Paying cash for a Ferrari long distance

If you bank w a large bank that have offices everywhere so no need to haul around bills

Cashiers check is same as cash

Helping someone evade taxes may also b a crime

 

Seller wants to avoid banks? Sounds like they want to avoid the IRS as well. I wouldn't touch that transaction or be brought into that drama. The other component is:

"Where's the car?"
"It's right here." (pulls out gun)

I wouldn't do it if I were you. If you can't take a ceritified bank check or do wire transfer don't do the deal...

 

There are too many red flags here. Move along.

 

Why does that sound so familiar...oh ya!

LAPD: CSUN student killed after trying to sell car on Craigslist - LA Times

 

Plenty of good advice in the above posts. I learned a lot.


Ago

 

Banks like Chase are everywhere. Find a bank that's in both places, open an account if you don't already have one. Deposit on one side of the country, withdraw on the other. A bank like Chase will probably have everything lined up for you so when you get there, they direct you to the person to talk to and everything is already done, especially if you tell them what you're doing in advance.

Regards,
Brian

 

Correct, large banks work really fine. I never carry large cash amounts with me.

If I want to buy and the seller insists on cash, I go to the bank office being advised in advance together with the seller and have the money handed out to him. As a result, he cannot claim having received forged banknotes (if a crook). And he is very happy to receive bank approved banknotes (if he is honest).

If I sell and the buyer wants to pay cash, I go to my bank together with him and have him pay the agreed amount onto my account. This makes me sure that the obtained banknotes are worth what is written on them, otherwise the bank would reject the banknotes. Once, as a variant, we together went to the bank of the buyer, he fetched the money and handed it over to me.

I never experienced that a seller or buyer was reluctant or even unhappy to stick to these procedures.

This of course excludes Sundays for transactions ...

 

I'll bet the seller is trying to avoid Capital Gains on a sale and a bank transfer from you would be too revealing into his account.

Use a Cashier's Check as it avoids the Significantly Large Transaction tracking and make sure it is from a bank system that has a local branch close to the buyer where he can go and instantly confirm it is authentic.
http://www.ffiec.gov/bsa_aml_infobase/pages_manual/olm_106.htm

BTW - Banks do not have to provide you cash from your bank account for up to 30 days. Should you be forced to actually use cash to transfer, notify the bank well ahead of time to order the cash

 

Yes and no. There are no limits on the amount of cash you can have on you in the states. The problem is if you get stopped with that amount of cash law enforcement can take it from you and you will have to prove you got the money legally. And that would probably involve getting a lawyer and paying legal fees to get back your money which could take months.

 

A cashiers check is not the same as cash. A cashiers check can always be stopped. Plus nowadays there are a lot of fake cashiers checks out there. One website that has cars listed on their site warns against taking cashiers checks for cars. They say most are fraudulent.

 

This whole thing is starting to look like a really bad CarFax report.

 

I used a cashiers check for my last purchase and the guy taking it insisted on calling my bank to verify it. Wasn't a problem for me, but did take some extra time. The world is a much more cautious place. Years ago no one questioned cashier/bank drafted checks, but I guess that's why people tried to pass non legit ones

 

I simply meet the person at their bank and watch them get the cashier's check. I've also called a branch to verify in the past.

Scott

 

Correct. Cashiers check is not the same. Here are some examples which are facts:
-A cashiers check could be a fake. You take one and deposit it, your bank will credit your account. Within two or three days, when it gets returned, your bank will debit your account for the amount of the check and you are out. The bank is not responsible.
-You take a ligitimate cashiers check from a crook, you deposit it in your account, your bank will credit your account, the crook then immediately goes to his bank and cancels the cashiers check (which is completely acceptable at the crook's bank, AS LONG AS the crook has enough money in his account to cover the check) he keeps the money and your bank will debit the amount of the said check after a few days when it gets returned. You are out.
The second scenario actually happened to me when a dishonest commercial tenant did that to me on the eve of an eviction hearing. He gave me the cashiers check and we cancelled the court date for the next day. He cancelled the check and I found out days later when they took money out of my account. He avoided eviction an extra months or two by basically pushing back the hearing.
The banks normally put a hold on a cashiers check now if it is from a different bank until the funds are collected just for this reason. That is for your own protection.

 

True. The OCC frequently issues alerts about fraudulent cashiers checks from one bank or another. I'd say pretty much weekly I get another one.

As for cash, all banks are required to report any cash transactions over $10k, or any series of transactions that total over $10k that appear designed to avoid the threshold. So you can't withdraw $5k in the morning, $5k on your lunch hour, and another $5k in the afternoon to avoid the report.

That said, the report itself is not a red flag. If the bank fills in the form to say "Customer advised was buying a car and needed cash in irder to negotiate a better price" that is a perfectly reasonable and acceptable explanation for withdrawing that amount. The bank just needs to cover their backside and be able to prove they asked you what it was for.

 

Yep.

Both for the person doing it, and for the bank that 'overlooks' it. Besides just the bank getting hit, the teller or customer service rep that accepts the transactions can do jail time.

 

how long do we have to wait for this to take place?

 

This deal has stink all over it. Find another car !

 

I can't believe some of the bad advice given here.

I just sold a boat - all cash - to an unknown out of state buyer, so I can tell you first hand how it went down safely and smoothly for both parties.

1. Never use UPS, USPS or Fedex to send large sums of cash.

2. Never travel on a commercial airplane with large sums of cash.

3. Never walk up to a stranger's house with a suitcase full of cash.

Here's the plan: find a bank in both your location and the seller's location. Have a cashier's check made out to the seller at that bank. Fly to meet the seller, look over the car and then both go to the bank with title and car keys in hand. Seller cashes the check (not deposit) and signs over the title and gives you the car keys in the bank. Call the bank a day ahead to make sure they will have the cash available on the day of the transaction.

If the seller demands cash at his house, RUN AWAY from this deal. It's not your burden that the seller wants to avoid paying taxes, and it's not worth risking your life.

 

Here's an idea. Pay for the car in vintage $20 gold coins (such as the Saint Gaudens or Double Eagle coins from the early 1900's).
These coins are worth about $1500 to $2000 each.

Let's say you're buying the car for $400,000.
At $2k per coin, that is only 200 coins to carry.

Since the face value of each coin is $20, the seller then might be able to claim he sold the car for "$4,000 in coins".

.

 

I'm also sure everone knows this but I almost learned the hard way... If you do not use the cashiers/bank check do not rip it up and throw it away (like you might do with a personal check). If you do not use it you need to bring it back to the bank and return the money to your account.