How to safely sell a car privately?

[PhilDavid]

The most important thing (besides getting the money) is to go down with them to the DMV and transfer the title. That way you won't incur any liability if they wreck it on the way home.

This is good advice but how realistic is this? What is the buyer is in a different state altogether? If the car is wrecked on the way home, how can you be held liable, if you completed a bill of sale? Isn't the bill of sale essentially a legal transfer of ownership?

I think the key is not given them your tags but have the buyer show up to pick up the car with their own temp tags and then require proof of insurance. That plus bill of sale should be enough I think...

 

[PhilDavid]

You should check with the bank about the maximum amount for a cashier’s check.
I tried getting one from my bank when getting my car and I think the limit was something like $30k.

So finally I made a wired transfer to Tesla. The interesting thing was that I got the car while the
transfer was not yet completed and the amount was still on my bank account (well for an extra day only...)

So then two cashier's checks?

 

[Camera-Cruiser]

If your car is financed, it can take weeks to get the title after paying off the loan. I’m going through this now and it is a pain. He who has the title owns the car, and the new buyer needs the title to register the car, and Tesla needs the new registration under the buyers name to take the car off of your tesla account, and put it on the new buyers Tesla account (which they need to create).

I spoke to AAA and they said you can’t do anything until you have the title. Apparently there is a form 272 that can be filled out, unless you have an electronic title, which I have in California. So I am stuck waiting for the lender sending a note to DMV that I have paid my loan and that they can release my title (that is digital) to me by printing it and sending it to me, to transfer to the new owner.

The whole idea about the new electronic titles was to reduce errors and to stop having paper copies. So I can’t figure out why I can’t just go to AAA with the buyer, they log into the DMV and see the title is now electronicly released from my lendor and create a new title to the new buyer?

I still feel like I am missing something, but it’s the California DMV, so maybe it makes since to take the electronic title, print it, put it in an envelope, mail it to me so I can sign off my ownership, give it to the new buyer and he can take it to the DMV so they can digitize and make it data again. That must be it.

Oh, and it will take weeks.

 

[Watts_Up]

So then two cashier's checks?

Not so simple, it was the total amount from my account per day.
I could have done it on different days, but also there was some additional fees on each cashier's check..

Those limitations were not from the bank but from some Federal control agency.
May be also my bank is a Credit Union, however I later tried to make a direct transfer and it was granted.
Which was great because my Tesla appointment was the next day.

On the Tesla side everything went very fast I think because I made a full payment.
However I think it would have took some extra steps and time in a case of a loan payment.

 

[Watts_Up]

Historically, I've either traded in my cars or sold them to close friends or family.
I have no experience selling a car to a random person.
Since I would now like to sell my Model X this way, what are the "best practices" y'all would recommend
to ensure a safe and win-win transaction for both parties,
especially regarding secure/safe payment mechanisms that can't bounce after I've signed over the car?
Thanks in advance!

As an initial recommendation, I would not give initially my personal address to a stranger and
try to meet at a public place, like the parking lot of a super market or a public library.

So you can gauge about the real interest from the other party.
And I would try to get the maximum information that this person is willing to give, about job...

If I was a buyer, I would like to have a mechanics checking the car, so that an extra step to consider.

Note: There are places where you can leave your car for a fee, so potential buyers could look at your car.
Then if interested, they can obtain your information to contact you.

I remember stopping to such business in the past: this website provides some recommendations
(May be you could call this particular business to get additional advice).

 

[PhilDavid]

I almost forget here's a very useful tip...

before you list your car setup a Google Voice number you will use for this transaction. You will not believe the calls you get when a car is listed and those calls continue to come long after the car is sold, so setup a Google Voice Number and even a forwarded email account so you can keep you sanity.

 

[jerry33]

This is good advice but how realistic is this? What is the buyer is in a different state altogether? If the car is wrecked on the way home, how can you be held liable, if you completed a bill of sale? Isn't the bill of sale essentially a legal transfer of ownership?

I think the key is not given them your tags but have the buyer show up to pick up the car with their own temp tags and then require proof of insurance. That plus bill of sale should be enough I think...

It varies by jurisdiction, but usually it's the title transfer at the DMV that is the actual transfer. If something happened you could go through the courts and use the bill of sale, but it's not official until the DMV does the transfer. (I had this happen to me one time, you really don't want to go through the hassle.)

 

[TonyT]

If your car is financed, it can take weeks to get the title after paying off the loan. I’m going through this now and it is a pain. He who has the title owns the car, and the new buyer needs the title to register the car, and Tesla needs the new registration under the buyers name to take the car off of your tesla account, and put it on the new buyers Tesla account (which they need to create).

I spoke to AAA and they said you can’t do anything until you have the title. Apparently there is a form 272 that can be filled out, unless you have an electronic title, which I have in California. So I am stuck waiting for the lender sending a note to DMV that I have paid my loan and that they can release my title (that is digital) to me by printing it and sending it to me, to transfer to the new owner.

The whole idea about the new electronic titles was to reduce errors and to stop having paper copies. So I can’t figure out why I can’t just go to AAA with the buyer, they log into the DMV and see the title is now electronicly released from my lendor and create a new title to the new buyer?

I still feel like I am missing something, but it’s the California DMV, so maybe it makes since to take the electronic title, print it, put it in an envelope, mail it to me so I can sign off my ownership, give it to the new buyer and he can take it to the DMV so they can digitize and make it data again. That must be it.

Oh, and it will take weeks.

I did the form 262. It is Bill of sale and Power of attorney. This gives the POA to the new owner to transfer the title. It is a pain, but if anything happens this gives the right to complete the title transfer. It's funny title is supposed to be transferred within 10 days of sale, however the new title may not even get here in 10 days, making it impossible... Cant wait till this all goes electronic...

 

[Rodolfo Paiz]

While I'm working through the checklist of everything that needs to be completed (and I'll post a write-up of it when I'm done), I've decided that my first offer is going to be to have the buyer wire funds directly to my account, and only then release the title. I'm open to using a trustworthy escrow service, too, and I'll research that as soon as I'm done figuring out all the documents that need to be created and submitted.

 

[hybridbear]

I think the key is not given them your tags but have the buyer show up to pick up the car with their own temp tags and then require proof of insurance. That plus bill of sale should be enough I think...

Some states, like MN, associate license plates with the vehicle and not the person. You are not supposed to remove license plates when selling a car here. So you can't take away the license plates. The new owner also doesn't pay registration until the current registration year expires.