selling bike, but buyer wants to do layaway... any thoughts?

hi,
i am currently selling my bike, and a potential buyer is interested, but
doesn't have the cash to pay for it right away. he has just about half
of what i'm asking for and wants to essentially get a loan from me.

question: has anyone sold or bought a bike this way through a private
party? if so and you were the seller, did you give the bike away when
you got the "down payment" and what was the legal paperwork like? if you
were the buyer, did you get the bike and also what was the paperwork like?

any good or bad experiences with this sort of transaction?

i don't want to give the bike away, since i don't want to become a loan
shark. i will have the title, but what use is that? or can you not
register the bike until you have a title?

tia,
jun

 

Don't do it. As long as you are the legal owner of the bike, *you* are
required to maintain insurance on it, and *you* are legally responsible
for anything that the driver of said vehicle does while riding it. You
don't want this squid to zoom across a red light, cause a busload of
school children to swerve and flip, and be held legally responsible for
the medical bills of dozens of schoolchildren hauled off to the hospital
in ambulances. That would be, like, a major bummer.

This scammer is most likely just going to grind off the serial numbers,
put new numbers on it, and then sell the bike for full price somewhere
else anyhow. Or else break it down for parts. Either way, you won't see
the rest of your money.

- Elron

 

Don't do it.

Let him put the money in escrow, and you hold the bike for him until
he's paid for it. Then he can have it.

-Patti

 

Hi,

I have a friend who sold someone a truck 'on lay away'.
(Technically, she 'loaned him the money' for the truck.
They had a nice contract, etc). She put on the title that she was the
lein holder, so when the guy defaulted on the
loan. She could fille to have ownership transferred back to her. SHe
tracked down where the truck was parked
(a long an soap-opera-ish story here .. I may tell it one day when the
news traffic is slow). I was with her when
she went to pick up the truck ... and found out that the oil pump had
died and the engine needed some
rebuilding. Luckily for me, she had it as part of a business and
could write it off ... luckily for my teenage
son, he got the truck for free and gets to rebuild the engine. [Note:
Y'all don't know my son, but he was just
as excited about rebuilding a BIG V-8 engine as he was abotu getting a
free truck which didn't run ... BTW: this
truck was used to haul horse trailers ... you know, the BIG horse
trailers. It is a BIG truck]

So the point of all this rambling narrative is this: Don't do it
unless you can afford to write off the amount he
doesn't pay you up front.

 

That's what I was going to say. But then you did say 'layaway',
didn't you?

I would also ask for a non-refundable down payment, with a clear,
written agreement that if he doesn't pay off the bike in a specified
period of time the deal is off and you keep the money. I'd say 10% of
the purchase price is reasonable.

 

You are not a bank. If a bank won't lend this guy money, why would you?

 

Layaway would be fine.
The term implies you would remain in possession of the bike until he paid
you the last payment; then it is his. Just make sure you don't release it
before he owns it...