Advise on Selling My Boat.
 

So here's the deal. I put my boat up for sale on powerboatlisting 2 summers ago with plans on upgrading but after finding out the cost of insuring something new I kinda changed my mind but left the add up. Periodically I'll get a call on it most of the time from a broker so I just tell them I don't deal with brokers. Anyway I got an interesting call over the weekend and 2 follow up calls from a guy that says he wants to buy it. First call he left a message, I didn't call back. Second call I answered and we chatted mostly about if I still had the boat and he would get back with me to let me know when he could try and come see it, says he's from Oklahoma and working in West Virginia and is leaving to go back home Wed. Third time he calls and want's to meet me in Charleston WV (4 hours drive for me) to buy the boat instead of him going 4 hours more east just to back track to go back west to OK. His number comes up as a OK number and has offered me around 13% less money then I was asking for the boat. I told him I had a loan still and he said he could give me a check, I could give him a bill of sale, we could get photos of each others drivers license, and when I received the title I could mail it to him. Does this sound legit? I'm a big believer in if it seems to good to be true it probably is but even though it seems a little strange to me seems like a lot of work on his part if it's a scam. Any advise on how to protect myself in this situation?
I know theres some simular threads on this subject and will be looking those up and reading them too but only have a short time to decide what to do.

It's a tough call, but if meeting in person it makes it more legit. I just did two deals this way, check and boat exchange, title to follow once lein was released. Can you call the issuing bank and speak with someone that KNOWS who he is and can verify the funds? If the check is rubber, I would think as long as you maintain insurance on the boat until the funds clear it would be considered stolen since the title is still in your name, and the bill of sale would be void since it was fraudulent.

What kind of $ are we talking about?

$20ish

im in Oklahoma city if I can help you let me know.

call your bank and have his money deposited in escrow. once the funds clear there its as good as gold. no rubber checks to worry about. give him the boat and the title and mail him the lien release. now that i think about it im still waiting for the lien release for my boat lol.

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be careful with checks. got sent one of these for a boat i was selling. only thing missing is the water mark when you hold it up to the light

Thanks for that. I'll keep that in mind.

Wow! That's scary.

If it were me he would have to meet me to my bank and deposit the check right there. If he really wants the boat 4 hrs more should not kill the deal.

Agreed, its a shame these days thing are most likely a scam, definitely talk to banks, hell I never met the guy that bought my boat, lol, his brother inspected it, I received a check and his brother picked it up a few weeks later,