) Audio unit should be able to play MP3s
5) Premium sound

Once I get few names of cars then I can narrow down based on ranking, performance, TCO, etc. However, the above list is the something which I require if I am getting into Luxury car. My budget is about 25 - 35 k and I would prefer to shop for a 2006 model rather than 2007. I live in the Dallas area.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Kirstie_H

Hi rdhing,
This probably isn't the best discussion for you to post in to get feedback. Try starting in our Entry-level Luxury Performance Sedans discussion first.

camarra

Hi - I know this message comes late but I hope not too late for someone else to learn my lesson!

I advertised my old car for sale, not realizing it would sell as quickly as it did. I ended up having to rent a car for a month and a half while my new car (a 5-speed CRV) was on order. If I had not had specific tastes in my new car I probably would have been in a better situation. I figured that the $500 a month it cost me to rent the car was about what I would have been paying during that time as car payments anyway.

When I sold the old car, I had the people who came to look at it meet me at my workplace to test drive it, and all the paperwork for the sale was done there, so that I felt comfortable that I wouldn't be alone with them (I'm a woman) or in any kind of danger. I ended up having to deliver the car to them and having them drive me home, but by that time I was comfortable that the guy wasn't an axe murderer and had met their family and had check in hand!

jipster

Agreed... those axe murderers can be a pain in the neck. :sick:

oldfarmer50

...those axe murderers can be a pain in the neck...

I hear they are real grinders.

Speaking of grinders. When I sold my old Toyoda pickup it was such a POS that I just wanted to be rid of it. I asked $200 (the tires were worth more than that). A guy comes, looks it over real good, then says..."will you take $175?"

Another time I sold a car to a young kid who wanted me to leave my inspection and registration stickers AND my license plates on the car until he had enough money to get his own.

bunchito

Hello, My 80 year old mother needs to sell her beautiful 97 Chysler LHS. It has only 82K miles is loaded, has good car fax report I have seen some on-line ads for Big Lots, Auto hopper, cars.com etc. I don't know even these sites are trustworthy. Big lots called me after they saw my ad in the paper and they keep sending me paperwork to sell my car with them. My mom needs to sell her car and gets the most money and can't afford to get ripped off. Her car is in beautiful shape, has sun/moon roof lovely leather upholstery and wood grain interior etc. It's a very luxurious car and the gas mileage is pretty decent but I have not had good success with newspaper ads. Does anyone know how I might find folks who are looking for this type of car? Btw I live in NY (upstate /catskills area
Thank you and many blessings,

tidester

While you're waiting for a reply here you should read this: How to sell your car.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

newdavidq

I think one way is to post on an Edmunds forum about private party car sales and include all the details you would normally put in an ad and hope that some folks who are interested in selling their own car are also looking for a car like your 80 year old moms.
Blessings to you as well.

Kirstie_H

You can check out craigslist.org as well - I've had some success selling household items there.

Another step is to see if you've priced it right for the market. You can visit our Real World Trade-In Values discussion, paying attention to the info requested. You'll see that right above the "post a message" box, in red lettering.

bretsky1

looking for a used camry, and just wondered if anyone has any tips on used dealers to recommend or avoid.

joel0622

Dejavu

mspmatt

My mother-in-law is selling her car to her daughter. The daugther has agreed to pay $3,000 for the car. She paid $1,000 downpayment and will pay $100/month for 20 months or until the car is paid off. Mother-in-law now lives in Minnesota, but the car and daughter are in Pennsylvania.

My mother-in-law doesn't want to turn over the title until the car is paid off. But, she is willing to let the daughter drive the car, etc...

Both have the same insurance company (USAA). USAA says that the daughter can have her own insurance coverage, but the Mother-in-law has to also carry some sort of insurance on the vehicle for approximately $100 for 6-months.

The daughter wants to register the car in her own name, but doesn't have the title.

Any advice on this entire transaction would be appreciated. I'm trying to protect my Mother-in-law's interests, as we don't trust the daughter. Holding on to the title is the only way to force the daughter to make good on the payments. At the same time, the Mother-in-law doesn't want any part of registering the car or insuring it.

