View Single Post
Old 04-17-2018, 06:34 PM   #3
DealerEx
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 548
Default

I exported several vehicles--Dodge 4x4 diesels--to Germany in the early to mid 2000's. It was very stressful. I had a customer locally who breeds high dollar horses and sells them to customers in Germany. In order to do business there, you have to contact their bankers in the middle of the night here. They often have difficulty in understanding what you are asking about. They would tell me "jah he is good customer-he will bring you check for the money". I would explain that it had to be a certified bank cashiers check and they would "jah jah it is good check". I had to arrange to have it transported to the shipyard in Galveston where it would be placed on a boat and sent to Germany and coordinate the paperwork. The actual customer, who I had met while he was in Texas to look at the horse, had ordered a truck from me then went back to Germany. The truck came in and he sent his younger brother over to sign the papers and pay me. He showed up with an ordinary check instead of a cashiers check. The truck had to be loaded on the boat the next day. A 3am call to the banker got the response "jah it is a bank check on our bank--it is good". I called the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas to find out what the clearing time would be--18-21 days--it had to be received in New York and held there for 10 days before they would forward it to the Dallas FRB then to my bank. So--I had 3 weeks of wondering IF i was going to get my money--a truck on a boat to Europe--wondering what I could do if they simply turned the check back and i had to try and go get it back from them. It was NOT a comfortable feeling! I later did 2 more deals with horse buyers from there but told them that they had to pay me up front, where the check cleared, before it would be loaded on a boat and they had to make all their own shipping arrangements.

Last edited by DealerEx; 04-17-2018 at 06:37 PM.
DealerEx is offline   Reply With Quote