Do you accept a bank cheque?

[mike_nofx]

Have you ever sold a car and accepted bank cheque as payment, and handed over the keys before cashing it?

I understand it's not a wise move with a personal cheque, but should a bank cheque be as good as cash?

I have a buyer for a car I am selling coming tomorrow with a bank cheque, I do plan to hand over the car and get to a bank on Monday to deposit to my account. What are the risks?

Also, if the car is comprehensively insured, would the insurance company cover theft with a fake cheque if the seller willingly hands over the keys?

[ozbloke74]

Tell him/her you would feel more comfortable if they provided a couple of pieces of ID , I've never had any issues with them personally

[ratter]

A bank cheque can be cancelled, tell them you will hand over the car once it clears

[FlipXW]

The last couple of cars I've sold I've just taken a direct deposit from the buyer direct to my bank account. It hasn't gone in straight away (different banks) but as long as I can watch them do it then thats good enough for me. As far as I'm aware once you transfer you can't do anything to reverse it. Ive never had an issue. Maybe you can get them to do that as almost everyone has internet banking these days I would think.

[nstg8a]

Cash or nothing for me


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[danzvtil]

Get them to meet you at your bank/credit union branch and present the cheque directly to the teller. Once accepted by the bank, give em the keys.

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Bank cheque used to be the same as cash as it was garanteed by the bank, that was the whole point of a bank cheque.

Not sure what the latest is though, I would be contacting my bank rather than getting mostly pointless opinions from people who have no idea anyway.

[pottery beige]

bank cheques were as good as cash in 1980

[cs123]

To cancel a bank cheque you must return it, so that would make it impossible to present to the buyer.

You can report lost/stolen but if someone was to subsequently present that cheque you would have serious issues as they would obviously be able to prove that it was exchanged for good/services.

It would cause mega drama for the person being "ripped off" but in the end it would be more drama for the person who cancelled the check as that would be fraud and easily proven as such. And the bank would have your details as you need to present them to make the cheque out.

Bank cheques are not as solid as cash but pretty close IMO. I'd accept one as a form of payment.

[stock1991]

do you accept a personal cheque? and if so, some real estate/QLD etc

[mike_nofx]

Thanks for the replies. You all have me paranoid enough now (except stock1991 who just has me confused) so I'll be meeting the buyer at my bank at 9:30am tomorrow to deposit his bank cheque into my account before handing over the keys.

[jaydee]

Last time I bought a car privately with my daughter she just transferred the funds on her phone, the seller accessed her account on her phone and saw the money appear.
Job done, 2 minutes work.
As for a Bank Chq, they can put a stop on it, this is from the ANZ FAQ page.

Purchased via ANZ Internet Banking

To request an urgent stop payment on a lost or stolen bank cheque you have purchased via ANZ Internet Banking, please call the ANZ Internet Banking Helpdesk on 13 33 50 (International callers: +61 3 9683 8833) 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A $25 fee will apply for a successful stop payment on a bank cheque purchased via ANZ Internet Banking.
Stop payments on bank cheques purchased via ANZ Internet Banking cannot be processed at an ANZ branch.

[ozrunner]

NO, do not hand over the keys until your bank clears the cheque.

My brother in law lost a $18,000 Commodore by accepting a bank cheque and get this. The guy had stolen some blank cheques so it was a dud.

Police nailed him but even though you would think it was fraud at its best he was only charged with stealing the cheques.

Brother in Law took him to court to try and get his money or the Commodore returned but the judgement was he had ACCEPTED this piece of paper as payment. He lost the car.

Be warned the law really is an ***.

[MITCHAY]

Well for me a bank cheque is worth as much as cash. They take it out of your account when you get it.

[Grom13]

Sold heaps of cars , bikes ect and plenty have been paid for with Bank cheque never had a problem, as stated above they can only be cancelled if the purchaser hands it back to the Bank . As good as cash imo.

[Falcon SXR8]

Cash on the dash

[BPXR6T]

Originally Posted by Grom13

Sold heaps of cars , bikes ect and plenty have been paid for with Bank cheque never had a problem, as stated above they can only be cancelled if the purchaser hands it back to the Bank . As good as cash imo.

Good as cash unless your fake the cheque. Not hard to with a scanner, quality paper, and a printer. Might not fool someone who see's a bank cheque every week but easy to fool someone who maybe see's a bank cheque every few years.

