What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

[salmonee]

What's wrong with taking a cashier's check for a boat purchase? I'm curious because I have one guy wanting cash only! He has the title, but I read somewhere on here that you can call the police and double check boat owner ship?

 

[KurtG]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

I sold the last one with a cashiers check and bought one each with cash and a check.

Someone can call and cancel the cashiers check as soon as they pick up the boat, or even later if it's not cleared yet and some dispute were to develop as to the condition of the boat.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

That's not the type of cashier's check I'm familiar with.. the official checks I've gotten are always "no cancel and no replacement".

I can see someone wanting cash in this day and age though... no record of a cash transaction, no need to pay tax on the income.

But if it's a large amount (more than a few hundred) make sure you do the transaction in daylight, and that you have a friend along, and someone knows where you are. More than one robbery has happened that way.

Erik

 

[jaxnjil]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

it's hard to say in this day and age what he's up to.
maybe what kurt said. maybe he dosnt want to deal with a bank to cash check. could be a drug lord or selling his boat and dosnt want a wife or X know. maybe he can hide the cash from the IRS or maybe he's been burned before and just feels cash is the only way he'll do business

 

[180shabah]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

The problem is that over last several years the market has been flooded with counerfeit cashiers checks and people are uneasy about taking them. If you already have the check ask the guy if he would be willing to complete the transaction at your bank(assuming that is where the check was issued) He can get his money at the counter, hand over the title and bill of sale and all should be happy.

 

[salmonee]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

But if it's a large amount (more than a few hundred) make sure you do the transaction in daylight, and that you have a friend along, and someone knows where you are. More than one robbery has happened that way.

Erik

This is my biggest concern. Five figure is alot of cash to carry around and count while doing a transaction.

 

[salmonee]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

The problem is that over last several years the market has been flooded with counerfeit cashiers checks and people are uneasy about taking them. If you already have the check ask the guy if he would be willing to complete the transaction at your bank(assuming that is where the check was issued) He can get his money at the counter, hand over the title and bill of sale and all should be happy.

Good idea.

 

[KurtG]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

Offer to go to a bank with him while he verifies and deposits your check. You can call and verify a bank check, but given the 'Nigeria' scams, I'm told it is much easier to put a stop on one than it used to be. We almost got caught up in all this and spoke to the bank about what can and can't happen with a cashiers/bank check.

In the end we did the bank visit while handing over the titles.

edit: too slow on this end

 

[chicknwing]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

The problem is that over last several years the market has been flooded with counerfeit cashiers checks and people are uneasy about taking them. If you already have the check ask the guy if he would be willing to complete the transaction at your bank(assuming that is where the check was issued) He can get his money at the counter, hand over the title and bill of sale and all should be happy.

That would be my suggestion as well!
TC

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

Some banks will credit a cashiers check to your account without it actually being a legit check.Then a few days later they find out the check was bad and deduct the amount from your account.
Best thing to do is call the bank the check is issued from to verify funds.
The last boat i sold was cash only.The motorcycle i bought i paid 7k in cash after i had the local Highway Patrol inspect it and verify the title was legit.
All the scams out there its cash only for me.

Get the hull ID number and title number for the trailer and make a few calls to make sure everything is on the up and up..
Doing the transaction at the bank is a good idea..

 

[jaxnjil]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

this reminds me of a time when, years ago were farming.
we sold $18,000 of crops to a large oil-ranch outfit based in dallas texas.

this was a large part of our capital at that time and we needed our cash. after 3 months of trying to get paid the forman showed up with a bank draft from a dallas bank. not knowing any better and happy to get the payment i took it.

the next thing i found out was i had been sort of hood winked. the draft was a sight draft and no one would cash it. the only way to get the money was from the bank in texas in person.

as it is a long way from pavillion wyo. to dallas tx. on a tight buget, no time to spare for a trip, we were stumped.

as luck had it, my wife had a uncle working at a job that took him to dallas the next week. we were able to get the draft to him and he wired the money to us.

after that we delt in cash only for any one we didnt know and if we had to take a check, i went to the bank with the other person and he cashed it and gave me the cash as kurt said, above

i dont see why he wouldnt want to meet at the bank. this seem reasonable to me

you never know what kind of a scam some one is running. better to be safe than sorry. as i stated above, maybe as simple as he got burned once and he dosnt want to give you a chance to do it again.
the same as you arnt sure you want carry cash to hand over to him.

