Ok so this guy was interested in my car. He came to see it and drive it. Seemed really impressed and after a few days we made arrangements to get the deal done. He never showed up and stopped responding to emails or texts. A couple of days before we agreed the time and date to do the deal, he was coming up with ideas about how to get the car to him (out of state). He suggested something about putting "one plate on each car" or something but that wouldn't apply in this case as only one car was involved. I called him after that message and told him the scenarios I would be comfortable with: 1) Pay for the car, get the title and leave with it on a trailer. 2) Pay for the car, get the title and come back a different day with plates to drive it back. Now, after the whole deal fell apart after he apparently dropped off the face of the Earth, I googled his name and found some disturbing stuff wherein someone with his name and his phone area code had been scamming people on CamaroZ28 forums around five years ago. The usual - post nice item for sale for a great price, collect payment and then never send the product. That new info, which at the very least is suspicious, makes me now wonder if he was trying to somehow scam me.
Big difference. Not scam related but liability. Don't know how it works in NJ but generally speaking you want: 1) payment. cash (you have one of those marker pens?) or completely cleared. Do it at a bank. 2) Title transferred (that would be for him) 3) LIABILITY transferred (this is for you) That last one that can be important. Let's say he does something screwy with the plates or something and you've already been paid. He gets busted, car impounded, and they come after you for the impound fees, or you end up with a warrant for parking tickets or whatever... There can be a "window" where you might still be technically liable after the sale and handoff. You just want to be sure that's closed too.
Yeah but if this does happen and the car is impounded you can get it back! for the fees and the car is yours again and for sale again! Slim to none that this will happen. IMO if the guy wont come to you with money or meet at a bank pass on the sale
Overall it doesn't sound like an intended scam. It just sounds like you were dealing with some all around screwup you would rather avoid. The plate thing he was thinking about was probably take one plate off the car he came to pick it up in and put it on your SRT to drive it back. Lol, more than likely some trooper would notice 2 cars, driving back to back, were missing front plates and then notice they both had the same rear plate... Stupid sort of builds up like a snowball around people like that. Guy probably didn't have the money, had some hairbrained idea with no chance to get the money and that probably fell through.
I sold my MSRT8 back in March and one of the first people I had interested in it I'm POSITIVE was a scammer. It was all too good to be true, then when I mentioned some things I wanted (like about payment, where to meet, etc) he disappeared off the face of the earth. Watch out, scammers are out there for sure, protect yourself and most of all don't rush, your car WILL sell, don't do anything you don't feel is right. I was bummed after my scammer but eventually I sold my car, the guy that finally ended up buying it was a member on LXF and lived 10 miles from me!
