One rule matters more than everything else combined: do not release the vehicle until the payment has fully cleared your account.
Not sent. Not pending. Not "showing in the app." Cleared, meaning your bank has the funds and cannot claw them back.
Everything else in this process is coordination. That one line is what separates a normal sale from the version where your car is in another state and your money is not.
What "cleared" means by payment method
Buyers will tell you a payment has gone through. That is not the same as the funds being irreversibly yours.
Wire transfer is generally the cleanest for a distant sale. Once the funds are in your account they are settled. Confirm with your bank directly rather than relying on a screenshot.
Cashier's check is where most fraud in private vehicle sales happens. A counterfeit cashier's check can appear to clear and then be reversed days or weeks later, and the loss lands on you. If you accept one, verify it directly with the issuing bank using a number you looked up yourself, not one printed on the check, and wait for genuine settlement rather than provisional availability.
Payment apps frequently have transfer limits, reversal policies, and terms that exclude vehicle sales. Read what your specific app allows before agreeing to it.
Escrow services exist and can work, but fake escrow sites are a known fraud in vehicle sales. If a buyer proposes an escrow service, research it independently rather than following a link they sent you.
Cash is fine in person and impractical for a buyer in another state.
Ask your bank what settlement actually looks like for the method you are using. A few days of patience costs nothing compared to the alternative.
Get the order right
- Agree the terms, including who is arranging and paying for transport.
- Payment clears.
- You sign the title over to the buyer and handle it as your state requires.
- Confirm who will be present to release the vehicle, which is usually you.
- Then the transport is booked, or you confirm the booking the buyer has made.
- The driver arrives, you inspect the vehicle with them, both sign, the car loads.
The order is the protection. A vehicle released before settlement is a vehicle you may not get back and may not be paid for.
Who arranges the transport
Usually the buyer, and usually they pay for it, since the vehicle is being moved for their benefit. That is the common arrangement, not a rule.
If the buyer books it, you need three things from them before pickup day:
- The company's name and contact information, so you know who is calling you.
- The pickup window, so you can be available.
- Confirmation that they have given the company your correct address and phone number.
If you are arranging it, get it in writing who is paying and when, before you book anything in your own name.
One thing worth being clear about: whoever books the shipment is the transport company's customer. If you are the seller and the buyer booked it, the company's relationship is with the buyer. That is normal, and it is a reason to make sure you have the pickup details directly rather than relayed through the buyer.
What you are signing at pickup
This is the part sellers overlook, and it protects you more than it protects the buyer.
The driver will inspect the vehicle with you and record its condition on a document that serves as the receipt, the contract of carriage, and the condition report. Both of you sign it.
That signed record is what establishes the condition of the car at the moment it left your possession. If the buyer receives it 2,000 miles later and claims there was damage you did not disclose, the pickup inspection is your evidence about what the car actually looked like when it left.
So:
Do the walkaround properly. Do not hand over keys and go inside.
Read what the driver wrote. If they noted damage that is not there, say so. If they missed something that is there, ask them to add it. An accurate report serves you.
Take your own photographs before the driver arrives. All four corners at an angle, both sides, front and rear, the roof, the wheels, the glass, and the odometer. Send them to the buyer the same day. This is good practice and it is also good faith, and it heads off most disputes before they start.
Keep your copy of the signed report.
Wash the car first. Road film hides existing scratches, and a condition report that does not record what was actually there helps nobody, including you.
Practical preparation
Standard preparation applies: about a quarter tank of fuel, personal belongings removed, toll transponder removed, alarm disabled or the disarm procedure written down for the driver, and a working key handed over.
Two seller-specific items:
Remove your plates if your state requires it, and follow your state's process for notifying the DMV of the sale. Requirements vary and getting this wrong can leave you connected to a vehicle you no longer own.
File the release of liability. Most states have a form or an online process that ends your responsibility for the vehicle. Do it promptly. Parking tickets and toll charges accrued by the new owner are a genuinely unpleasant surprise months later.
If you cannot be there
Designate an adult who can. Give the transport company their name and phone number in advance, and brief them: they will inspect the vehicle with the driver and sign the condition report, and that signature carries the same weight as yours.
Do not leave the keys somewhere for the driver to collect. Somebody has to be present to sign, and a vehicle released without an inspection leaves you with no record of its condition when it left.
Sales like this go smoothly when the payment, the paperwork, and the pickup happen in that order. If you or your buyer are arranging the move, nationwide route coverage shows how lanes are served, and interstate transport covers how a state-to-state shipment works from booking through delivery. ---