A few years back in Charlotte there was a double murder of an elderly couple who went to meet someone to sell their car who didn’t know how to sell safely.
A lot of people do this, especially with eBay and Craigslist making the process so convenient. However, anytime you go to meet some unknown person(s) to do a deal there’s a risk involved unless you know some tips about how to sell safely.
What I’m going to cover here is a couple of steps to minimize that risk.
1. Let Someone know where you’re planning on going and why
Call a friend if you can’t get someone to go with you and let them know what you’re planning. Consider being on the phone with them while you pull up to wherever it is you’re going (and make sure they know exactly where that is).
2. Gather intel
You have the person’s phone number and name. Google them both and see what shows up. You can, for a fee, do a reverse lookup on their number and see that it comes back to who they say they are. Run their name through the local sheriff’s dept and see if they’ve ever been arrested for anything.
3. Sanitize your vehicle
That means take out anything with your name and address on it, any valuables, and anything that could be used against you as a weapon. I’ve mentioned in other blogs the importance of what your car says about you and how much info a lot of them contain for the bad guys. You can learn more about how to do this in my book “How To Be Your Own Bodyguard.”
4. Arrange to meet in a public place
(the victims, in this case, didn’t) That means a mall, a shopping center, a gas station or in front of a police station. Make sure it’s when they’re open and there’s going to be loads of people around. I had an idea to create safe places to do this and now it seems the police are about to launch one. Check-in your city to see if there’s a designated safe place to sell stuff safely.
5. Take someone with you
Preferably someone BIG. Husband, boyfriend, neighbor’s kid, cousin…someone who at least looks the part.
6. Once you arrive at the meeting place if you feel bad about the situation or the people you’re meeting (now that you’ve laid eyes on them) feel free to leave
Trust your instincts. (The couple in this instance felt something was wrong and called their daughter to let her know. That was a good step and expedited the capture of the alleged killer but if they’d followed it up with high tailing it out of there they might be alive today)
7. Ask to see identification and proof of insurance
Take a pic of the i.d. and send it to someone on your camera phone if you want to be really safe. Also, check with your insurance agent about who’s covered etc during a test drive. If the potential buyer crashes the car it’s a rotten time to find out your coverage doesn’t extend that far.
8. Don’t let them test drive on their own and don’t let them outnumber you on the test drive
If you are by yourself and the two of them want to be in the car during the test drive you should be in the back seat and not in the front with someone sitting behind you.
9. Remember most of the above also applies if you’re going to buy a car from someone online or in the paper
One scam involves the criminals using the address of a foreclosed or vacant home. You roll up and they produce a weapon, take your money and your vehicle and you have no idea who they are.
Finally, don’t become paranoid about this. Thousands of people every day do transactions in this way and nothing goes wrong. The aforementioned steps will go a long way towards alleviating risks.