Here's The Best Way to Accept Payment For The Car You Sold
Here's The Best Way to Accept Payment For The Car You Sold
Posted on October 1, 2022
If you’re planning to sell your car anytime soon, you’re going to need to figure out not only how much you’re going to sell it for but how you’ll accept that payment.
Payment anxiety and the need to avoid being ripped off is one of the most significant challenges to selling a car.
It’s a challenge you can avoid altogether by selling your car to a dealership, but if you prefer to sell privately, what are your safe payment options?
Cash for cars
Cash is still king for many things but we’re not sure we would recommend walking the streets with thousands of dollars in your pocket. You also need to verify the cash is real.
We would recommend driving to the bank with the buyer and performing the transaction there. The bank can verify the cash is real and you can deposit it right away.
If that’s not possible, you should check the cash carefully when the buyer hands it over and do what you can to ensure it’s legit. There are no guarantees of course but you can only do so much.
Then have someone drive you to the bank so you can deposit it into your account.
Cashier’s cheque
A cashier’s cheque or banker’s cheque is another of the relatively safe payment options. However, you have to be present when the cheque is cut to ensure it isn’t a fake. You also have to both be present when you cash the cheque to ensure the buyer is looked after too.
There’s a strong market in counterfeit banker’s cheques and being there when the cheque is drawn is the only way to be sure it’s real.
If you’re present when the cheque is made, you can be relatively sure there are adequate funds to cover the amount. The bank wouldn’t cut the cheque if there wasn’t.
There are still no guarantees though.
Bank transfer
Bank transfer, from one bank account directly to another is a way to accept payments for a car.
Much will depend on your bank and what your type of account will or will not accept, but if you both have the facility for direct payments, that’s a way to get paid.
There are no guarantees of course but banks should not transfer funds if they aren’t present in the sender’s account. You should check with the bank in question to see if they can be cancelled or reversed though, just in case.
Avoid personal cheques and escrow
Personal cheques are very easy to fake and there’s nothing to say there are the funds in the buyer’s account to pay the cheque once you cash it.
It’s very easy to fake a cheque, anyone with a good printer and an internet connection can do it.
Escrow can be okay if you know the service but there are some scams around that use fake escrow services, so you have to be careful.
Don’t get us wrong. The vast majority of private sales go perfectly well. But enough of them don’t to cause fear and require we be aware of the risks.
With so much money at stake, we simply cannot afford to take chances. Which means selling your car to a dealership is by far the safest way to do it!