Should the daughter be able to register the vehicle? Why is USAA requiring my Mother-in-law to have this additional $100 policy when she is no longer driving the car?

Thank you all in advance.

Matt

tidester

I would have the daughter make payments on the car and pay insurance until the "loan" is paid off at which time mother would transfer title. The daughter can accept or decline the offer.

The only problem here is that mother let the daughter remove the car from Minnesota in the first place.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

joel0622

The daughter can register the car in her name and show the Mom as the lien holder. That way daughter has the car but the title is sent to mom. Once Daughter pays off the car mom can sign on the title to release the lien.

That way mom can drop the insurance and not have to pay that and release's her from any future responsibility because the car is no longer in her name, but still have full control over what the daughter does with the car till it is PIF.

We do that all the time here when parents pay cash for a car for there kid who is going to pay them back. It also keeps the kid from going out and trying to trade it without the parents permission because they hold the title.

Kirstie_H

Great idea! I didn't see a way to make it work.

bunchito

hello, folks. This is a great forum.

I recently posted a message about my efforts to sell my 80 yr. old mother's beautiful 97 Chrysler LHS. I believe Kirstie, one of the hosts for this forum suggested that I try posting info. about this car, features, price etc. "on an Edmunds forum about private party car sales." When I tried to click on forums at the Edmunds web site, i was directed to Car Space which appears to be a service realted link from Edmunds. Now, I am confused because I was unable to find "priavate party car sales" when I tried searching for this category.

I really need to sell her car to help pay for assisted living facility costs but her finances are very tight.

Where and how can I post the details about this car being for sale?

Thank you and many blessings

tidester

As for the name, this is edmunds.com and CarSpace.com is this part of edmunds.com - i.e., you're in the right place!

If you scroll back (in this very topic!) to messages #18 and #20, you'll see what Kirstie and I recommended.

Good luck!

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

jwhit05

I am selling my Hummer H2 and I have been speaking to a gentlemen over the phone, his wife also. Supposedly, she is in Canada and he is in Australia. He has told me he wants to buy it and import it to Australia. I googled the phone number she called with and it is at least a canadian area code. He wants to try and get the vehicle looked at before he says yes, but the red flag for me is that he wants to wire the money to me. We have talked about price and he is not trying to over pay and then get money back like some scams work, but it still makes me nervous. he has also stated that after the deal is complete, he would need me to hold the vehicle for a short period while he arranges a shipping company to pick it up.

Does this sound like an obvious scam or just someone far away who really wants a H2? I checked the Hummer website and they do not have any dealers in Australia so that fits with him telling me that there are hardly any over there. All opinions welcome. By the way, he found the H2 on my autotrader ad.

Thanks in advance.

tidester

I'm not going to give advice but I don't see what the problem would be if you have the cash in hand before shipping. Thoughts, anyone?

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

Kirstie_H

Well, if he wires the money (for the amount of purchase only), you can wait to release the vehicle til your bank declares the payment "cleared." However, if in order to wire the money to you he needs your bank details, I'd be wary. It might be totally legit, but with all of the scams going around, I hate giving any bank/personal details to complete strangers.

jwhit05

After talking to him more, I'm feeling better about it. He has already spoken to a local dealership and arranged an inspection which he is paying for. His going to that length makes me believe he is serious.

Thanks for the help.

jwhit05

Yeah, the wire portion makes me nervous too, but after speaking to several people, I think I will be opening a new account specifically for this reason and then closing it after having the money cleared and withdrawn.

Kirstie_H

Seems like a smart move. You can also talk to your bank prior to the transaction and ask if anything could go wrong for you with this system. They might have ideas (like yours about opening a separate account) to protect you from fraud.

tidester

There is no need to involve your own bank or your own account to have money transferred to you. You can have funds "wired" to any bank or financial institution. I once tranferred funds to a friend who was stranded in a city where neither of us had a bank or accounts.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

Kirstie_H

Huh, whaddya know. I've never done anything with wire transfers, and I had no idea how they work or how someone could be scammed. Guess it's a cash-in-hand at the receiving end?

pat

You still have to make sure that the funds/wire/check/whatever totally clears. I've read about funds being wired to banks that two weeks later (or beyond that) something turns up sour and the recipient is holding the bag, having to pay back what the bank technically "advanced". Apparently there are ways to bounce a transaction literally all over the world eating up time while you and the original bank think everything is copacetic.

