Advice on Cash Sake of Higher Value Car

So I have sold my Cobalt SS Turbo to someone who lives about 8 hours from me and the current plan is that I'm going to drive the car to him and then fly back. I sold the car for essentially $10k and the buyer wants to pay cash. Obviously, I'm planning to meet him at a safe place, such as a police station. I'm nervous about flying back with that much money on me as you hear the random horror stories about the TSA and cash. I don't have an option for depositing the money immediately, as there are no banks in his area that also operate in my area. I'd appreciate any thoughts/suggestions from the hive to minimize hassle on my part.

You should be able to walk into any bank deposit cash and get a cashiers check. Almost any credit union will do it if they have a relationship with your bank.

Walmart does money. Not that walking into WalMart with $10k sounds safe. It looks like they max out at $5k, however.

https://www.walmartmoneycard.com/account/send-money-intro

I've flown with more than that no problem as recently as 2014. 

I'd still suggest doing a bank deposit or getting a cashier's check or something else just because it's not a great idea to have that much cash on your person for any reason. 

If you do decide to fly it, keep it in your carry on, TSA has VERY sticky fingers on top of the risk of your luggage arriving in places you are not.

What I did was put it in a sealed envelope in my carry on. No vacuum bags or sacks with dollar signs on them, just a regular white business envelope, no markings or labels. Nobody mentioned it if they even noticed at all. Just don't be a jackass, and it probably wouldn't hurt to have a signed copy of a receipt for the car in case anyone does want to question it.

If you're a member of a credit union already, see if they participate in shared branching. There's a huge network of credit unions around the country that you can walk into and treat just like your personal office at home, regardless of the brand or sign on the door. Not every credit union is a member, but a majority are, and that makes it really safe and easy. 

Another option would be to meet him at his bank.  They should be able to get you a cashiers check without ever having to handle $10k cash.

Does your bank use Zelle? Could be easier than cash.

In reply to Dead_Sled :

That's what I've done for long distances purchases  - meet the buyer/seller at his bank, have them print out a cashier's check right under your nose, do paperwork, job done.

The one cashier's check you don't want is one that was printed while you weren't around, but I'd much rather carry a larger cashier's check around than the same amount in cash.

For a fee, you could wire the money to your own account from any bank in the seller's area. If you hate paying fees but are willing to open an account, I see that there's a Wells Fargo in Iowa City; I'd be shocked there's not also a Wells Fargo near the airport you plan to fly out of.

I would meet at his bank and get a cashiers check to take home on the plane. If he is shady and doesn't have a bank, then I'd get a cashiers check at some local bank or pay whatever fee they charge to wire the money to your account.

Civil forfeiture is a thing and all they have to say is that they were suspicious of you and then they take your money and never give it back. I would not even think of flying with $10k in cash. I would be worried about having that much with me in a car. There is no legally defined dollar amount that is safe from them, just whatever they decide to take they can have. The only upside is they don't also charge you with a crime, they just steal your money.

x2 on the meet him at his bank idea.  

That will do a few things... 1) verify the cash is real and 2) allow a cashier's check to be generated in your presence proving it's legitimacy and/or 3) allow you to pay a service fee to have the funds wired to your bank account directly by that bank (again proving the assets are legit and the transfer is legit as well) even though your bank isn't located in that region.  

Plus meeting at a bank is a safe video monitored location where no shenanigans are going to be pulled, and it provides you multiple options to avoid having to fly back with cash if you don't want to.  

Lots of ways to do this right.  

You are getting your flight paid for by him (or covered in the purchase price) and getting 10% wired to you in advance, right?  Otherwise I wouldnt be going anywhere.  

I also wouldn’t go anywhere without some kind of advance deposit or payment. 

If you are giving him the title I assume it’ll need notarized. You don’t want to put his info on it or have it notarized until you’re paid. Otherwise he owns the car even if he doesn’t pay you. Find a bank branch that’s open and has a notary to handle both sides of the transaction. He pays you, at bank, you get title notarized, and send money or buy cashiers check while there in the branch. One stop shopping!

If he balks at any of those very reasonable things I would be deeply uncomfortable with the deal. People have been murdered for much less money. 

When I managed a bank in Juneau, we had cash mailed to us all the time.  Put it in a manila envelope, tape it up well,  and send it to yourself certified - return receipt requested.  Don't remember if they insured it.  I'm sure that the PO could tell you if you can.

Am I the only one that thinks this whole transaction sounds questionable?

Maybe I’m missing something, but why wouldn’t the purchaser fly to you and drive the car back. Once your in his town, what’s to stop him from calling you with a change in the meeting location with some excuse why he can’t make it to the original location. Now you came all this way and you have to decide whether to take the risk or drive back home. 

Edit: These scammers can be pretty convincing.

I will second the cashier's check idea, although they're not that much more secure than cash.  Anyone who steals it can find a way to cash it.  At least you have a receipt and can call right away and let the bank know it has been stolen.

You could purchase a prepaid debit card with it.  That way you have basically the same protection as a credit card.  Register it online so it lines up with your receipt and if it gets lost you just call the lost card number to get a replacement.

