[Naim]

Originally Posted by gsodonis

I sold my WRX to a fellow in Ohio. Since my bank 'owned' the title to the car, they would not hand me (or him) the title to the car for a cashiers check. They explained that bogus cashiers checks are one of the fastest growing scams in the US. It can take banks days to finalize a cashiers check transaction and by the time they do, the buyer, your car, the title to it and the money can be gone.

And according to State Farm (my insurer), if you do get scammed that way, to add insult to injury, that is not theft - it's fraud. The difference there is you cannot claim theft against your insurance policy since you willingly GAVE the person the car, the keys and the title. The insurance company doesn't give you ANY money. Instead, it's up to you to pursue this in court to try and recover your car or your money.

I ended up arranging a bank transfer with the seller. My bank gave me and the buyer a list of all of the steps to follow and made it really easy. Essentially, the buyer called his bank once he was with me and agreed to buy the the car. We did this while sitting at my bank. Once the transfer came through, the teller verified that the funds were indeed in my account and I then gave him the title (ofter paying the bank what I still owed on the note of course). Everybody wins (especially you DON'T LOSE). It's the safest way.

That sounds like a good idea.. I will see if my bank will be willing to do that... (I'll be at a out of state) which might a issue.