 

[magillacuddy]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

Cashier's checks can be counterfited. Cash is king. When I sold my boat and got all cash, it was a little nerve-racking handling all that cash, but yeah, maybe bring a friend when you do the transaction.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

anything over $1,000, i do at the bank, and have the paper work notarized there. boats i like to do at the tag agency, that way if something is amiss, you know right there.

 

[bayman]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

I agree with Tashasdaddy. These days printers can print some really realistic stuff. You don't know for sure if someone is giving you a real check...even if it "clears". If you meet at the bank, let them get the cashier's check for you there with the bank signing off on it. Plus, the bank is a good, open place to meet and if you want to, you could even open an account there and deposit the funds there if you are concerned at all about running around with a big check.

 

[superpop]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

I would not deal in cash, there is no trail for you if things go bad. At least with a Cashiers Check the bank can make it out to the person that the check is for. Tell the seller that you will give him a Cashiers Check from the bank and that you will fax or email him a copy of the check before you take possession of the boat. He can call the bank and verify the funds with a copy of the check. Dealing in cash is dangerous because if there is a paperwork snafu later on then you have no real proof that you paid for anything other than maybe a bill of sale. I would also ask to see the bill of sale before giving anyone a cashiers check as well.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

Look if both you and the guy is on the up and up then i would do what TD posted. DMV they can run it right there. You give him his cash you get the title done right there.

It's a buy as is, have him bring it over to the Dmv you check it over you both walk in and do the deal.

He's happy got the cash your happy got the boat and will have the plates to put on it right there.

If he's not on the up and up and don't want to meet at the DMV and let the title get run then walk away something ain't kosher.

Just check everything that the numbers match and all in the parking lot.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

The only way I would do a cash deal on a large ticket item is to do it at the bank. Just as cashier's checks can be easily forged, so can currency. You might think that you are good enough to spot conterfeit money, but you may not be. By doing the deal at the bank, you get someone who will check the money and credit it to your account.

Also, cashier's checks can not be immediately stopped. Typically, you will not get your money back for 90 days if you put a hold on one. Some banks, however, will certify one of your own checks - you write the check, the bank verifies that you have enough funds to cover it, and they then refuse to honor any other check that would cause the certified check to bounce.

Funds can also be transferred between the parties via EFT or wire transfer. On the last major purchase that I made, the seller and I banked with the same instutution, so we just went to the bank, sat down with a client service officer, and moved the money from my account to his. We then went straight to the title clerk and took care of the paperwork.

Simply put, there are a million scams out there, and the frequency with which they are seen, can only be expected to increase in the midst of our current economic woes.

 

[superpop]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

The other thing to remember is before any money changes hands, you as the buyer need to pay for and get a complete mechanical survey done or do it yourself. Either way, once the money changes hands on a private party deal, all bets are off if there is a major problem with the motor or drive. Personally if it was my boat I would not let any Joe off the street touch my boat unless they were a professionally trained mechanic. Weekend Warrior boat mechanics can do more harm than good real fast.

 

[AZSenza]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

My Story...after 2 weeks of negotioations for our boat with a private seller, we finally agreed on a price. We had already told them it would be financed they were cool with that. Then the day came to do the transfer and he was very worried about doing it at the Bank. This made me feel odd about it. I wondered (Even though I had done the title search) if he was legit. Anyway, total time in bank-30 minutes. he got his check, i got my boat and the bank got pictures!

 

[reelfishin]

Re: What's wrong with buying boat with a cashier's check

What's wrong with taking a cashier's check for a boat purchase? I'm curious because I have one guy wanting cash only! He has the title, but I read somewhere on here that you can call the police and double check boat owner ship?

I used to do a lot of eBay selling, over about 6 years, I probably saw a dozen fake cashier's checks and twice a many bad money orders. In that situation, I wouldn't ship till the check or MO cleared but even then the bank would hit me with a $40 fee for depositing a bad check. I got hit with that once, after that, no more checks or MO.
I had a guy here trying to buy a car I had for sale with a cashier's check, drawn off some bank in Atlanta, when I couldn't find that bank listed I told him we would go to the local bank and verify the check before I would hand over a title. He wouldn't agree to that, so I told the guy to hit the road. The car sold the next day for cash.

If the check is good, let the buyer cash it and bring you the cash or as stated above, do it at the bank and deposit it in an account and transfer it later if it's that substantial an amount.