I am thinking about buying a sports car. But most of these are sold these days online auction websites such as Bring a Trailer or many mores. Those who don’t know these auction websites are NOT binding auctions as they are merely introducing buyer and sellers and they pocket 4.5- 5% sales/winning auction bid from winning bidder’s credit card and off they go. They leave behind seller and potential buyer to negotiate how to proceed sales. My understanding is there are no rules. I have read ridiculous stories on web as well.
First question most people ask is why buy online vs why not local from dealer. These are mostly fun use low mileages and like 10 + years old cars and hard to find locally. As you may know with any used car Car dealers are the most honest people. I have bought CPO car from Car manufacturers premium dealers and they with hold too much information.
As with online auction you may save not more than 5-10% but this way one can get certain model or year, or color combination etc.
Now real question of this post. I am looking at one particular car which is on auction but according to seller there is loan on the car. How would you finalize sale in case I bid and end up winning? Seller is different state as it is very rare to see any car listing in my home state. One can not just mail check and hope seller will pay off loan first and then send you Clear title?
Red Flags all over the place. If it a state that the lender has the title they will not release the title until the payoff funds have cleared which can take a week to 3 weeks .
You might list what this vehicle is but you are going to get about the same replies as your other threads about buying an out of state vehicle .
Good observation with my previous posts! Last time I ended up waiting for 6 months until one showed up locally and that was Cayenne which I bought from Prosche dealership. At that time it was end of pandemic and severe shortage of used cars and I did pay through the roof at Porsche dealership as they are very good business people!
Previously I found car from listing at cars.com but this time from Auction website. Anyway this does not make much difference.
Cayenne is daily driver and this one is 911 for weekend driving.
Last time car I was looking at did not has any loan so it is matter of paying at bank and get sign title with notarized bill of sale. This time there is additional issue of loan on car.
Seriously old school and not very secure. A bank transfer directly to the company holding the title lien would seem to be more secure and circumvent the seller completely. Direct transfer to the bank to release the title, a check for the rest to the seller for the car. How the title gets released to you likely depends on the state the car is titled in. That is a discussion best answered by the seller.
Your best bet is to hire a trusted agent located in the seller’s state to represent you. Ask the auction administrator; they may be able to provide a list of candidates. Your agent should also inspect or hire an inspection of the car before making the deal final.
If you are seriously considering making an offer , suggest to ask the seller to mail you a photocopy of the title document.
This sort of thing is done all the time, so as long as you don’t stray from the recommended path (per other folks who do this) , pretty good chance of success . One European classic-car buyer wanted to buy a car located in Japan. He hired an agency located in Japan to inspect, then buy and ship it to him. The agency refused, saying the particular car he wanted was too far away for them to inspect it. He insisted to buy it anyway. No inspection, all done by mail. When the car arrived in Europe, other than some minor shipping damage and parts theft, it was exactly what the buyer wanted.
Last week, I saw a Toyota Century (circa '80s) parked at my local Whole Foods. It was right-hand drive, and this model was never imported to The US. The one that I saw didn’t even display the Toyota name, and only had the “Phoenix” emblem.
I would have really liked to talk to the owner, but I didn’t have enough time to wait for him/her. It would have been interesting to hear about the owner’s adventures in importing this car.
Here is a video that shows a UK owner’s experience after buying a 1987 Toyota Crown. This one looks just like the one that I saw (including the Phoenix emblem), except that the one I saw had no rust damage.
I don’t know if it is done or not but I’d feel better setting up an escrow account with a bank or lawyer. You deposit the sale funds, they pay off the loan, and when the title and everything else is settled, they pay the seller. Or else hope for the best for six months with your own money.
I’ll just add that it would be irresponsible for a bank to release a lien without getting paid. Even if the seller signed over the title, a new title cannot be issued without the lien release being attached to the title.
Some people don’t bother to get a new title when they pay a car off but I always go down and pay the $15 for a new clear title right away. Who knows when you will need it.
First of all, I would NEVER buy a used car that I cannot physically inspect and test-drive, unless of course I am buying a “fixer-upper” that doesn’t run. Second, there MUST be a clear title in the seller’s name, unless we are talking about a low-value old car, that I want badly enough to deal with the hassle and expense of filing a bonded title. Even then, there CANNOT be any active liens.
Thanks all for your replies. I did NOT win the auction. Car was NOT sold to any one. That guy bought 911 used and drove occasionally for 3 years. All he did in those 3 years, just change OIL once. Used cars prices have come down substantially and he was expecting to make money. Auction did NOT meet reserve. I did not have good feeling about car so I was NOT super enthusiastic. It does not cost much or nothing for seller to list on auction website so seller can be very picky if they don’t have to sell car. Even though it is auction and in the end it is just like regular sale but buyer has to pay auction house fees of 5% and all other expenses.