[DDXR6T]

As good as cash in my opinion too. Works both ways really, why should the purchaser hand over X amount of $ with no car, they could be ripped off just as much. If it were all about stealing a car, there are easier and more untraceable ways of doing so.

[X-AHH]

My credit union takes 4 days to clear a bank cheque. They told me that this is because they are not infallible.

I delivered the last car I sold to the buyers house as a "courtesy". I was actually covering my self so I knew where he lived if the cheque had issues clearing.

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by jaydee

Last time I bought a car privately with my daughter she just transferred the funds on her phone, the seller accessed her account on her phone and saw the money appear.
Job done, 2 minutes work.........

I sold one of my classics like that. Guy flew up from Sydney to Gold Coast to look at my 70 Mach 1 Mustang. He fell in love with it and wanted to buy it straight away and drive it back to Sydney. So we got on a computer and he transferred the money into my account. I double checked by accessing my account and saw the money was deposited.

[mike_nofx]

Met the buyer at my bank this morning, had the teller deposit the cheque for me and asked her how long it took to clear which is 3 business days. I then asked since it's a bank cheque and I'm depositing it right now with her if there is any issues it could bounce and she just replied "it shouldn't".

Well good enough for me. I handed over the keys and said goodbye to my car.

[Phildo]

How much was the transaction for?

These days a bank transfer would be the quickest and safest way to go.

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With accepting a bank cheque, one way to (hopefully) ensure that it isn't a fake would be to get the buyer to show the withdrawal transaction using his phone.

[Junkyard-Dog]

Logged onto the forums to read some of the technical resources... and ended up learning all about bank cheques.

This is why I like this place.

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by Phildo

How much was the transaction for?

These days a bank transfer would be the quickest and safest way to go.

------------------------------------

With accepting a bank cheque, one way to (hopefully) ensure that it isn't a fake would be to get the buyer to show the withdrawal transaction using his phone.

$19k.

Yes possibly that would have been a good option, but is there any chance once you've sent a bank transfer (which still takes 3 days to clear) and they've shown you the transfer that they immediately call the bank minutes later to cancel the transfer?

[Jastel]

It's a bit of trust on both sides I guess.

Cash is best but has it's own dramas, as in getting it, reporting it if over $10000, losing it over a weekend.
I sold a car over the weekend for $9500 so on Monday I picked up buyer, who had no car, and we went to shopping centre, she got money out of her bank, despite some grumbling by teller for such a "large" withdrawal, and we walked along two shops to my bank and put the cash in my account.
Then we both drove to Transport and transferred ownership of the car, better for both in case of problems with signatures and paperwork etc... and for me as I know it has been done and wont get any speeding tickets/tolls etc. Had that problem in the past as well.
She then dropped me back to my place.

May not work for everyone but its easiest and safest for both parties.

[Feathers]

I went into a bank to transfer money for a holiday I was booking. Handed over the written details of the travel agent's account, got a receipt, and sent a pic of that so that my tickets could be issued.
Couple of weeks later, they tell me I haven't paid, and they will cancel my tickets. WTF?

Turns out the teller put in the account number incorrectly (left out a number), so it bounced back to my account, and they charged me for the error.

As they don't print full account numbers on the receipts, it's possible the buyer could leave a number out, making the transfer invalid, but show you the receipt as proof of payment, and then take the car, and leave you high and dry.

[Revolver]

"In god we trust, everyone else pays cash"

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by Revolver

"In god we trust, everyone else pays cash"

And as for counterfeit bills? Haha sorry, opening another can of worms.

[Cav]

When buying a car I assess the seller as well as the car.

Best way is to go to the bank with the seller and stand there when he gets the bank cheque.

Any one can be dodgy - it is all about managing risk.

I could go on about cash being counterfeit but that only ads to the, "What about the bloke who ...." kinda story.

[Sabantien]

I wouldn't be accepting a cheque.

I worked at a government run museum and we didn't accept cheques from the public to avoid fraud, and I also remember back in the '90s my brother didn't accept them at his radiator business either.

I can't think of a good reason why someone would need to pay by cheque. If it's a large sum of money you can organise a day or two before with your bank and collect the cash. But honestly, if someone is that paranoid about using internet banking, I probably would put them in the too hard basket anyhow.