As with selling any other vehicle, selling a used food truck can take some time, mostly because of all the things you need to take care of before it can be sold. To be frank, there’s more to this transaction than deciding on an asking price and then listing the used vehicle online.

Maybe your food truck business didn’t do as well as you projected it would, even when you took a chance on new menu items. Perhaps you found yourself in a series of situations that were completely out of your control, and so had to sell the food truck as a result. Maybe you want to upgrade your food truck to hold more stock and employees but don’t want to expand the business just yet. 

Whatever the case may be, you’ll want to at least find legitimate buyers, not just to shorten the time between listing the food truck and seeing the extra money in your bank account or wallet, but also to avoid getting scammed. That said, here are a few things to remember.

3 Things to Remember When Selling Your Food Truck

Verify the Buyer’s Identity

Just as you wouldn’t want to buy a vehicle from an anonymous seller, you wouldn’t want to sell your food truck to someone who wants to stay unseen. A quick way to verify their identity is to ask for their driver’s license and insurance card, especially if they either want to buy the vehicle without even seeing it, or insist that you leave the food truck somewhere – with the keys! – long enough for them to test drive it and see its roadworthiness for themselves.

In connection to that, remember that legitimate buyers will want to check out the vehicle, and not just from test driving it. If you’ve bought a used vehicle before, remember the important questions you asked, then pay attention to those the buyer asks about the food truck. It’s true that certain questions might not have occurred to them just then; that alone is harmless and there’s no reason for you to be suspicious.

But what if they neglect to ask important questions on top of offering to buy the food truck immediately, without you even meeting each other, or they’re insisting on an anonymous test drive? Then you may be dealing with a scammer. That’s why it’s especially important that you confirm the buyer’s identity because then the person will think twice about trying to scam you.

Be suspicious of buyers offering a swap or trade

There’s nothing with offering to trade like for like, such as your food truck for a used sedan or SUV of approximately the same value. If the prospective buyer is suggesting a trade or a swap for a more expensive vehicle, though, be on your guard. That vehicle could have been stolen, or else it’s been written off and is supposed to be salvaged. It could also still have a large amount of money owed on it, or else have a host of mechanical problems that will be expensive to repair.

A variation on this theme is the buyer who says they can only pay for your used food truck in installments, with some extra fees tacked on top “for interest”, so you’d supposedly end up making more money instead of through a sale where the buyer will pay your asking price outright. In reality, the buyer will never go through with their promise of monthly payments, with or without a downpayment. 

In short, if that swap or offer seems too good to be true, it very likely is, and you have every right to be wary of the one doing the offering.

Make sure the buyer agrees to complete the transaction at the bank

Specifically, you’ll want to ensure the transaction takes place at the buyer’s bank. Some scammers will try to pay through fake personal or cashier’s checks, so being in a bank makes it easier for you to verify that they have the funds available for the sale to push through. 

Also, remember not to sign the title to your food truck over to the buyer until payment has been made, and you either have the cash in hand or it’s in your bank account. So if the buyer is reluctant about going to their bank or they want the transfer done immediately after they hand you the check, don’t go through with the sale. 

Another variation of this and the first scam with the faceless or anonymous buyer is when a buyer will mail a check for far more than your asking price for your food truck. They’ll then tell you the extra money is for shipping the food truck to them, and ask if you can send the money to their shipping service. Victims of this sort of scam will usually gladly wire the money, but they’ll find out a few days later that the check bounced or that it was a fake one.

There is a Paypal variation on the “bad check” scam, with the buyer offering to pay you immediately and they need your Paypal details. After a while, the buyer will message you again saying they’ve already sent the money, and the proof is in your email inbox, where you’ll find an email apparently sent by Paypal stating that the buyer has deposited money in your account. Remember, though, that the only way to verify you’ve received money is by checking your Paypal account yourself, so make sure you do that before you ship the food truck to the buyer.

Takeaway

It’s clear that you need to be careful when selling any used vehicle, food truck, or otherwise. It may seem tiring or daunting, but that extra effort to verify a buyer’s identity and make sure their money’s as good as their word will save you from the added stress of getting scammed. 

If you want to push through with selling your food truck online, you can use our platform at UsedVending.com to find legit buyers and enjoy a secured transaction.  

And did we forget to mention it? Listing your food truck for sale here is free! Visit our website today.