Selling a trailer to Canada....Cash/Check

[Matthew Mast]

My brother is selling his trailer to a gentleman in Winnipeg, MB. (He doesn't have an egg anymore....it's a conventionally built unit...shameful!) The selling price is $24,000 USD. He has received a check for $1000 to hold it and to cover the cost of fuel to meet the buyer in St. Louis. He's asking me for advice on the transaction, and I thought you guys could help.

He doesn't want to accept a check for the balance and watch the trailer roll away forever to Canada. As with any US buyer, the check could be bad/forged, but in this instance the potential bad guy would end up in another nation WITH the trailer! Cash would be great, but it's a lot to carry safely, plus there's the border issue. Can a Canadian buyer cross into the US with this much cash in US dollars without being severely interrogated? Can a Winnipeg bank even supply $24,000 US for the buyer to carry over? Would a Canadian cashier's check be the best? I thought wire transfer, but the buyer does not want to pay the balance until he sees the unit in person, which I totally understand!

What would be the best form of payment that would be trustworthy and handed over when the trailer changes hands, assuming that much cash could be a hassle at the border? Is there a best Canadian bank to use for a cashier's check or money order? Anyone who's done a transaction across the border and can give any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Matthew Mast

[Byron Kinnaman]

If it was me I'd go talk to my bank. Many international transactions are handled by a "letter of credit". I thank that's what it's called. He pays his money to the bank, you don't get it until he releases it. The trailer isn't released unless the "letter of credit" is there.
Both parties are protected. I've done this myself, however one company I used to work for did it all the time.

[Benita]

My brother is selling his trailer to a gentleman in Winnipeg, MB. (He doesn't have an egg anymore....it's a conventionally built unit...shameful!) The selling price is $24,000 USD. He has received a check for $1000 to hold it and to cover the cost of fuel to meet the buyer in St. Louis. He's asking me for advice on the transaction, and I thought you guys could help.

OK, I'm not speaking from experience. eBay uses a company called http://www.escrow.com for vehicle transactions. This escrow service would verify the validity and hold the funds until preagreed conditions are met like the buyer sees and accepts the trailer, an inspection is done or whatever. Once the acceptance criteria has been met or the acceptance period expires, the seller is mailed a check. There are of course fees for the service. I'm not sure how they would recommend handling delivery of the title when the vehicle is being put to immediate use and will travel internationally. Even so, it might be worth a look-see.

Frankly, I'd be hesitant to take a foreign Cashier's check, bank draft or traveller's check. They are just too easy to counterfeit or forge these days. Since, I wouldn't feel comfortable traveling with that much cash on me, I wouldn't ask someone else to do so. Bank wires can take a lot of time. I'm sure there are other options out there.

Good Luck

[Charlie C]

The bank can cover off with a certified cheque or a bank draft or a US $ Money Order or Travellers cheques.

When we bought our trailer out of Queens New York, I took US$ Travellers cheques with me and paid with them.


This type of cross border transaction is an every day thing for most bank branches.

[Benita]

If you check most websites that sell internationally, especially the vehicle ones, they warn about the currently most favored scam - counterfeit bank papers including letters of credit, bank drafts and checks. The current iterations of the bogus paper are so good that banks have been accepting them and not finding out that they are fraudulent for 3-7 days after the goods have been exchanged. At face value sellers are being credited with the amount of the paper. When the transaction tries to complete in the banks systems, the issue or serial numbers are either stolen or counterfeit. The seller is then debited for the fraudlent deposit. Some banks now hold these types of transactions for a week before committing to you that you have money.

I'd think bank to bank direct contact with prearrangments would be a preferred way to go.

GL

[Kathy & Doug Roach]

When we bought our trailer from Canada we paid with a certified bank check. Just be sure to agree on the exchange rate before you finalize the sale. We ended paying more because the rate changed and what our bank said the rate was differed from what the sellers bank said.

Kathy

[Brian B-P]

I'm not sure about current rules, but when I once entered the U.S. from Canada with a valuable item and asked U.S. Customs about it, during the conversation they mentioned that cash of US$10,000 or more must be declared. That doesn't mean you can't do it, just that you will be having a conversation with Customs.

I wouldn't carry that much anyway. I would guess that some form of bank-supplied document should be adequately secure, but I don't know which one.