What we've been told about this situation makes it seem like it's probably on the up and up, but it can't hurt to be extremely cautious. I liked your suggestion to receive assurance from whatever bank that the funds are actually physically present, there are no strings untied, everyone is happy and there is absolutely no chance of reversal before giving up the car.

And get it in writing.

Feel free to call me paranoid. It won't be the first time.

tidester

In my case, I had transferred the money to a Western Union office.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

kyfdx

I wouldn't equate receiving money at Western Union with receiving a wire transfer at your bank. Western Union usually gets cash at the front end, then pays it out at the back end.

If you have an account relationship with your bank, any wire transfer that is ultimately judged fraudulent is going to come back out of your account. Even if they gave you cash at the bank. The same goes for a money order or a cashier's check.

I think paranoid is the way to go. Why would someone in Canada buy a car in the U.S., only to ship it to Australia? Think about that for a moment. Is that anything you could ever see yourself doing? :surprise:

300 million people in the U.S. Surely, you can find one of them to buy your car in the normal manner.

However, my guess is that if you pursue this, one of the parameters of the deal will change, and the potential for financial loss will show itself.

International finance? I'll pass.

regards,
kyfdx
Host-Prices Paid Forums

jneal

This has all the earmarks of a typical "Nigerian Scam"

Telephone numbers are easily spoofed to make you think they are coming from anywhere......

Cashiers checks etc can take weeks to completely clear and then if it turns out to be fake etc. the money does come back out of your account, the bank isn't going to eat it..in the meantime your vehicle is gone to Timbukto and you have no idea where or who....

As far as the "dealer" coming to inspect the vehicle, do you have first-hand knowledge that this is actually someone from your dealer?? Or just someone that will show up on your doorstep claiming to be from a "dealer"??

In short, I wouldn't touch this with a proverbial 10-foot pole.

conlux44

Each Sunday I see these ads in the paper offering 2-5K off normally listed prices. These models advertised are usually the same week after week, and with the same, or almost the same options. The idea of just walking into a dealership pointing to the ad and leaving with the advertised model at the advertised price seems very appealing, but also very unrealistic. The salesman will say, "Oh we had only one in stock and JUST sold it, but have a seat and let's talk about something else that..." Is there a way to actually hold these dealerships to these ads and buy the advertised cars for the prices shown? A fully loaded Ford Focus ZX3 for $9,900 sounds pretty nice.

cccompson

There's nothing unrealistic about buying at the advertised price, especially if such an ad is running repeatedly.

Just show up at the store on the day the ad runs 20 minutes before it opens. Locate the advertised car and look it over. When the salesman approaches in short order and asks if s/he can help, tell 'em you accept the offer in their ad.

If they balk, file a complaint with your state attorney general and/or call your local TV station.

jipster

That happened to me a couple times conlux. Then I realized it was just a scam. Dealerships can have a particular car ad written to go to print 3 months before the actual ad comes out. So, the odds of the vehicle being available will usually be slim and none. Or, the vehicle price could be offered through several dealerships. These are called SCREAMER ADS, and usually are a waste of time. They are meant primarily as a means to bring in foot traffic and phone calls.

Every once in awhile I'll read of someone getting a screamer ad price. But, for 99% of the people it is a waste of time.

But, to answer your question... there is no way to hold these dealerships to the ad prices.

jipster

Just show up at the store on the day the ad runs 20 minutes before it opens.

That's exactly what I did ccompson. Guess what the dealership said? They said,"Oh, that cars already been sold. But, we have plenty of other models available."

This was on a absolutely new ad that I looked at in the newspaper at 7 o'clock in the morning.

I spoke with the SM and GM about the situation. They gave me the bit about sending in their advertisements so many weeks before they actually come out in print. So, it's a loop hole the dealerships can exploit fairly easily. A complaint to attorney general or tv station would do no good.

oldfarmer50

"...but for 99% of the people it is a waste of time..."

