Modern Day Recycling

Horror Stories from Selling Cars Privately

Although listing your car for sale is easy, the challenging bit is avoiding smart scammers who are always trying new tactics to dupe you out of money, personal information, and even your vehicle.

Here are four, very common scenarios of how people get duped trying to sell their cars privately.

Offering to Buy without Seeing the Car

Genuine car buyers will ask to see your vehicle and go for a test drive. However, some car sellers have received offers to buy without seeing the car first. You should really be concerned about someone’s true intentions if they don’t want to see a car in person. Whether this is a scam to pass a bad check, acquire the car’s title without paying for it, or another dangerous situation. Those who have fallen victims advise you to STAY AWAY!

Fake ACH Transfers

An ACH transfer happens when people move money from one bank to the other electronically. Those who have fallen victims to this scam were asked for their account details to have money sent to their accounts. However, a few days later, the scammer claims that they never authorized the transfer in an attempt to keep the money and the car.

Distant Buyers

There are cases of people who get contacted by buyers living far away or even overseas. While many of these buyers are genuine buyers, some are just trying to pull a fast one. They target people selling average cars. Victims state that these buyers ask you to send the car to them through a shipping service. However, if you do so without receiving the payment first, you will never hear from them again once they receive the car.

Fake Cashier’s Check

It may be difficult to tell whether a check is real or fake since even fake checks also look authentic. Some banks as a courtesy make the cash available before the check fully clears. But after a few days when the fake check bounces, you will need to refund the money and the buyer and your car will be long gone.

Conclusion

To avoid falling into the hands of these scammers, we urge you to use a reputable company. Make sure the company is a legitimate company, with a license, and check their reviews. For further consideration, give our junk car buying company a shot. It takes just a few short clicks to receive an offer and we follow up during the whole process to ensure that nobody gets scammed and you feel comfortable from start to finish.

Save yourself the risk and drama, sell your car to Modern Day Recycling!