Selling a BOAT ??????

I have my current boat and I’m think of selling it is not paid off and I got the loan through a bank who’s closet branch is about 1 hour away. If you were in my position and could not pay the boat off would you.

1. Have a potential buyer test drive the boat, then drive an hour to the bank.
2. If the buyer commits to buying the boat, pay it off with a credit card. Have the title sent to me then work out the transaction with the buyer with title in hand.
3. Or lastly borrow money from some body that can afford to pay it off and then pay them back once the boat is sold.(very very last resort)

Unless it's Mother Teressa, have the buyer meet you at the bank. Or if he'll go for it, tell him you'll give him a bill of sale and mail him the title(maybe have him pay $500 short until the title exchange).

depends on how the buyer is paying. if he's taking a loan and you don't have title in hand, the banks going to have paperwork for his lender to complete anyway and you want your name off the boat from department of motor vehicles/vessels too. imo, it's better to go into the bank together. i believe there's also forms that need to be filled out if the buyer is bringing more than ~$10K in cash. some banks have different limits, but something to also check with the lender who owns the bank. selling is kind of a chore, tons of scammers. just remember you're in control and if someone wants your boat bad enough, they won't mind one bit driving an hour.

(Message edited by brucemac on February 12, 2009)

As long as the loan pay off is less than what you are selling the boat for, you can simply have the buyer send the payment directly to the bank. After the bank confirms receipt of payment you can release the boat to the buyer. The bank will mail you the title as well as any monies in surplus of the payoff. You will then mail the title to the buyer.

call me super paranoid, but having the buyer send the money to your bank requires him to have access to your account. i wouldn't do that. you could always use an escrow, but that costs money.

Not necessarily. You can have him send payment for the boat listing your name and the vin number. This is what I did when I sold my old Nautique to a guy in California (I live in Texas). The buyer sent a cashier’s check to my bank and after it cleared I released the boat to a transport company who took the boat to California. I never gave him my account number, only the boat’s vin number and my name along with a contact person at my bank who knew to expect the arrival of the check. Also, if the buyer is financing the boat you can just have his bank contact your bank and work out the transaction via wire transfer.

" call me super paranoid, but having the buyer send the money to your bank requires him to have access to your account. i wouldn't do that. you could always use an escrow, but that costs money."

no, it is called a wire transfer.

Wire transfer require an account number. If I am a buyer I am not sending anything until I see a pink slip in hand. IMO

Every time you write a check, you're giving someone your account number...it's printed right at the bottom along with the bank routing number.

people still use checks? J/K

buying and selling is a give take....it's no back alley drug deal..."same time" crap. Someone is always going to assume more risk. Pull their credit. IMO, credit score has is typically directly coorelated to a person's intergrity.

^ ehhhh, i have awesome credit

This is very simple....I have done this twice in the past 2 years

If your selling a boat that still has a lien on it your bank will work with whoevers bank with the transaction. Buyers bank once approved for a loan will contact sellers bank that hols the lien and they will get the funds for their client and just send that check to your bank. Noone will have access to anyones account number or anything.

I would highly suggest using a 3rd party to do all the leg work for you. I used Ben Killino at Russo Financial group. It costs 250 but they do everything for you. They contact all the banks and basically act for you on the paperwork. It might be cheaper if your only selling. I sold and bought through them and they did my title work and even registered and paid my state sales tax on my new boat. If I didnt have them it would have takin alot of my time plus they know what they are doing so it was very safe and a breeze...877-899-8166

I don't understand why you guys dont want someone to have your account number?

Surely, just because they know your account number doesn't mean they can access it? You have to provide 2 forms of ID if your accessing your account at the teller without a bank card and its pin number?

errrr, are you serious?

guy i know had his account# swiped, and some loser took it and made up fake checks with bogus routing numbers on it. before my friend found out about it, the guy had gone out and spend over a a couple grand out of his checking account. the worst part is, it's a lose lose even if you get your money back.

(Message edited by brucemac on February 12, 2009)

^^^^ when was this, 1975?

That's near impossible nowadys with all the check clearing services most companies use.

^^^ working in fraud I can say anyone can be a victim at anytime. Hell the LifeLock guy was recently a victim of identity theft. Giving an account number is the least of your concerns. Every time you write a check or hand over a credit card you have given someone your account number. Fraud checks are easily made on computers. Credit / debit card information can easily be "skimmed" by your waiter or at any paypoint. You cant expect the buyer to drive to your bank an hour away (unless its a smoking deal) and I wouldnt buy a boat without seeing a pinkslip. I dont have a answer and it really depends on how the buyer is planning to pay. Ask your bank.

I just sold my old boat in nov. and I just had him bring me a money order from his bank and I gave him a bill of sale and then took the check to my bank and they sent on the title to the new owner. I had no problems. My bank and his bank talked before we meet to finalize the sale so I know the check would be good. Like Shooter said talk to your bank, good luck.

I bought a pair of ATVs from a guy who owed money on them a while back. We had the two banks do everything. We just met in the parking lot & did the test drive, then walked into the bank & signed the paperwork. Both banks were very cooperative.

Thats funny..... the Lifelock guy's SSN got frauded, huh. What did he last..... a year?!

sam, it was last year.

i don't know all the details, but i heard about it for weeks, it was a total pita and i believe his credit was even slightly affected by all of it. just sayin'. it was months and hours on the phone before he had it all straightened out.

if it's bank to bank and there's a loan on the buyer side, it's usually a piece of cake. if it's cash or some sort of cashier's check there's risk.

all i'm saying is it's unfortunate there's so much risk in this stuff nowadays and as shooter mentioned, it's best to contact your bank and obtain their advice. all i remember was how many scammers i had. for every legitimate potential buyer, i must have had 3 or 4 shady inquiries.

you have a "cleaner" deal if you are holding the pink and signing it over upon receipt of payment in cash or cashiers check(not money order) and provide a very basic bill of sale, one for you and one for buyer...signed by each of you on both.
So I would pay it off with your creditcard once he has committed or now so you have the title in hand....this makes less time for a buyers remorse back out...all sales final. It might cost you an interest charge if you can't get it done in under 30 days for some reason.

Who cares if someone has your loan account #? All they can do is pay it.