How to make the sale

I would deal directly with the bank that holds the note on the car.

 

The only really safe way to handle this is go to CO, go with the seller to the bank, pay off the loan, get the title and have him sign it.
Make prior arrangements with the shipper to pick up the car while you're there, then you can see it be loaded. Or you can take the car to
the shippers hub and drop it off yourself... then fly back home and wait for it. Hell, you might get there and find the car is not what you thought it was, or find some issues that you were not told about... perhaps an opportunity to re-negotiate with cash in hand? If he's motivated, maybe you could beat him down on the price to cover your flight?
Going out there may cost a few bucks and be a bit inconvenient, but its a small price for piece of mind.

 

definatly, go to the bank with the seller.
I have done this a couple of times
2 checks, one for the bank for the payoff and the other to the seller for his balance

 

I did this with my car with escrow.com. For around $300 they took care of everything and made sure the lien was paid off and I got a clean title. I did not have to go physically to get it.

 

I had a similar situation with a car (348) the private seller owned for a couple years (Carfax and Autocheck seemed to confirm), that had a lien on it. After having a PPI done on the car (all good), I wanted to see the car in person before finalizing the deal. Took a cashier's check with me, and went to his bank (lienholder was USAA, not bank). Also had a Bill of Sale with me for both of us to sign with specifics that seller would pay off lienholder within 3 bus. days. I figured Bill of Sale protected me, as well as Cashiers check specifying what payment was for.

Well, it took the guy over 2 weeks to pay off lienholder, and that was after I called the lienholder to check and then sent some angry notes to the seller. Then took another month for me to get title in hands after some more angry notes. NOT ONLY THAT... the title came from a car sales business, even though I paid off the seller directly!!! AFAI can tell, this guy was not part of this sales business, so I have no idea what happened. Bottom line was that I had to pay the state of Az over $3k TAX because the title showed dealer sale, not private, and I had no sales receipt from a dealer showing that I had paid tax in the state where I bought it. I'm not sure I'll EVER buy a car with a lien on it again, and will NEVER do business with this seller again (Chad Price, Apex, N.C.).

You may not have any problems, but beware of the above potential problems!!!!

Rick

 

One problem you may run into is that the bank may not be local. When I bought my car last fall, the title was held by a bank in another state. So the seller and I executed a bill of sale, I paid the seller, and then I took the car with me. Then he paid off the bank and sent me the title. Worked out OK for me, but if anything had gone wrong, at least I was in possession of the car.

If you don't intend to travel to pick up the car, then you may want more protection than just an executed bill of sale. There are auto escrow companies that can handle all of this for you. One that I considered was called Buyer Guardian (http://www.buyerguardian.com/). But their fees were not insubstantial, so I ended up not using them.

You might also consider doing a little background checking on the seller, just to give yourself some peace of mind. You'd be amazed what you can find out about people with google...

- Eric

 

in nevada, it is a pain. you cannot register the car without the title in hand. it must be signed by the seller over to you. so if he has a loan, then you have to pay either the bank or the seller directly. the bank sends him the title. he sends it to the dmv for a new title which he can sign to you. this can take some time. i have done this twice, both times very nervous. i like the escrow idea.