Long Distance Purchase from Private Party

Hey folks,

I'm curious how some of you handle a long distance purchase out of state from a private party. I'm about to close the deal by flying out and doing a once over on the car as it already passed PPI. But how do I time sending the funds over, getting the title, and having the transport company come pick up the car? Ideally they would come pick it up the same time I'm there but that is a very small chance of happening with any of the big trusted transport companies, as they take sometimes a few weeks to get you on calendar.

So do I just have a contract signed, pay in full, take the title and trust the seller will load the car when the time comes? Wire him half, take the title, and wire him the other half when the car gets loaded on the truck? Use something like escrow.com? Fly back out again once the transport company sets a date?

For what it is worth, I have no reason to distrust the seller at all. If anything he has a bit of a reputation in his own car community and business so I doubt there would be any issues. But of course, I also don't want to part with six figures and not be safe.

 

Here is how I did it (Texas to NJ)

1. PPI
2. Agree on price, deposit put down
3. Agree on how to pay (Cashier check from a major bank)
4. Few to NJ to drive and close deal
5. Went to his bank (on a weekday) to verify my check was good & put in his account
6. Received the signed title before heading home
7. Had the transport truck pick up at his place

Worked out fine.....

 

That's pretty much my plan too. Just a little nervous about the time between 6 and 7, leaving it there until the transport comes. I guess that's where the trust comes in.

 

Yes....now you could arrange for the truck to show up on the day you close the deal....the timing may be a little wonky and you would pay for idle time but I imagine you could do it. There might also be a way to contract for short term storage....you could do that in Houston.

 

I would do everything shark01 wrote except for #7 (unless the seller is known to you and is trustworthy). I would drive the car to a third party site, e.g. Ferrari dealer, independent dealer, car detailing company, police station or any other trusted place you can locate. Then let the car be picked up there.

 

Assuming you pay for the car, seller signs the title over to you and you get a bill of sale, the car is legally yours. You would have insurance on it at this point and if the seller refused to load the car on the truck you could report the car stolen. You are the legal owner and have the paperwork to prove it.

 

Totally sure the police would be on board storing the car.....LOL

A mechanic hanging on to a car is a possibility, but will need to be paid, or perform services.

A detailer? Hell no...

 

That means next to nothing.....well hell, means absolutely nothing with how slow the legal system is. And BTW, as we learned from CNC....if you willingly give the guy the keys it is not considered stolen, it becomes a civil matter. Good luck getting a civil judgement that the guy would make good on (we have been waiting since the mid-80s to get paid on a couple of judgements).

Fun topic though...

 

ABSOLUTELY MAKE SURE there is a paper title in hand before leaving. CA has STUPID electronic paperless titles & apparently some other states do too. Also make sure that if there is a lien that you are at the correct bank with the correct bank officer on hand to sign off on it & release the lien if necessary. Also figure out if you need a notary just in case.

Not much point flying out & then dealing with useless state bureaucracy. Also be aware of states (CA) not creating a paper title w/o paying full sales tax even if the car & you are leaving the state. Or not giving you a temp plate w/o paying sales tax.

Sent from the X-31 Space Modulator using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Here’s what I did when I sold my AMG GTC Roadster to a guy in Texas-

1. He called. We talked about the car.
2. He asked for my bank wire info. I gave it to him
3. He wired the money to the bank the next morning cos I had a loan remaining on the car.
4. Once it hit my account, the bank paid the loan to zero and put rest in my savings account.
5. He called and organized a truck to pick up.
6. I made a buyers order/bill of sale online and emailed it to him. We both signed it.
7. Truck came and picked it up.
8. I received title about 2 weeks later from bank and mailed it to him.
9. He said thanks and sent me an extra $500 cos he was blown away by the flawless condition of the car.
10. The end.

— I always say, you’re buying the previous owner when you buy cars like this.


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In retirement, I pick up beer + poker $$ doing inspections/asset verification for a company called QuikTrak...JJ Best + other lenders send us out to photograph assets, verify VIN, serial #, all that banky stuff.
I get out of the house, and see cool stuff...a robotic bottling plant north of here w 13 robot forklifts was fun.
Anyway, call QuikTrak. They'll assign an inspector. Overnite the check to the inspector. He'll meet the buyer + the truck, inspect the vehicle + take pix, witness the signover of the title, hand over the check and watch the car being loaded + leave.
He/she will then overnite you the title.
May cost a couple hundred bucks, but it'll get done correctly.

Quiktrak.com

 

Regular robot forklifts or Japanese sex robot forklifts??? Enquiring minds want to know.

 

Maybe I’ve been lucky. Bought dozens of high dollar sight unseens and yet to have a problem.

 

Same and have sold several never had an issue on either end all my buyers have always been very happy and i have never had a real seller issue…
The worse case was years ago i sold a very special corvette to a ver spedial buyer that had purchased 3 other cars from me recently .So he wired the money and I asked if he wanted me to fed x the title to whicch he said just put it in the car and his personal guy would pick it ….no problem
Then 3 months later it occurred that he forgot to pick up the car !!!!
So I called. Him and as soon as he answered. The phone he remembered
Next day his guy was there all went well…….

 

At some point in any of these scenarios there's an element of trust and risk of some loss. Do PPI on the seller as much as the car itself. Listen to your gut it usually knows best.

 

How many cars do you need to have before you forget that you just bought another one?

 

Excellent point back when I was collecting old corvettes I found one on eBay that was very special .. when the auction closed I was the high bidder and got a great price for the car ... However when I spoke with the seller I got a very bad feeling about him ... so I started to back out but it was something I wanted so I sent my corvette expert to California to check it out if he said go I would wire the funds and he would move the car to a person we knews garage... He said it was good with a few problems but still a good deal. At the end of the day it all worked out just fine....

 

a bunch

 

Valid point