Help please. Has anyone heard of the company “DTO Customs” based in Virginia?

[Bill_P]

I am familiar with this company. DTO Customs is a sub-unit of Country Chevrolet in Warrenton Va. They are legit. The reason they probably want to write you a check is for the bean counters at their parent dealer.

They have some heavily modded rigs there that sell for a boatload of money. They had a Gladiator Hellcat there that was going for over $140 grand.

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[Cajun21]

You're already receiving good advice and allow me to add my two cents-technology is key here-just facetime to the person that wish to do the purchase and make sure their using their lot and you have their number; more than enough shops are facetiming especially when it's an out- of- town customer. Also checks are good for bookkeeping but cash is used as well for bookkeeping, with all the scams these days I've been hesitant with those, and I only take them from those that have the same bank as the issuer.

 

[omega145]

Strange to see a thread asking if anyone heard of DTO customs when you can literally google them and see hundreds of reviews and a wide online presence. A 4 page thread could have been condensed to a no page thread if you communicated actively directly with DTO customs.

 

[OBD]

NO way.......My parts wouldn't leave unless I had cash in hand or the bank could verify the funds were deposited.

 

[bohnster]

Paypal is a near instaneous electronic payment

Instead ask for a usual electronic payment. It will be clear in 24 hours. And don't release the goods till have the money.

Generally good suggestion but not necessarily true. PayPal is not a safe and guaranteed payment method. Corporate IT payment processing expert here. Check Paypal's policies or view this article for a brief summary:
Paypal Holds

If the seller has unusual activity, Paypal can hold funds for up to 30 days. If the buyer is un-verified, Paypal will hold the funds if sourced from a bank account until the funds clear. That generally takes 3-5 business days but could take up to 10 with smaller banks. Even then, once the funds are transferred, it is very easy to dispute/reverse the transaction via Paypal and very easy for a buyer to win the dispute even with proof on the seller's part. I have first hand experience with many companies on this. Just check Paypal's & other forums to see how many angry sellers there are out there. (Also, side note, many card issuers do not offer chargeback protection via the card/bank if Paypal was used as the payment method. The chargeback has to go through there.)

Other posters have already hit the mark: after independently calling the business to verify the request for purchase, go with a cashier's check. Of course, you still need to know that the cashier's check is genuine, so it's best to transact on a business day, but having already called the business, you mitigate that risk.

 

[bohnster]

Strange to see a thread asking if anyone heard of DTO customs when you can literally google them and see hundreds of reviews and a wide online presence. A 4 page thread could have been condensed to a no page thread if you communicated actively directly with DTO customs.

Yes, but the OP is obviously inexperienced and needs advice from those more savvy on a high $$$ transaction. We've all been there...

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Bank certified check. I'm a skeptic, but I also don't want to carry $6500 cash, because you never know.

 

[Themistocles]

Great advice so far, to me bottom line:

First step: Verify you are actually dealing with DTO...look their contact info up online. Send them an email verifying the sale is with them not somebody pretending to be them (use their business email, not a personal email)...it is posted on their site, just checked. Get a reply back from their business email confirming the deal. Then call them back at their online posted phone number (not a number provided in the email) and talk to somebody reconfirming. This does two things for you, the email with their business email establishes a documentation chain and the phone call overcomes the very slight potential that their business email has been compromised.

Second step: As long as first step checks out...Ask for payment as a cashiers check, money order, or if you're comfortable, business check.

Third step: Do the deal (at you local LE shop is a great idea for location)...but insist on a photo showing them taking possession and make sure the sale is documented with some type of a bill of sale.

This process will have the highest chance of (1) confirming you are actually dealing with the business and (2) making sure you have legal recourse if the business is trying to cheat you.

my 2 cents

 

[Boatbuilder88]

FYI...Cashiers checks are not foolproof guarantees of payment.

https://dfi.wa.gov/financial-education/information/cashiers-check-scams

 

[mnjeeper]

Easy solution. These two below sound local. Ask someone at DTO to meet one of them. They can send you a pic of the license plate of the truck that will pick up, the ID of the person you are dealing with, whatever. This means you call them at DTO (that's pretty good in itself) and have enough proof that a scammer would not take the risk.

If someone gives you a hand, send them $50 for their trouble. It's worth it compared to 8 hours round trip to deliver or any other jacking around you could be doing.

DTO is kinda near me,

I am familiar with this company. DTO Customs is a sub-unit of Country Chevrolet in Warrenton Va. They are legit. The reason they probably want to write you a check is for the bean counters at their parent dealer.

They have some heavily modded rigs there that sell for a boatload of money. They had a Gladiator Hellcat there that was going for over $140 grand.

 

[mnjeeper]

Legitimate question here: In a sale like this, or a private used car sale, would someone bring $6500 in actual cash? Like even if you had 100s that would still be quite a few...it's not movie duffel bag level but I've never personally seen close to that in one place.

I'm asking because I've never done private for anything large before. My only experiences with this kind of money were selling to CarMax and Carvana. They both gave me a check, so I thought that's how it's done.

Under $10K I have done it twice. It's a fun stack of $100s.

 

[cavguy]

@Izzo93 - Skimmed this while waiting to takeoff so apologies if someone mentioned this already. Sounds like business is somewhat reputable. Personally, I’d be a little hesitant to collect cash. When I bought my first set of wheels, the seller didn’t want cash. He told me his friend sold something and was paid cash but it was a mixture of legit $100 bills and mixture of counterfeit. PayPal or Venmo on the spot is my preferred followed by a business check (which it sounds like, again, they’re legit). Picking up on a Sunday sounds weird but if they’re a smaller business with limited staffing, they may not want to send someone during the day and reduce their staffing bandwidth. Good luck!

Many counterfeit bills are easy to spot if you look real quick. You can report counterfeit currency to your police department, they will write up a report, take the money and then send it to the USSS (who used to actually investigate under certain circumstances).

 

[CaJLMetalHead]

how about using Zelle?...

 

[DaltonGang]

GOOD GOD, JUST SELL THE THING ALREADY!!!!!!

 

[Jeepin_Donnie]

I could really use some sound judgement or even the slightest inclination that I won’t get burnt.

So I have my 4.5” RK long arm coil over kit posted for sale. On here, as well as Facebook Marketplace.

long story short obviously cash is king.

they are the first people (or rather company) in this instance who has shown true interest in wanting to buy this set up rather than just kicking tires.

they are wanting to come and buy the set up off of me either this upcoming Sunday or next Sunday at the latest.

Great news.

except, they are telling me they cannot do cash, and can only write a check. Being it would be a business check and would be issued from the company.

it sounds great, and under any other circumstances I would not think otherwise.

but they are wanting to write me a $6,500 check for the kit. Not cash. And they seem like a legit business, I’ve went on their website etc, but sadly the world is corrupt now a days, and I wouldn’t be getting burnt on a couple hundred bucks and chalk it up as a loss worse come to worse, but rather $6,500 (the amount I have it listed for on Marketplace)..

Has any members on our forum done business with them directly being their custom shop or their dealership and can kind of ease my well justified weariness on this deal I have going on?

many input would be great..

thanks guys
-Nathan

Hey Nathan,

I have a buddy who has sold them many Jeep parts. I sent him a message asking if they paid him with a check. I will let you know.

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