My bank charges 10 bucks to send a wire transfer, nothing to receive one. That's not more than a certified check
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- Thread starter Lubener
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The typical rate is $30-50 for wire, you have a good bank or you have a lot of money in it so you get the VIP status.
In the last 20 years we have seen an explosion of sophisticated and very sophisticated scams and schemes that many of us never thought possible or dreamed possible. One has to safeguard against past known frauds, but also do anything reasonable to prevent being victimized by the latest scams and frauds. Who knows what a clever thief can do with your bank # and routing #, or your license plate number, or any other identifying information? Maybe nothing today, but with so much information available about you, it is prudent to try to conceal as much as possible.
ID theft, mortgage theft stealing homes, hacking into accounts made easy by people answering Phishing scams listing their pets names and their addresses and their mothers maiden names on public sites is all making the work of thieves very simple. New scams arising daily, and current ones where people want to sell something, and then want you to given them a phone PW. But it's not from them, it's from your phone or email account, and grants them access to your account... The point is, that it's very dangerous to just provide sensitive numbers and info to strangers these days.
I'm of the opinion that cash is king, ideally in public with some witnesses if a lot of money is trading hands. Some locations have police lots for these types of deals, monitored by cameras at the police station. Or conduct the deal in the bank, as suggested above, and be present when the check is drawn and funds confirmed, etc.
This is the smartest and most helpful thing I’ve seen you post in a long long long, long long, long time.
So the few people looking at your car ad will figure out a way to defraud you, so cover up the license plate in your pictures, but the thousands of people who see it every day as you drive or in the supermarket parking lot aren't any more likely to? OK.
Dunno. I cannot predict the future. Can you? Somewhere someone is working on a fraud...
The people that see my plates daily are my neighbors, or people I drive past who get a blink of a chance to see my plates. My neighbors probably aren't going to try to fraud me. The people that see my cars daily are probably not working on frauds. The person I drive past on the street is probably not going to have the time or interest to fraud me. But a picture on the interwebs ... To get my license plate a thief would have to see me driving, or drive into my neighborhood, grab a camera, and take pictures.
"the few people" who see the ad on the interwebs are potentially hundreds of millions of people globally crafting schemes to gain information or steal property. Post your data online if you wish. I won't be doing that.
BTW, with a license plate you can get a Carfax or other reports and get a tremendous amount of personal information. With a bit of time and money you can learn the vehicle VIN#, owners ID, entire credit reports, family history, social security number, home address and location of the car, where the car is serviced, names and addresses of neighbors, etc. That's a lot of information that can otherwise be blocked by a simple concealment of a plate number...
Same is true with facial recognition technology. Sure, someone can snap my picture in public. But I'm not posting my face out there for the world to see and file in computer systems to ID me ...
To each his own. There is being cautious, and there is being tinfoil hat wearing paranoid. I fall in the former. I show the license plate in every picture I post that has it and even list the VIN in the ad. Willingly give my bank account number to someone paying by wire. My greater concerns in a transaction are fake cashiers checks and counterfeit cash.
A little too paranoid. Your vin number is there to see too, it's on the windshield. Who's going to go to all that trouble though and all those reports cost money. I'm annoyed at people who won't post their vin number on forums too. They're usually asking for help and the vin number contains a lot of info about their car and once you run it through the vin decoder you can tell what options the car has. For Mercedes, they offer a parts lookup tool and the repair manual so all you have to do is punch in the vin and you'll get that very specific information.
Mercedes VIN Decoder | Decode Your Mercedes-Benz VIN
Want to know the specifications of your Mercedes? No problem! Our free Mercedes VIN decoder retrieves detailed information about your Mercedes-Benz vehicle.
www.lastvin.com
As for the check, in real estate we've taken bank checks. You look up the number of the bank that issued the check and call to make sure that the check is real. We don't like wires because our bank charges us $15 to receive a wire. We do confirm routing numbers and account numbers over the phone, never just an email without voice confirmation.
Also last time I bought a car out of state, I went to the bank to get a bank check before even seeing the car. Brought some extra cash too. Gave the guy the bank check and took one of the keys. Came back a few days later with the plates. I think I checked out the owner and I had his address and the registration and his ID all checked out. I figured if the deal fell apart, I could always go back to the bank and they would void it out. Sent the guy a picture of the check without the account numbers/check numbers to show him I was serious. Had his name on it with the amount.
Yes some people leave their license plate visible in pictures. We’ve seen it before with Blazers and such.
Not so much on here but on other sites that a poster may frequent.
This is how I sold a Mustang I had. I also banked there and deposited said check. We also went by AAA and transferred the car into the buyer's name. It was all in a half hour's time.
Because wire transfer was discussed as a possible method.. If you never transfered funds that way, the account and routing numbers are disclosed to the party transfering the funds to the seller.
HUH?
Be careful to handle the title transfer properly. On my last used car sale a decade ago, we both signed the title transfer at my home, but he never processed it. He installed plates from another vehicle on it and drove without insurance (both illegal). The car still showed up under my ownership at the DMV. My lawyer told me I would not have been responsible for any accidents, etc., but still, it was an uncomfortable situation.
This.
OP probably sold it by now I hope. Especially in this market.
Then paypal
Bot revived the thread.
I would NEVER take Paypal for such a large purchase. Besides the fees, there is always the chance of a chargeback for some real or imagined defect after the sale.
Absolutely. I am aware of two incidents where cashier's checks were bogus. One seller deposited the check at his bank, wrote a check to a dealer for another car, and then learned the next day that the cashier's check was a fake. Of course the bank and the car dealer wanted their money, and he even got a visit from the feds as if he were the bad guy! What's scary is his bank credited the bad check to his account immediately!
Another friend of mine received a cashier's check in the mail, but called the issuing bank and learned the check was bogus just before a third party came to pick up the motorcycle. My friend said he felt rushed throughout the transaction, and things just didn't feel right. For example, the buyer didn't try to negotiate the inflated price or ask him to pay for any of the transportation charges.
On another note, I once sold a car for $20K cash. I have to say it felt strange signing over the title while standing in my garage with two guys I had never met before. It was also a little scary carrying that much cash with me to the bank. The teller looked at me like I was a drug dealer, but I never did get a visit from Johnny Law. If I ever sell a car that way again, I'll have a neighbor or friend with me for the transaction.
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