I was in the 1% category way back in 1980. I was in the market for a cheap 4-cyl. and came upon a Dodge dealer add which screamed about "100 Dodge Omnis for one price".

I figured it was a scam but went there anyway. The salesman directed me to the back lot and said "pick one out and come in and let me know" then walked away.

I looked out at a sea of Omnis (113 to be exact) with every possible combination of options. I picked out the one I wanted and got no hassle with the sale and drove it away.

This was right after one of the oil shocks of the period and cars of this type were hot items. I never could figure how this dealer did it.

michaellno

I qualify, too. Back in 1992 my (now ex) wife totalled her car and we needed a new one. She wanted a dark blue Honda Accord LX.

So, one Friday, we were perusing the LA Times and a dealer about 30 minutes away from one had the 'one only at this price' ad - $13,xxx instead of the MSRP of $17,xxx.

We called.

Yes, it was the dark blue.

Yes, it was still on the lot.

We immediately drove there and bought it.

The early bird does catch the worm!

joel0622

We don't run ads in the paper very often, it just seems to be a wore form of advertising, and as I can see by the post here it is true. But when we do run them it usually because we need to get rid of some new car inventory. If we run a Focus for with XXX amount of equipment for $12995.00 come pick one out, if the sticker on it is the same as the the one we ran in the ad you can have it. But like I said we don't run many. We can't see the sense in paying $15K for a full color ad to advertise to lose money :confuse:

Most of the advertising we do is for our used cars in local publications, radio, and sponsoring events. You get as much bang for your buck by donating $3K to the local school choir and being listed as a supporter or sponsor as you do running an ad with 20 other dealers.

I talked my boss into paying for my Daughters Choir's Jackets this year and donating some stuff for a Silent Auction at there Christmas Concert. My wife and I ran the auction. Since December I have sold about 8 units from it. If you mention the choir when you come in we donate an additional $100 to them. It works great for them, and we are able to help the community a little to. Plus I have sold the Choir Director a truck, his wife a car, and his daughter a SUV. So I guess that makes 11 of of it.

People are tired of the SOS.

haizmansbrain

I've been looking for an altima for a few weeks. Found what i want, and a dealer to provide it. However, the car is being shipped in, (its due on the 22nd) so it's presently not on the lot. Anyway, went in tonight
to sign the buyer's order, figured a $100 deposit was enough and I'd be good. All looked well until the GM came over and said the deposit had to be at least $1,000. I told him to forget it since the car wasn't even on the lot yet and $100 was enough to bind the agreement. He tells
me that he cannot take it, blah, blah blah, and that's that. I said "Fine, we're done then sorry to waste your time." He agreed and I just left. The car is still due in on the 22nd and I told him we'd do the dance all over again, but all he's saying is I have no commitment, he'll
get stuck with the car, blah, blah,blah again but he could sell it. Sounds like a lot of BS to me.

Is this normal behavior for a dealer to end a deal on the basis of the deposit? I have not read anything about a dealer doing that.

tidester

he'll get stuck with the car, blah, blah,blah again but he could sell it.

It sounds like the dealer has another buyer and he was trying to determine who was more serious about buying it.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

haizmansbrain

Tidester

I'd asked for the specific options, colors etc, so they may just be blowing smoke to get the big deposit. The combination seems to be pretty scarce in NE.

Also, sorry about the mis-post in this forum. It was my first.

mba6970

I am looking to buy a used BMW 325. I came across an auto broker who says that he can help me buy a car at the BMW Financial Lease Returns Auctions for a fixed fee. He also wanted a deposit of USD 2000, in case I back out after the aution.I wanted information on how reliable this channel is and how do I evaluate the broker? How can i check if he is authorized?

mclmommy

I own -- fully paid off -- a 2002 toyota sienna. I would like to sell the car to my brother, who lives in North Carolina. I live in New Jersey. I would sell it for probably less than the Blue book value. How do I go about transferring the car to him? What are the tax consequences for him and us? What do I list as the sale price, since he will probably have to pay me on some sort of payment plan --he doesn't have the cash to pay in full.

Thanks for your help