Okay, the car has been sold.
I'm afraid that for research purposes, I didn't get a very "interesting" price. $23k. That's a
different $23k than the first offer I got for that amount. The second guy was willing to bend over backwards to accommodate the whole "we need clear title before the car can be re-registered" thing. Since all I
really wanted was to get my money more-or-less back out of the car, I was happy to give somebody (not a dealer!) a good deal. I probably could have gotten more, but in my condition and situation a quick and easy transaction counts for a lot, too.
Check out the crazy process we're going to go through to complete the deal:
Me and buyer both bank at Wells Fargo, so after he had looked at the car for a while we met there to exchange some moneys. He handed me $6,000 in cash, which I immediately deposited. He got a copy of the receipt, in case I flee the country.
I kept the car. I drove over to Bank of America and paid off the $12k loan. Thanks to the buyer's cash, my checking account wasn't totally wiped out by that transaction. This aspect was very helpful.
Some time in the next week, the buyer is going to transfer another $5k or so into my account. They are in the process of selling a car, themselves. We didn't write that part into our elaborate bill of sale, but hopefully that'll happen as planned since it will make it so I'm hardly out-of-pocket
at all after paying off the loan.
Next week, I'll call B of A and get them to send me a "zero balance" letter. I can show that to the buyer, to further reassure him that things are still proceeding as planned.
I'll continue to keep and drive the car until I leave for Georgia. (1/5/2012) Actually, I'm going to continue to "keep" it even after I leave. I'll store the car
somewhere, maybe in the buyer's garage, since that seems simplest for all concerned. I'll keep the keys. When the title finally clears some time in mid-January, the buyer will transfer the remaining money into my account. Once the money is there, I'll sign over the title, and FedEx it and the keys to him.
Crazy, huh? I checked with my friend who works at the DMV, and she thought it sounded like a good plan. So, that's what I'm doing. I don't think I could ask for a more flexible (and trusting) buyer. (He's going to Hawaii for several weeks over the holidays, so he won't really miss the car.)
I eagerly await one of you pointing out the fatal flaw in my plan.