Selling a Car to an Out-of-State Buyer

Every other problem on this page is recoverable. This one is not. A remote buyer cannot hand you cash, which means every option involves trusting something, and the trick is knowing what each one actually promises.

• An overpayment, with a request to wire the difference back. This is the oldest one and it is still working.
• An escrow site the buyer chose and sent you a link to. If you did not find it independently, treat it as theirs.
• Payment from a third party "handling the purchase" who is not the buyer and will not explain why.
• Any pressure to release the car before your bank has confirmed. Urgency is the tell, and a real buyer will wait.

A title is a controlled document and the form is unforgiving. Signing in the wrong box, correcting a mistake with a pen stroke, or leaving the buyer's name blank can all make it unacceptable to a DMV — and you will find out weeks later, through the buyer, at a distance.

• Sign only where the seller signs. If there are two registered owners, find out whether both signatures are needed before either of you signs anything.
• Never cross out or write over an error. Most states treat an altered title as void and require a duplicate, which takes weeks.
• Fill in the buyer's name. An "open title" left blank is illegal in many states and leaves the car registered to you.
• Record the odometer reading where the form asks for it.
• Photograph both sides of the completed title before it leaves your hands.

Write a bill of sale as well, even where your state does not require one. Two copies, both signed, showing the date, the price, the VIN and that the car is sold as is. It costs nothing and it is the document that settles an argument later.

This is the step sellers skip, and it is the one that produces a parking ticket, a toll bill or worse arriving months after the car went. Until the state is told, the car is still yours as far as its records are concerned.

Do it the same day if you can. It is usually an online form, it takes a few minutes, and the deadline in your state is probably shorter than you would guess. Keep the confirmation.

Normally the buyer does, and normally they should. It is their car by the time it moves, the contract is theirs, and if something goes wrong in transit the claim is between them and the carrier rather than running through you.

• If the buyer books it

  Your job is to hand the car over and sign an accurate condition report. Ask for the company's name in advance so you know who is turning up.

  • Get the carrier or broker name before the day
  • Be there, or name someone who can be
  • Photograph the car before it is loaded

• If you book it

  Usually because the buyer asked you to arrange it and is paying for it. The contract is then yours, which means a delay or a dispute is yours to manage.

  • Agree in writing who pays and when
  • Do not pay for transport out of your own pocket first
  • Make clear you are arranging, not guaranteeing, delivery

1. 1Confirm the money is irreversibly yoursWith your bank, that morning if the payment is recent. This is the last point at which stopping is easy.
2. 2Photograph the car in daylightEvery panel, the wheels, the interior, the odometer. Date-stamped if your camera does it.
3. 3Check the driver and the paperwork matchThe company that turns up should be the company you were told to expect.
4. 4Walk the car with the driver and sign the condition reportRead what it says about existing damage before signing. It is the record both sides rely on.
5. 5Remove the plates and your belongingsIncluding the garage remote, the toll transponder and anything in the glovebox.
6. 6File the release of liabilitySame day. Keep the confirmation.

• Cancel or transfer your insurance once the car has been collected, not before. A gap on the day is a bad place to save a few dollars.
• Keep the bill of sale, the title photographs and the liability filing together for a few years. They are small, and they answer every question that turns up later.
• If tickets or tolls still arrive, the liability filing is what you send. That is the reason it exists.