How do I sell my car to a private party with money still owed on it ?

Question by JB: How do I sell my car to a private party with money still owed on it ?
We figure we can sell our car for around $ 35k, and we only owe around $ 24k on it thru Nuvell (a Chevy affiliate). What needs to be done at the time of sale so that we and the buyer are protected ? We don’t want the buyer or his financing company (bank or whatnot) to make the $ 35k payment direct to Nuvell and then have to wait for Nuvell to send us the “overpayment” as a refund. Would it be reasonable to ask the buyer to give us 2 separate payment checks ? Is there some sort of contract template out there that can be used ? And we obviously don’t want the buyer to take possession of the car until all payments clear. Because of the high dollar amount, we figure the chances of the buyer just cutting us a cashier’s check in full is pretty slim. Otherwise we could hold the car until our bank verifies the check is good, then cut a check ourselves to Nuvell, but we don’t want the IRS nosing around such a high deposit amount.

Best answer:

Answer by Lemar J
You want you cake and want to eat it too, don’t you?

The next buyer can’t register the car without the lein they have on the car being lifted. So Nuvell is going to have to be paid, first and foremost.

Asking the next buyer to jump through hoops just for you is unrealistic. The right thing to do is to have the new buyer write the check to Nuvell and wait for your refund. Waiting a week or 2 for a refund isn’t that big a deal.

Now you could sell the vehicle wholesale at Carmax. You won’t have to deal with the hassle even though you’d get less money. Plus you’d have a bonified paper trail with them.

Add your own answer in the comments!