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Published On: Apr 07, 2009 10:27 AM
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Published On: Apr 07, 2009 10:27 AM
Buying a used car...
Somehow I seem to have skipped the class that
covered how to do some adult things, like buy a car. The last vehicle I bought,
my F-150, I bought from my Dad, and he somehow just had everything ready to go,
as Dads do. Brian has bought cars of course, but those were at dealerships, and
they just do everything for you too, like Dads. Buying a car from a private
seller is different because, as I found out much to my annoyance, your Dad won't
arrange it all for you, no matter how much you
whine.
A friend of ours is going off to medical school (I have no idea why. Don't they teach plumbing and sewing at the Learning Annex?) and he wanted to sell his car. (Feh. As if a few thousand dollars is more than a drop in the ocean of debt he's about to dive into for his plumbing and sewing classes.) As it happens, I have been looking to get rid of my beloved F-150. *sniff* As it also happens, what I really wanted was a Jetta, slightly used, lower mileage. At it also happens he had a low mileage Jetta. Perfect for him. Perfect for me. Done and done.
That was the only easy part.
Buying a car from someone is a pain in the butt. So, for anyone else who missed the lesson on buying a car from a private seller in "How to Be an Adult" class, and/or who has a Dad that won't just arrange everything for them, I'll detail the steps for you:
1. Find car.
2. Go to bank to get loan for car. In order to process the loan, the bank needs a copy of the title. In order to get the title, the seller needs to pay off their loan with their bank. In order to pay off their loan they need the money from the buyer's bank, which the buyer's bank won't give them until they get the title. Repeat.
3. Finally get someone at your bank to tell you that they just need to have some piece of paper from the seller's bank that says that they and the seller actually own the car.
4. Call seller to have the title faxed from their bank to your bank. Call your bank to find out if they received it. Find out that the fax is too blurry to use (since it is, after all, printed on paper that's designed specifically to foil copying.) Call seller again to have seller's bank fax the title to your bank again. Call your bank again to find out if they received it. Still too blurry, but they'll use it anyway.
5. Call insurance company. Place new car on your insurance and have them fax the documentation to your bank. Call bank to see if they received it. Find out that the insurance company did not list your bank as a lien holder on the car. Have them fax new documentation to your bank. Call bank again to find out if they received it.
6. Go to bank and sign for loan. They fill out an actual paper cashier's check and send it in the actual mail to the seller's bank.
7. Once the seller's bank gets their money, they send the title to seller. Seller signs it over to buyer and sends it, along with a bill of sale, in the mail to the buyer. Buyer takes title, insurance information, bill of sale, and title application to the Secretary of State's office for title, plates and registration and to pay insane sales tax (another reason to buy vehicles from your Dad: no sales tax.) Do this within 10 days or they charge you a fine.
8. Take new title and insurance information (again?!) back to buyer's bank so they have a record of it (which they scan into their system.) Do this in 10 days or they charge you too -- yeah, now suddenly they're in a hurry.
Fax machines?! Snail mail?! Cashier's checks?! Scanning documents?!
I was waiting for them to bring out the stone knives and bear skins. What is this the 1850's? What's funny is that the bank needed a very clear fax of the title so they could scan it into their system. Print out title -> photocopy title -> fax title -> scan title. Isn't it possible these days to somehow scan a document then send it magically through the air somehow into one of those newfangled Babbage's Analytical Engines? If only someone would invent some sort of Portable Document Format for electronic files that could be transfered via some sort of elaborate electronic mailing system. And if, at the same time, they could invent a system whereby a bank could transfer money to another bank electronically, rather than using cashier's checks and snail mail, that would be great too.
A friend of ours is going off to medical school (I have no idea why. Don't they teach plumbing and sewing at the Learning Annex?) and he wanted to sell his car. (Feh. As if a few thousand dollars is more than a drop in the ocean of debt he's about to dive into for his plumbing and sewing classes.) As it happens, I have been looking to get rid of my beloved F-150. *sniff* As it also happens, what I really wanted was a Jetta, slightly used, lower mileage. At it also happens he had a low mileage Jetta. Perfect for him. Perfect for me. Done and done.
That was the only easy part.
Buying a car from someone is a pain in the butt. So, for anyone else who missed the lesson on buying a car from a private seller in "How to Be an Adult" class, and/or who has a Dad that won't just arrange everything for them, I'll detail the steps for you:
1. Find car.
2. Go to bank to get loan for car. In order to process the loan, the bank needs a copy of the title. In order to get the title, the seller needs to pay off their loan with their bank. In order to pay off their loan they need the money from the buyer's bank, which the buyer's bank won't give them until they get the title. Repeat.
3. Finally get someone at your bank to tell you that they just need to have some piece of paper from the seller's bank that says that they and the seller actually own the car.
4. Call seller to have the title faxed from their bank to your bank. Call your bank to find out if they received it. Find out that the fax is too blurry to use (since it is, after all, printed on paper that's designed specifically to foil copying.) Call seller again to have seller's bank fax the title to your bank again. Call your bank again to find out if they received it. Still too blurry, but they'll use it anyway.
5. Call insurance company. Place new car on your insurance and have them fax the documentation to your bank. Call bank to see if they received it. Find out that the insurance company did not list your bank as a lien holder on the car. Have them fax new documentation to your bank. Call bank again to find out if they received it.
6. Go to bank and sign for loan. They fill out an actual paper cashier's check and send it in the actual mail to the seller's bank.
7. Once the seller's bank gets their money, they send the title to seller. Seller signs it over to buyer and sends it, along with a bill of sale, in the mail to the buyer. Buyer takes title, insurance information, bill of sale, and title application to the Secretary of State's office for title, plates and registration and to pay insane sales tax (another reason to buy vehicles from your Dad: no sales tax.) Do this within 10 days or they charge you a fine.
8. Take new title and insurance information (again?!) back to buyer's bank so they have a record of it (which they scan into their system.) Do this in 10 days or they charge you too -- yeah, now suddenly they're in a hurry.
Fax machines?! Snail mail?! Cashier's checks?! Scanning documents?!
I was waiting for them to bring out the stone knives and bear skins. What is this the 1850's? What's funny is that the bank needed a very clear fax of the title so they could scan it into their system. Print out title -> photocopy title -> fax title -> scan title. Isn't it possible these days to somehow scan a document then send it magically through the air somehow into one of those newfangled Babbage's Analytical Engines? If only someone would invent some sort of Portable Document Format for electronic files that could be transfered via some sort of elaborate electronic mailing system. And if, at the same time, they could invent a system whereby a bank could transfer money to another bank electronically, rather than using cashier's checks and snail mail, that would be great too.
Posted: Thu - July 17, 2008 at 08:00 AM