Selling a car is a ton of work, and the last thing you want after all that hard work cleaning, advertising and negotiating is to fall prey to some scam artist, or worse. While most buyers are genuine when selling privately you always have to be weary of suspicious people lurking in the wings. Here are our best tips for keeping them at bay.
Talk On The Phone
While we’ve all moved further and further away from conducting business over the phone as texts have become more and more convenient, the old way of doing things still has its distinct advantages. Talking on the phone gives you a much better read on someone than an email chain or message thread ever could. You can hear if their interest in the car is genuine or if they have some sort of ulterior motive, and you can prompt them with questions to test their commitment to the deal.
Even the act of asking for a phone call can act as a vetting process, because many scammers will refuse to talk on the phone and if they do, you can weed them out.
Public Meetings
When it comes time to meet someone in person to show them the car or to negotiate there’s absolutely no good reason to invite a stranger to your home address, even if you trust that the person is genuine. Arrange the meeting somewhere public, ideally the car park of a store where many people are coming and going. Even if the person did come with malicious intentions the presence of so many people around may be enough to dissuade them from their plans.
Never Go Solo
Safety or otherwise you should always take someone else with you when you go to negotiate a sale. They can act as your objective observer without an emotional connection to the car or the value. From a safety standpoint the benefit is obvious, with two people around anyone will think twice before trying anything shifty. Strength in numbers is certainly true in this circumstance.
Money First
A common goal of many scam artists is to drive away with your car without ever having paid a penny, there are a few ways they do this but the most common one is promising to pay you later, or potentially setting up some kind of payment scheme akin to a car loan. There is no reason you should ever accept one of those deals, whenever possible take the money in cash or cheque.