I plan on selling a used car via Craigslist, and I hope to get between $4-5K for it. I don't want to take a check from a stranger, but I'm concerned that no one will be willing to show up at my house with $4,000 in cash.
What is the best way to handle this? Money order? Cashier's check? Or do you think that potential buyers would be perfectly fine with cash (and I'm worrying for no reason)?
EDIT: If the best way is a cashier's check or money order, how do I know it's not fake?
When I asked this particular question on a car forum recently, I got the following suggestions:
When we bought our last car, we met with the seller in the DMV's parking lot as there generally is some police around and paid him cash. Here in NV the plates stay with the PO so you have to get it registered or a movement permit anyway before you can drive the vehicle so this worked out pretty reasonable and safe for both parties.
I don't know how fast are wire transfers between bank accounts in the US, but here in Europe we can have them in under an hour usually for an extra fee (during bank working hours) - so you could take a laptop with Internet connection to the transaction, make a wire transfer and wait that hour drinking coffee for the transfer to arrive before handing the keys and papers and the buyer driving away.
One option is that the buyer brings cash and you together with the buyer go the bank where you have an account and deposit the money there - then the bank checks the cash and once the cash is accepted you no longer care if it was counterfeit. Once money is deposited you handle the keys.
I have sold cars before to individuals and always just received cash. I would think as long as the amount is less than $10,000.00 and the buyer is serious they will get there with the cash. Of course there is no possible way to guarantee the cash will not be counterfeit.
I sold my car on Craigslist for 2K and received cash. I bought a car from Craigslist with $4K cash.
For larger amounts where the buyer doesn't want to pocket such large quantities of money, meet them at their bank and have the banker do a draw on their account. Hustle that check to your bank and be done.
This question is old, but I have sold a car this way before and don't see the method I used listed. This method is also probably better than the other methods in the case where the purchase amount is larger (closing on 5 figures or above) or if you simply don't feel comfortable carrying any large amount of cash around.
In my case, I arranged to meet the buyer at a bank we both had an account at. In the case you don't share a bank, for a large amount of several thousand dollars, even the hassle of opening a new account to facilitate the transfer can be preferable to some people. Once at the bank, tell the person who greets you what your intention is, namely that you are selling a vehicle, that you both have an account at the bank, and that you would like to transfer funds from the buyer’s account to the seller's account. They may direct you to a teller or they may have a "personal banker" assist you with the transaction. How a particular bank does this may vary from bank to bank - they may require that the seller fills out a deposit slip and the buyer fills out a withdrawal slip after which they pull the money out, count it out, then deposit it back in the register, or they may have a more streamlined process. While they are doing this you can sign any necessary paperwork (e.g. the back of the title or whatever is needed in your state) and once they have confirmed everything is ready to go you can hand them the paperwork and keys.
In my case, once this was completed there was also an additional step that needed to be done at the DMV, so you may need to go there to finish things up. But really, if you are doing a multi-thousand dollar big purchase transaction like a vehicle there is no reason to not take a little extra time, go the extra mile (literally) if needed, and make sure everything is done right and everybody is happy.
If they bring cash, meet at your bank to verify. If they want to use cashiers check, meet them at their bank. Large amounts use wires directly to your acct and verify (not only received, but deposited) before handing over the title/keys.
A cashier's check or cash is reasonably safe. It's better than a regular check because if the check bounces you might have some issues.
If the rule of law is so poor where you live that people frequently go around forging cashier's checks and cash, the paranoia option is to meet the buyer at a bank, and either have them withdraw the cash for you or you cash the check. That way the bank teller is also effectively a witness to the transaction and the buyer will be on the bank's security footage if there is a criminal investigation later.
Historically, the solution has been to take payment in gold or silver coins, and test their purity on the spot :)
