>High Drama
>It’s always something around here.
Yesterday, we thought we’d found a car for my 16-year-old. Hubs took it to our mechanic (leaving our car and keys with the private seller as deposit) and it checked out great. He called and said we’d buy the car and arranged to make the transfer this morning.
This morning, the seller called and said that the title was actually in Florida. And she said that she couldn’t get the title without the money, because it’s with a credit union and hasn’t yet been paid off. Hmm.
Hubs called the motor vehicle commission and our insurance agent and realized that the only way to protect ourselves would be to call the credit union, pay off the loan, have them send the title directly to us, and pay the remaining amount to the seller. The seller and her husband (who is disabled) are both out of work, so there would be no other way to be sure they actually paid off the loan with the money we gave them for the car.
Hubs just called to explain all of this to the woman and she started shouting and then hung up on him. Hmm.
He’s taking the car back now. I’ll let you know about the showdown when I hear from him. I’m a little anxious about it.
Update: We’ve made the car exchange.
>You know that just SCREAMS scam…I’d drop that one like a dead fish
>I once had to chase a person who came to test drive a vehicle that I was selling. They came with a friend, I was in the process of giving them my keys in exchange for theirs, they grabbed the keys and tried to take my car. It was pretty funny, me hanging half in and half out of the window trying to get my keys back. Sounds like an amateur scam to me.Good luck.Namaste.
>Yeah, the funny thing is that when she started balking about him paying off her loan directly, he said, “Look, I’ve been an investigative reporter here for 14 years- I’ve called two different people- this is how it’s done.” And that’s when she hung up. I’m sure the “investigative reporter” part threw her for a loop. Ugh. He should be over there right now…
>YIKES. Watch out for crazies!
>Give them the car and keys back and RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN.
>Sounds like they’d def scam you if you let them! Sucky people.I wish I could sell my non-paid-off car, but I owe more than it’s worth (sigh).
>Harold G. Jordache should report them to the FBI, lol. Hope the next person is as careful as your husband.
>Did they toss in a fuzzy steering wheel cover or something for all the drama? Because that would be awesome.
>I agree…it’s sound slike a serious scam…WOW! Run & don’t look back……………
>whew, dodged a bullet there!
>Run..Run fast and Run Far..
>I just hope they haven’t sold your car in the meantime. I can hear it now – “Umm, we haven’t got the title for this one yet, so give us some money and we’ll just let you take the car…”
>Looks like he’s got a great story in the making. I’d now re-key my car to make sure they didn’t make a copy and then come back and steal the car. But, then, I’m paranoid like that.
>Oh wow…that is drama.
>I guess it’s a good thing they didn’t steal your hubby’s car while they were out for a test drive!
>Of course, I’m not sure why you are buying a car anyway. Couldn’t you just ask one of the manufacturers for a car to ahem…. “review”? Snark. Snark. Snark. 😉
>Ha! Don’t think that hasn’t occurred to me!!
>Sounds fishy to me! Good thing you guys were on the ball!
>Well…but….gee…Did you get to shout back? Seems only fair you should come out even on that score.Nice work on behalf of the teener, by the way.
>Wow, that’s really shady. I hope it all worked out for you. I LOVE your blog!
>It’s, like, totally a stolen car.
>Who were you trying to sell your car to? Harold Jordache? They sound a bit shady, but glad it all worked out.
>Glad that went well. I sold a car once and they paid in travellers checks. I got real nervous, but they were good.
>My super anal self would run straight to a dealership. I’m always afraid of some shady shit going on so I end up paying ridiculous amounts of money for things because I don’t want to get ‘scammed’. Lazy and dumb? Perhaps. So seriously, did the car come with fuzzy dice or one of those hula girls on the dash?
>Sounds like such a headache, I think I’ll keep the first born from driving FOREVER!