67's

One of my friends is selling his corvette and has an overseas buyer interested, I seem to remember a thread about a scam with certified checks, what is the best way to sell a car overseas.


Tom

redvetracr

"wire transfer" or when the check "clears" ship the car and NOT A SECOND BEFORE!! ...redvetracr

69vette66

dont sell it overseas, most likely a scam from what I here.

Paul L

Tom,
A bank draft will do. It clears international financial clearing houses in about 10 business days. Do not ship prior to clearance.

Chris O'

:skep: :skep: :skep:

Lone Ranger

:iagree:

Lot of those scams going on... bigtime going on.

Accept only a cashiers check drawn on a bank or legit financial institution. Then do not move until you have contacted the issuing bank or financial inst and verified the cashiers check to be genuine and drawn on their proper disbursement account for that series of their cashiers check. DO NOT accept a business or personal check or any check that is not PAID BY THE ISSUING BANK through one of their own internal operating accounts, i.e. you don't want a check that is drawn on any account other than THAT bank's OWN internal operating account THEY use to pay THAT series of THEIR cashier's check. If it is any other account at that bank such as an individual's or a business's the risk is that the individual or business who actually has the account with that bank has had their account compromised through account number skimming etc. and their acct number printed on the check stock (computer generated check) and they do not know about it yet, or worse the scammer may have a mole in the company who's account number is on the check who may try to intercept any verification call from the bank etc.

I work financial crimes as my current assignment (along with cyber-crime).




[Modified by Lone Ranger, 9:26 PM 7/31/2003]

Greg

WOW! Why's everyone so paranoid? Just use common sense. Would you give your car to anyone else before it's paid for? Of course not, so why should overseas be any different? A lot of people are coming to America to purchase vintage iron (and plastic) we should be the leaders in helping, after all this forum IS an international community. I just sold my '78 to a guy from Belgium last month. Into a container, on the boat and gone! Nice guy, good car, good cash. No problem.


[Modified by Greg, 1:05 AM 8/1/2003]

427V8

Why?
Because it's a very common scam lately.
My Father in law's neighbor almost got hit by it. He had the cashiers check in hand and was ready to ship out the item ( a motorcycle trailer ) Luckily I found out and warned him.

Turns out the check was forged, of course!

It's a sure sign of a scam when they want to give you a check for more than the item is worth and have you pay them the rest!

BB wowbagger

Keep in mind that the buyer could also think that you are scamming him..This is a question about trust.But if you comfortable with the person and the buyer is comfortable with you,just ask him to wire the money directly to your bank.

:cheers:

jyounane

I agree with BB wowbagger. I'm buying Cali,77,LK-82's wreck and I'm simply going to wire the money via PayPal before I pick it up.

Good luck,
Joe

standup

.......and of course this person may be a legitimate buyer and he/she is worried that the vette may not show up...I'm not saying Tom would do that, but transactions like this, whether local or overseas, are double edged.....buyer wants the product, seller want the cash, and there's always doubt from both sides about whether the deal will go clean......

After being ripped off for thousands of dollars by "reputable" American firms, I take offense at your remark......

TOM-----You should treat this sale with the same precautions as you would with a buyer down the street.....like all transactions, you don't transfer ownership until you get the money first (meaning "cleared"...e.g if you accepted a personal cheque from the guy down the road, then you would wait until the cheque has cleared before you transfered title, right???).....

...Your bank will be able to advise how they can deal with the quickest method of payment from the country the payment is coming from.....

And when you ship, there's a document called "Bill of Lading"......which is basically title of ownership.....you should talk to the shipping company about how to work this document in your favor.....the buyer shouldn't be able to get the car off the wharf without proper transfer of title.....

Also, you should post the name of the country your buyer lives in....there may be some Forum members living there who could help out.....



[Modified by standup, 4:01 AM 8/1/2003]

Pauld

I am from England and was considering buying a vette from the states and I came to the conclusion that the only way to complete the transaction safely for both myself and the seller, would be for me to fly over and look at loads of vettes and then make the decision and hand over actual cash to the seller and drive the car away. I was then goint to take the car to an international shipper and ship the car to England.

Luckily for me, I found a superb '81 in this country at the last minute and didn't have to arrange the trip. I was dissapointed in a kinda way because I was looking forward to the trip!!!!

Lone Ranger

If you dealt with what I deal with on a regular basis with regard to fraud you would understand. :rolleyes: Yeah, go ahead... just take a check and ship it off... :crazy:

Greg

It sounds like you're assuming most are stupid enough to "just take a check and ship it off". That's not an international problem, it's a personal one. If someone sold their vette under those circumstances, I'd agree it's pretty stupid. Again, I don't really think anyone would/should sell their car without clearing funds first. But if they all did the right thing they'd put you out of a job Lone Ranger! :lol:

Lone Ranger

:) that'd be okay with me... but actually, there are so many ways to scam money from people and so many potential victims and suspects that job security is one thing I needn't trepidate over :D

PRNDL

I think it is safe to assume that any overseas buyer is operating a scam...

........ unless they are from Australia..... or Sweden.... or England.. :lol:

I would be especially wary of buyers from Nigeria that are going to pay you in excess of $2mm for your vette!!! :lol: MJ

vette_net

Rule #1 Cash Up-Front
Rule #2 Cash Up-Front
Rule #3 Its a Scam
:auto: :auto:

MiG-19

Interesting thread. I've bought two cars from my overseas residence in Japan while on active duty in the Marine Corps. I'm now a retired US Marine still working for the Marine Corps in Okinawa. I can assure everyone that not every buyer from overseas is running a scam and making a broad statement that overseas buyers are all scammers is irresponsible.
One car I purchased from overseas, was everything the seller claimed it was. I bought my 1972 Mach 1 from a reputable dealer in the
St Louis area, and had it shipped to a designated location in Florida, all without me being there, and it was a huge amount of trust on both sides of the transaction. I've been very happy with this purchase and the car.
My second car, my 1978 Pace Car was not such a pleasant experience. I would have been much better off coming to see the car myself, as the 1978 Pace Car I purchased off of e-bay was NOTHING like the seller represented. He maintained that the car was in perfect condition, with a minor crack in one of the T-Tops, a slight slit in one of the seats, and a power antenae that no longer went up and down.
When I finally saw the car, long after the transaction was complete, it was a wreck. The seats were both torn and completely worn out, as well as the carpet and the entire interior. The slight crack in the T-Top was in fact spider web cracks that ran the entire width and length of the top, and were deep enought to cause leaks. Headlights didn't open and close, and the wipers didn't even have a switch, the paint was shot, and there was a lovely bondo patch on the nose that wasn't in any of the pictures, and I could go on and on about what was wrong with the car, but it's been a year and a half, and the car is almost through a restoration that I've spent more money on than if I'd flown over and checked out the car and bought one in better shape rather than the "good deal" I got on e-bay.
If anyone was running a scam, it was the seller in this case, not the buyer. However, I would never say that everyone selling a car to overseas buyers is running a scam.
Semper fi, and Caveat Emptor

:nopity