Selling a vehicle with a lien...

[ehidle]

Ok, so I'm still trying to sell my Mazda, and one common issue always seems to come up: how the heck to transfer the title when there's no mutual trust between buyer and seller.

I certainly don't want to take a cashier's check (so many of them are fake these days) unless I witness it being printed at the bank. Someone doesn't to give me a cashier's check unless I have the title in my hand ready to sign over.

So, what's a seller to do? The last time I sold a car I had a note on, the buyer thankfully trusted me to deal with the title, but I can understand the concern with that.

Anyway, thoughts?

[P89]

We used a travelers check when I sold my Harley to a guy in Canada.
Bank wanted to hold the cashiers check for X amount of days and so on & so on. With a travelers check the money is there now and taken just about anywhere.

[d90king]

Have the buyer make two checks, one to pay it off and one to you for the difference. If you are upside down in the car then you should make the payoff difference to the bank and let the buyer pay the rest off. You can also get a lien release letter signed so that the title for the car will be sent to the buyer. Good luck with your sale and if you need help shoot me a PM and I will walk you through it or have my title clerk help you out.

[1blindref]

I'm selling my Honda right now that I still owe on.
I called my bank to find out how long it would take for me to have the title in my hand after I paid the car off. They said I could have it within 24 hours if I picked it up in person.
My plan is once I have a buyer (get a deposit from somebody), I'll borrow the money from another account to pay the car off, then do the title transfer a day later and repay my account.
If you don't have enough in the bank to cover the balance, maybe you can borrow the money from a family member for a day or two.

[ehidle]

Have the buyer make two checks, one to pay it off and one to you for the difference. If you are upside down in the car then you should make the payoff difference to the bank and let the buyer pay the rest off. You can also get a lien release letter signed so that the title for the car will be sent to the buyer. Good luck with your sale and if you need help shoot me a PM and I will walk you through it or have my title clerk help you out.

Thanks for the advice, but I have one potential buyer that doesn't seem like she wants to trust me to do that. She wants to see the title before she gives me the money for the car. I don't want to pay the loan off to get the title (which I could do if I absolutely had to) until I see the money. It's a catch-22.

I'm pretty comfortably right-side-up on the car, so thanks for that advice, too. Would there have been a problem with having her cut the check directly to the lien holder and just waiting for the refund of the overage? Usually when I've paid off cars in the past, I get a refund for a couple of days of interest or something from them if they get the check earlier than anticipated.

[d90king]

Thanks for the advice, but I have one potential buyer that doesn't seem like she wants to trust me to do that. She wants to see the title before she gives me the money for the car. I don't want to pay the loan off to get the title (which I could do if I absolutely had to) until I see the money. It's a catch-22.

I'm pretty comfortably right-side-up on the car, so thanks for that advice, too. Would there have been a problem with having her cut the check directly to the lien holder and just waiting for the refund of the overage? Usually when I've paid off cars in the past, I get a refund for a couple of days of interest or something from them if they get the check earlier than anticipated.

Have her send payment to the bank and get her a signed lien release for her protection. What bank is it? If it is Mazda financial then you are probably looking at a 2 week delay or so in getting the title. The bank will then send you any overage if you want to go that route. Remember when you get your payoff amount to get a 10 day payoff so that the number doesn't change on a per diem basis and cause you aggravation over 2 dollars...

[goofin]

take her to the bank and pay it off. if she wont then sell the car to someone else. sounds like shes the problem and not the lien on the title

[ehidle]

Have her send payment to the bank and get her a signed lien release for her protection. What bank is it? If it is Mazda financial then you are probably looking at a 2 week delay or so in getting the title. The bank will then send you any overage if you want to go that route. Remember when you get your payoff amount to get a 10 day payoff so that the number doesn't change on a per diem basis and cause you aggravation over 2 dollars...

Yeah it's Mazda credit. I couldn't turn down the low rate financing they were offering - cheaper than inflation. I sort of assume they'll drag their feet in doing anything, though.

Signed lien release? Does that come from Mazda?

Thanks again for the help. Rep coming as soon as I'm allowed again...

[Bmarshall91]

cash?..................

[d90king]

[QUOTE=ehidle;790580
Signed lien release? Does that come from Mazda?
[/QUOTE]

Yes, Mazda can fax you one, if not I can have my office fax you a generic version. It might be best to get one from Mazda though so your customer feels more secure.


Basically what it does is allows you to release the title to a 3rd party who is paying the car off... You probably signed one, if you traded a car with a payoff in at the time you purchased the Mazda.