My buddy is buying a 911, out of state, that has a bank lien. What is the best way to close the deal?

The seller asked for a wire or bank check and will then pay off the car, but as you can imagine, I'm not necessarily comfortable with that. I suggested he contact the bank, get payoff, send them $ and have a local atty hold the balance in escrow, but even that has me worried.

Any suggestions would be great as he wants the car on a truck by Friday and short of him flying there, I'm totally uncomfortable with sending money in advance.

Thanks
Scott

 

I don't remember the whole process when I did this a few years back. I do remember that I paid off the persons loan and had the title sent to me. I then paid the rest to the owner in person and drove the vehicle home.

 

If possible the seller should take out a short term personal (unsecured) loan to pay off the car and get a clear title. That would be the easiest and safest for your friend.

I like the process penfed has. They cut a check made out to the sellers bank, but the seller, buyer and bank all need to endorse the check to cash it. The bank then sends the clear title to penfed. It's a bit of lengthy process, but it's much safer than just paying off the sellers loan.

Your friend can try to do what clickclickboom said above, but I'm not sure the bank is just going to send your friend the title like that. They probably want some sort of letter from the seller authorizing them to release the title to your friend.

Oh and good luck getting the title to car by friday. Paying off liens and getting a clear title from a bank usually doesn't happen quickly. YMMV

 

Perfect plan, why are you worried?

I would only transfer money if there were signed escrow instructions, etc, and you verified the atty.

You ARE going to see the car before it is placed on the truck, right? PPI, drive, etc. Then release the escrow. You may have to leave without the title, but the escrow instructions would make it clear the title is yours once returned from the bank... I'd also make sure you get a payoff notice from the bank so you know the check covers the note.

 

My suggestion would be do get a Porsche dealer involved. The Porsche dealer is usually a good place to get a PPI done plus for a fee, they will act as the selling dealer and guarantee title to you. I'm not saying the private party is not trustworthy but you obviously have concerns as I would because they don't have the cash on hand to pay their car off.

A typical Porsche dealer should "do the deal" by selling you the car and buying it from the seller. This way you get full disclosure because the Porsche dealer is technically on the hook even though you are bringing the car to him to sell to you. A smoking price for this service would be $500 to $750, a good price is $1000 and anywhere from $1200 to $1500 is the industry average, so acceptable. Furthermore, the Porsche dealer doing the PPI & contract will not put their name on a bad car selling it to you.

It sounds a bit spendy but consider the downside if the current seller never produces title, walks with your money, etc. Endless possibilities that can go wrong. Very common in our industry for deals to happen this way when there is a payoff. Essentially the Porsche dealer is escrow and has the funds to pay the car off as well as a reputation to perform on the deal. I would consider it piece of mind and an insurance policy to ensure the deal goes smoothly resulting in you getting a nice car and a title to go with it.

 

When I bought my 996 C4 cab. in CA I flew out there and arranged with the seller to pick me up and take me to his credit union where I had my father back home wire the funds while the seller and I were at the credit union. Right there he signed over the title and we were done.

 

Thanks for all the replys. I have forwarded everyone's suggestions to my buddy. Funny thing about this is I remember when I was searching for mine, my wife said spend a little more and buy local as it will be less than loosing everything if the seller was a scammer.

Unfortunately for my buddy, he is in love with a specific yellow car with aero kit.

Anyway, thanks again for all the suggestions. Hopefully he will work it out and become an owner/member soon.

 

I need to comment on this advice.

First, some really poor PPIs are done by P dealers. There is no 'standard PPI' that they follow, and it can often be a very cursory once over.

Second, P dealers are MOST CERTAINLY no on any kind of 'hook' for selling a car with problems. Not legally, not with PCNA. You can buy a disaster that is brokered by a dealer and have zero real recourse. DO NOT THINK THIS IS TRUE. It buys you little absolute protection.

(We'd like to think a dealer will try and avoid bad deals, and this may be true- but it happens and there is nothing there to protect you.)

There are horror stories of P dealers actually buying a car, CPOing it, and the car having documented defects that should have prevented them from CPOing it. Dealer was not 'on the hook' for anything, and PCNA did nothing to help ('this is a local dealer issue, sorry').

A

 

where is the car anyways?

 

also rushing into a deal =disaster

 

A

Point taken. Buying a car from a P dealer is not a 100% guarantee that the car is free from issues, problems or defects. But, I for one will take the odds of the cars that do come out of Porsche dealers because they do have a set of guidelines to follow in order to maintain a good reputation both with PCNA as well as the general community.

But the essence of this thread is how he can buy a car out of state, not so much what the trial and tribulations of a local Porsche dealer's business practice is regarding used cars and CPO's. It offers a suggestion on how to protect himself financially and ensure the title with be forthcoming to complete the transaction. I described the possibility of using a P dealer as "USUALLY" a good place to get a PPI, not a guaranteed perfect PPI every time. The PPI component to my suggestion can be interchanged with an independent 3rd party doing the PPI at an additional cost which isn't a bad idea. Remember, the buyer is bringing the P car to the dealer. If it is a bad car, it was a bad car before it even got in the dealer's hands.

As with any purchase, you have to quantify what the downside of the transaction is and what kind of recourse if any you have against the seller. Once again, a P dealer offers a lot more opportunity for recourse than an individual. I don't think there is much argument there. Secondly, specifically talking about this transaction, the P dealer isn't selling them one of their cars from their inventory, they are selling him a car he is bringing to them to perform a transaction in order to guarantee title being issued to the buyer and the car loan paid off.

I agree that the scruples of any dealer are always up for consideration and a lot of that has to do with personal experience as well as their reputation in the local community. I have had nothing but great experiences with most of the dealers in my area. Unfortunately by your last comment it looks like you have had a "run in" with your local P dealer which sucks because as the saying goes; "Ten happy customers usually keep it to themselves unless asked, One unhappy customer will tell everyone they come in contact with." Hopefully they will see the error in their ways if it isn't too late and rectify the situation.

 

Car is in Pa and we are in South Fl. I suggested he fly up and drive back, but he feels his time is to valuable to spend the weekend getting home.

My buddy, Rick, has been talking with the seller for a month, so he is not necessarily rushing, however, if he could get over the yellow thing there is a Silver car in Orlando (4 hours away) that, while I dont like the light grey interior, could be had with much less hassle.

Car he wants: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1999-...#ht_780wt_1167

Car I want him to look at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Carra...#ht_1463wt_941

 

I live in Indiana and bought a car in North Carolina. I sent the seller a $1000 deposit after we had signed an agreement that it was refundable if the sale didn't go through. I talked with his mechanic on the phone, and had a PPI done at my expense at Hendrick Porsche. They did an ok, but not outstanding job. I had a leakdown test done, as well as the usual stuff. It cost me $550 IIRC.

We then did a bill of sale by fax and FedEx. I flew to Charlotte, gave him a cashier's check and drove the car home. He had to do a payoff of his lease on the car beforehand. He then had a title, which he signed over to me at the sale. I had to get a VIN check in Indiana before I could title the car there.

Once I talked to his mechanic (who was not a huge fan of the seller) I was pretty well convinced that the guy was for real. I strongly recommend that your buddy get a fax copy of the front and back of the title before putting up any money.

Good luck,

Jon

 

03 996 i obviously like your choice better, no need to comment on the banana. I am in NJ so depending where in PA I might be able to help you guys out. Feel free to PM me.

 

ya biggest thing is dont rush into the deal and try to buy in the states