I'm selling my STi and received this email from a Craigslist lead:

"wow, the car is really nice! I live in sacramento and would love to
check
out the car. I must tell you now though, that if I wanted to purchase
the
car, I would have to buy it through the bank. For some reason, they
require
the seller to drive to sacramento to sign paper work at the bank. But I
would definately like to check out the car. I had an '02 wrx until a
lady
hit me on the freeway at about 75mph, so now I'm looking for a new
subaru.
Email me back please, thanks"


Sounds fishy...I've never heard of the seller be required to sign documentation at the buyers lending institution. Weird right? Input anyone.

 

It does sound weird. You should trust your instincts and wait for another buyer. When I sold my last car the only thing I signed was the pink slip.

 

Some banks require the pink slip to be signed over before they will give you a loan for the car. It's an @ss backwards procedure, but my bank did that to me.

 

It sounds a little strange, but it may just be the way the person has worded it.
If it needs to go down at a bank, that's not so bad. It's when you need to drive
out to his "uncles house" to get the money that you start to worry.

There could be some story as to how or why that they are not explaining that would
make sense but we don't have all the information.

 

Exactly...I've responded and asked that he contact me via phone...we'll see.

 

when I sold my car, I went to the buyers bank. I didn't own the car at the time so I actually wanted to make sure the bank pay off my car loan.

 

find out what bank he uses and call them to confirm he is in fact a member at the bank, and that you driving up to sign papers is in fact the banks policy.
And don't call a number he provides, get the bank name and google it.

 

its not soo fishy. i had to do the same thing. the reason is that so they can see the owner too and if the car is fully paid off or if its under a loan. make sure you smog it because the bank is going to ask for that. basically the bank is going to take care of the paperwork. sounds like a credit union bank.

Carlo

 

This all makes sense but I will definitely proceed with caution...do I need to smog the vehicle even though it was purchased in '04? I thought that the smog certificate was good on a new vehicle for 5 years after the date of purchase (even when selling the vehicle)? Thanks for the info and feedback.

 

on transfer of title you dont need smog for 4 years since the purchase date. if you make the transaction at the bank its usually alot smother. plus they have you sign power of attorney papers which means that they will deal with dmv.

-adi

 

Which bank is it? If there's a branch near you make him drive to you to get it all done.

jason

 

w3rd, or tell him to send you a $200 non refundable deposit or soemthing before you make the drive.

 

Not weird at all. This is the only way a CU or Bank will do it when they are financing the car. It's a little irritating, but it's not too bad and they usually take care of everything down to the DMV papers. When I bought my RS - I financed it thru my CU, and the seller came down to MV from Hayward to sign all the papers. Done in 30 minutes - in return I took him home.

 

dont think thats true. still have to smog it since they are not related. unless its a gift. since it is a sale. you have to smog it. now this is base on my experience when i sold my 2 year car they had me smog it even though it was still 2 year out.
they might have changed it.

Carlo

 

carlo
im a smog tech and work for a dealer. i get to talk to BAR all the time as of jan 05
if the car is less then 4 years old and was previously registerd in cali from new then you do not have to smog it on transfer of title. (bi-anual smog takes 5 years to kick in) all the cars we get are 4 years or newer and our smogs went from every car we received to about a handfull a month. just fyi... alot of ppl dont know about this yet. it the cars out of state then all the old rules apply.

adrian