It can't hurt to pay the fee and have it wired to your bank.... other than the pain of paying the fee.  Part of that can be waived if the buyer is willing to just wire it instead of getting cash.  I understand the benefits of cash.  You KNOW you're getting paid, but if he is just going to go to his bank and get the cash to make it a warm fuzzy transaction (which I appreciate), have him wire it to your bank instead.  My bank lets me do one transaction per month to any bank in the US for free (up to X dollars and I forget how much that max is).  Even if he insists on cash, its possible that HIS bank would wire the money to yours for little or no fee.  You two would just turn over the cash to the teller for the wire transfer.

If he is bank-phobic and he's just pulling money from his mattress, then you're up the creek on that idea without fees.

Suggestion:  If you do it that way, keep a few hundred in your pocket.  Transactions under $10k are under the radar.  Transactions $10k and up are federally required to be reported to the Gubment.  Not that they necessarily DO anything about it, but it is just something that some algorithm could flag later down the line during tax season or list you as the 62,854,201st most likely terror suspect, or the 828,472,457th most likely suspect to have killed Jimmy Hoffa.

I have flown/traveled with large lumps of cash before and didn't feel in danger, but 10k is a bit much for me to be comfy; not necessarily because I was afraid it would be stolen, just because 100 bills in a pocket is uncomfortable

One thing to definitely do (for the seller) is to find out if notarization is required.  That has to do both with his state and yours.  In PA for example, they follow whatever the outside state requires.  If I buy a car from a state that doesn't require notarizing, PA doesn't require a notary and vice versa for a state that does require.

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

So much this. Once you’ve driven the car out to him.... what’s to stop him lowballing you, or changing his mind altogether? You need some kind of deposit and written agreement in place (as well as all the good ideas about meeting at the bank.)

Saron81 said:

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

So much this. Once you’ve driven the car out to him.... what’s to stop him lowballing you, or changing giant mind altogether? You need some kind of deposit and written agreement in place (as well as all the good ideas about meeting at the bank.)

While I agree with you, its up to the personality of the seller and the buyer.  I tend to over-trust, but the only thing I'm really out is a return trip in my own car and a $50 change fee for a plane ticket.  This actually happened to me once where I drove to meet a guy to sell a truck.  I was in TX and he was in Chicago.  We met somewhere around Little Rock and he tried to lowball me and tell me I didn't take pictures of the dents. Even after I pulled up the ad and showed him the pictures that DID show the dents he wanted it cheaper.  I just said "no thanks" and hopped in and drove home. It was a pleasant weekend road trip to a town I hadn't really explored.

He assumed that because I made a day-long trip I would feel forced to sell it at whatever price he dictated.  He was wrong.

I just did the reverse of a drive and sell. I flew out and bought a car. We got a cashiers check days before I left. I sent him pics of it and contact info from our bank. He had the option to call the bank (actually a credit union) and verify that it was real. Handed him the check after looking over the car. I also had given him a $250 deposit to hold the car thru PayPal. I had him refund that.

Easy Peasy.

I wouldn't drive too far to deliver a car if the seller didn't have skin in the game. Make him send a deposit. There are no fees on either side when it is refunded with PayPal. 

In reply to Curtis :

I wouldn’t be happy driving 8 hours each way for that to happen!

For those of you who don't know, zelle is taking the place of wire transfer for a lot of banks, which is why I suggested looking into it.

You should figure out your bottom dollar round trip gas/meal/lodging cost for the round trip, add to it the cost of the ticket you would have to eat, and that much of the $10k needs to be wired to your account before you leave the driveway. That protects you from the buyer flaking out, establishes that everyone can make the transfer happen, and gets you under the $10k amount.

In reply to FooBag :

"As-is, where-is, with no warranty either expressed or implied"

delivering it to his location before having 100% payment is just plain bad business.

1.  He offers you a bunch less money, counting on you to not want to lose the cost of your flight to drive all the way home;

2.  He changes the meeting place, then you are robbed / raped / murdered and nobody back home knows exactly where the meet-up took place

3.  He just doesn't show up, in which case you have to drive home and lose the cost of your flight.

berkeley every one of those options.  Buyer picks up car at my bank or my local PD.

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Agreed.  There's NO way I'd deliver a car without being paid 100% first.  Even then, unless the buyer was a friend of mine (And paid me in advance!) I'd be very disinclined to spend my time delivering a car. 

For someone I don't know?  No F'ing way, you come to me, after you've already paid me.

If you've $10K in cash, you can walk into a bank down there and open a checking accout.  Deposit it, then when you get home you can transfer the money to your normal account and and close the new one.

But yes, I'm in agreement with everyone else about the idea of driving that far to sell a car to a stranger.

Edit:  There are reporting laws for cash transactions above $10K.  The bank has to do extra paperwork because of money laundering concerns.  There are also laws that make it illegal to break up your transactions to avoid reporting ("structuring"), so don't do that either.  In theory this shouldn't matter because your transaction is legit (make sure to keep a photocopy of the signed-over title or something so you can prove it), but it might make a bank less willing to deal with it.

I've never done it, but couldn't you take the cash and just Western Union it to yourself?

But I agree that you need to protect yourself from the buyer flaking out or doing violence to you.

$5k limit on western union, for $100 fee. Might be worth it for piece of mind, but it wouldn't be my first choice.