Texas private party vehicle sale to buyer out of state questions, plates and title.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by texsn95

FYI, you're supposed to keep the plates when you sell a car. There is a temp tag that can be printed out ahead of time to cover the buyer for the transit home and I believe for about 5 days after.

Keeping the plates is optional. You can choose to leave the plates on the car.

[humanresources]

Originally Posted by Texas Built

Your buyers story sounds fishy to me. I would be highly suspicious of someone claiming they are going to fly in from Cali and buy and car a drive back the same day.


What kind of car is it? Is this a Craigslist sale?



I would tell them to bring CASH and meet you at a police station to do the transaction. Nothing less. Do NOT take a check of any kind. You are the one taking risk, not them. Play by your rules. If they want the car they will have no problem doing it.

I've bought more cars out of state than most people have owned in their lives. You expect a buyer to travel halfway across the country with probably $10-20k in Cash? Who's the fool in this situation?

You do exactly as OP did, hold the title till the check clears.

[jlemon02]

Originally Posted by texsn95

FYI, you're supposed to keep the plates when you sell a car. There is a temp tag that can be printed out ahead of time to cover the buyer for the transit home and I believe for about 5 days after.

Texas is one of the states where you have an option to either keep the plates or allow the buyer to keep them.

I thought about removing them and having him print a temp tag but the issue of crossing other states on the way to California where the temp tag might not be valid could have been a problem.

Either way it didn't really matter for me since I notified the DMV that I sold the vehicle. If I had another vehicle that I needed plates for I would have kept them though.

[Meyerland]

I hope it turns out okay. I know it cleared the bank, but this is a scam others have used. They have a fake cashier's check. It " clears" the bank and then they find out it's fraudulent and then you are out of the money and the car. It can take 7-10 days for them to find out it's not real. Availability of funds is not the same as truly being cleared.

Anyone reading this in the future needs to be VERY careful. I would never do this.

I also suspect this first time poster may be trying to legitimize this on here and scam others. Just don't do it.

[Meyerland]

Originally Posted by humanresources

I've bought more cars out of state than most people have owned in their lives. You expect a buyer to travel halfway across the country with probably $10-20k in Cash? Who's the fool in this situation?

You do exactly as OP did, hold the title till the check clears.

No. You tell the bank you suspect it's fraudulent and wait two weeks before handing over the car. The check hasn't truly cleared yet. It's just available. What if he spends the money and it has to be returned to the bank? This is a scam in my opinion. It's literally happened to others. A simple google search shows that.

https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/c...ry-2007-1.html

[Meyerland]

Originally Posted by mikeyyc

I've flown in to buy cars and motorcycles before. It's not that odd if you're after something specific.

If it's for an Accord, something's off.

That being said, forget the cashier's check, get a bank wire. It's instant, and likely cheaper than a check for the buyer, and you have instant verification and cash in your account.
If you insist on taking a check, hang on to the title until everything clears. Personally if I was taking a check, you wouldn't get the car until it clears.

I'd keep the plates, as any tolls etc. racked up would be your responsibility. Make sure you file your paperwork with the state to have the title vacated, and the registration ended.

It should be up to the buyer to ensure they have insurance and whatever temporary tags are needed. Again, I've ridden bikes across multiple states with no tags, but insurance and the bill of sale/old title, and have never been hassled. I've been stopped once, but was on my way quickly.

A bank wire is a great idea.

[jlemon02]

Originally Posted by Meyerland

I hope it turns out okay. I know it cleared the bank, but this is a scam others have used. They have a fake cashier's check. It " clears" the bank and then they find out it's fraudulent and then you are out of the money and the car. It can take 7-10 days for them to find out it's not real. Availability of funds is not the same as truly being cleared.

Anyone reading this in the future needs to be VERY careful. I would never do this.

I also suspect this first time poster may be trying to legitimize this on here and scam others. Just don't do it.

Well it's been almost four weeks now and everything is okay so everything worked out

FYI I'm not advising other people to go about this the way I did, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking a cashiers check for a large payment on an item.

I had communicated with the guy that bought my car for almost a week prior, and he was very active on the auto enthusiast discussion board with prior deals

If I hadn't been comfortable with the deal I would have held onto the title. None the less, for someone to fly halfway across the country to perform a scam seems like a lot of work which also set me at ease. If someone was trying to run a cashiers check scam I highly doubt they would spend the money and time to fly all the way across the country.

In the end, if you're not comfortable with a cashiers check then just request a wire and be done with it.

[WRM20]

Hanging on to the title doesn't help you if the car ends up in a shipping container headed for Africa or the Middle East.