Now that You've Sold Your Car - What Comes Next?

Congratulations!! You've just made your first online car sale; the feeling is great and the expectation of extra cash has you very excited. However, before you go spending the cash you have earned with the sale, let's make sure that you get the cash into your bank account or some other venue where you can use it.

All too many times, Ebay Motors vendors have found that one day an expensive vehicle that has sat in their retail inventory for 18 days or more has just overnight sold to someone. And, when they go to call the person who purchased the car many times they find out that it was just a youngster with too much free time on his hands and access to a parent's computer and Ebay account.

What better way than to pass the time by putting in some phony bids? It's a scream, isn't it? Well, maybe the kids think so, but dealers don't and you won't either if your sale turns out to be a bored kid home one a rainy day just looking for something to do.

Chances are good that in this instance you'll find that the parent is all kinds of apologetic, if you can get through at all because many times the phone numbers that are given to call back are also phony. Oh, they may be the right area code to keep the dealer guessing, but they might end up being the time or weather check or the lost and found department at the airport. Who knows what number will turn up?

No, this is not something you want to hear after you've gone through all the trouble of putting your car online, taking the right pictures, right up the copy correctly. It's not right, either. Ebay should, quite possibly, think of enacting a new rule that indicates if you are the winning bidder of an item such as a car, you own the car and if you do not send money by a certain date, they can take action.

It is true that there are some remedies in place and that Ebay does have a $20,000 buyer's satisfaction guarantee. Still, though, you have to get the buyer to commit first and if you can't get through or it's just a kid playing games you'll have a tough time.

So, what do you do? Most of the time, fortunately, folks who buy online are quite honorable. If they are bidding on your reasonably priced car it is for a reason, they need the transportation and they are not going to play games with it. In fact, most of the time they are so anxious to ensure that they get the car that they send you an email as soon as the auction ends asking how you want to move ahead with the deal.

If you have a PayPal account, then it's easy. PayPal allows its vendors to set up virtual MasterCard or Visa accounts that buyers can use to charge the purchase or at least charge the deposit. In fact, that's the first thing you have to get. Unless you get some money from a customer there's not commitment on the customer's part to complete the deal. This is a case of "let the seller beware" as the only way a customer will complete a long-distance deal is if you have something of theirs tied up, as in a good-sized deposit. It should be in the $500 to $1000 range to keep the deal alive.

Also, let the buyer know that if he fails to complete the deal, his deposit is forfeit and will not be returned to him. When he hears this, you'd be surprised how quickly things happen.

Once you have this deposit, you'll probably get a call from the customer demanding the title and a bill of sale. Whatever you do don't send either document to the customer until after you have their money in your hands. They can wire it to your bank (all their bank has to know is the bank routing number and account number and be sure to indicate that it's a one-way transaction coming into your account). Be sure you allow two or so days for this to occur because even though we live in an almost instance communications age, it still takes two days for wire transfers to clear.

You can, of course, require the overnighting of a treasurer's check or a cashier's check made out for the amount of the sale. If this is the case, be sure to add five days - and make sure your customer knows this - to the transaction so you know the check will clear the bank and the funds will go into your account.

If you use PayPal, you can require that the whole payment be made with 72 hours, although the customer technically has up to a week to complete the transaction. So, you really can't begin any countermeasures, if they don't pay up until after seven days.

As noted, though, most people are in the online market looking for cheaper transportation than they will find at their local used car emporiums. They will also save the local sales tax that, on most cars, can be considerable.

If your customer is honorable and gives you the deposit via credit card, then you should make sure that you overnight or fax him a standard purchase and sales agreement stating names, addresses, mileage and so on. Be sure to subtract the deposit from the final price. You can find templates for purchase and sales agreements on Microsoft's business site or at Staples or another office supply store. You can use fax to get this all done and then figure out how you are going to get paid.

Probably the best way, aside from the overnighting of a cashier's check or treasurer's check drawn on a U.S. bank, is to have the money either paid to a PayPal account or wired to your bank account.

Once you're sure the money is in hand, you simply fill out a bill of sale, mileage statement (a simple form that says on this day this vehicle - with the Vehicle Identification Number XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (it is 17 figures) - had this much mileage on it. Send the new owner a copy and keep one for your own records.

Then be sure to sign the proper places on the title (you are the seller and you are selling the car to purchaser XYZ, it's usually the first section). Put this into the overnight mail at the post office and you're on your way.

One thing to note is that it is the buyer's responsibility to get the car off your property, not the other way around, so make sure that the buyer will be up on a certain day with proper insurance and plates to drive it away or arrange with the buyer for a transporter to pick up the vehicle.

This works the same way for Ebay or Craigslist or any of the other auction services. And it should work for you.