cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Escrow.com and insurance

Hello fellow members,

I am going to be selling a couple of old Plymouth Barracudas on Ebay and I am very interested in using Escrow.com. My question is about insurance of the car after it leaves me on the flatbed. My understanding is that the buyer has a couple of days to either accept or reject my car.  What happens if God forbid the buyer hits someone with my car while they are "inspecting " it on a street? Because JC Taylor told me I should take off my insurance and plates before shipping it.  Escrow.com did not have an answer to this question BTW. The "gap" between the car being out of my possession and the buyer either buying it or rejecting it is what I need clarity on. Because I do not transfer title or registration until I'm paid for the car through Escrow.com.

 

Thank you folks!

Ron

Message 1 of 2
latest reply
1 REPLY 1

Escrow.com and insurance

 

This is a complex problem, so it is good that you are thinking about issues ahead of time.

While taking the plates off the car might discourage excessive driving, it is not wise to remove your insurance while the vehicle is still in your name (and it will be in your name until Escrow releases title to the buyer). Talk to your agent about other options, including the buyer taking out some sort of short-term insurance during the time the vehicle is under his control. I've used this sort of insurance before when borrowing a vehicle for a week.

 

Write an informative description

 

To shorten the inspection period, load your listing with lots of detail and lots of pictures. Be ruthlessly honest. I call it the good, bad, and ugly method, which tended to increase bidding prices above the competition on vehicles I've sold in the past. Listings with inadequate detail typically won't break broker prices.

 

Use bullet points to list the vehicle specs that are not already in the premade section of the listing. List any upgrades or aftermarket accessories.

 

In another list, call out all of the defects: dents, chips, rust, leaks, rattles, rubber, AC, etc. 

 

Use text formatting to make the description easy to read. eBay's vehicle lister assumes buyers are buying on a phone, and that they won't read anything, so their lister doesn't have any text editing features. But that is not the way to make a sight-unseen vehicle remain sold,  so create the text  in Word or one of eBay's other editing tools so that you can have some simple features like bullet lists and some bold headings.

 

I also recommend putting several photo galleries (or videos) in the listing description that would each focus on one of these 4 areas: Exterior, Interior, Mechanical (undercarriage & engine), and Flaws.  eBay's picture uploader allows only 24 photos. If you use HTML, then externally hosted images or videos can be added to the description. If you list with the Motors App, you can organize the photos as part of the description. 

 

Also be sure to put your phone number in the listing, or tell buyers they can phone you using the "contact seller" option in the listing (see bottom of this page for instructions):

https://www.ebay.com/cnt/ManageBuyerCommunication

 

Shipping

 

A muscle classic I sold 8 years ago cost $1000 to haul coast to coast, and it took 3 weeks to line up a hauler. Can you imagine what it would cost the buyer today, and how long the buyer would have the car while trying to arrange a return trip if they did not want to keep it?

 

Because the cost of shipping will be so high, I would try to get the buyer to inspect the vehicle before shipping. You will get a sense of the buyer and it will be easier to plan.

 

Here is a sample listing that has a pretty good description. It looks like they used the App to get pictures arranged in the description.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224843940225?&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true

 

 

ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
Message 2 of 2
latest reply