When buying a car from a private seller, you’ll face a trust problem: you don’t want to pay until you receive the car, and the seller doesn’t want to release the car until they’re paid. Escrow solves this catch-22 by creating a trust bridge between the buyer and seller.
While escrows provide security, they’re slow, costly, and cumbersome. We’ll introduce an instant, affordable, secure, and intuitive alternative that solves the trust problem and makes payment easy.
Escrow holds your funds until you receive the car and then releases the funds to the seller. Here’s how the escrow process plays out:
Escrow facilitates secure vehicle transactions and keeps both parties honest.
Escrow services are safe as long as you choose a legitimate one. While rare, some car scams target buyers using fake escrows. Here’s the most common scam to watch out for:
The whole purpose of escrow is that a trusted third party receives, holds, and releases your funds. Never use a seller-suggested escrow company without verifying its legitimacy. If you’re worried about an escrow scam, choose the company yourself.
To verify an escrow company’s legitimacy:
Fake escrow services are uncommon, and diligent private buyers should be able to easily avoid them. But fraud risk isn’t the only downside of escrow.
Escrow fills an important need in high-dollar, high-stakes private sales, but it’s a solution with its own set of problems:
If you want the safety of a trusted escrow service without the downsides, you’re ready for DealNow.
DealNow gives you immediate escrow-like safeguards in the palm of your hand. You join a private dealroom with a verified seller. You and the seller go through a step-by-step transactional workflow that protects both parties throughout the process.
After you approve the vehicle, both parties are prompted to electronically sign a state-specific bill of sale. This legally enforceable contract gives you peace of mind that, when you pay, you’ll get the car.
After you pay, the seller instantly receives the funds, even if it’s the middle of the night on a holiday. They can immediately perform the transfer of ownership.
The entire transaction is completed in a few minutes, and you and the seller are protected at every step. You overcome the trust problem, and you each fulfill your side of the bargain.
Here is how DealNow outperforms traditional escrow while protecting you:
With DealNow, you’re not just getting an escrow-like level of security—you’re getting a complete, high-speed, user-friendly platform for high-dollar transactions.
| DealNow | Traditional Escrow | |
|---|---|---|
|
Cost |
Flat fee |
Percentage-based transaction fees, typically 1% to 3% of the selling price |
|
Transaction speed |
Instant |
Several days, sometimes longer |
|
Availability |
24/7/365 |
Business hours only |
|
Identity verification |
Built-in for both parties |
May be limited or require additional steps |
|
Communication |
Secure in-app messaging |
Complex 3-way communication, often exposing personal info |
|
Paperwork |
Digital, automated |
Often requires physical paperwork |
|
Mobile app |
Yes |
Varies by service |
|
Geographic reach |
Nationwide (US) |
May be limited to certain areas |
|
Maximum transaction value |
Unlimited |
May have upper limits |
Here’s how easy it is to buy a car with DealNow:
Experience a smoother, faster, and more secure transaction with DealNow. Ready to give it a shot?
People use escrow services in major purchases for:
These benefits make escrow useful for online or long-distance transactions where the parties don’t meet in person.
Not everyone uses escrow for private sales. Some people prefer to exchange payments with cash, personal checks, cashier’s checks, credit card payments, or wire transfers. Others may avoid escrow due to its fees and complexity.
The alternatives can be risky and inconvenient. Cash transactions are vulnerable to theft or counterfeit money, checks can bounce, and bank transfers require buyers to collect the seller’s bank account information.
DealNow provides a modern alternative that combines the security of escrow with the speed of digital transactions, all without fees. It’s designed to make secure, private-party car sales accessible to everyone.
When buying a car from a private seller, many turn to online escrow services. Here’s how it typically works:
Escrow.com charges:
On a $20,000 car, you could be paying over $500 in fees. With DealNow? Just a low, flat fee.
EBay Motors can be safe for online purchases, but it relies on third-party escrow services such as Escrow.com. DealNow offers a more integrated, secure solution. Find a car on eBay Motors and make the purchase on DealNow.
Our platform provides all the safety measures of escrow services built directly into the online transaction process, eliminating the need for external escrow and its associated fees and delays.
You can only avoid escrow fees by avoiding escrow services. Physical cash and checks don’t require payment fees, but they lack the added trust of an escrow.
DealNow offers a modern solution that combines the best of both worlds. Our platform provides the security features of traditional escrow services without the percentage-based fees, instead using a simple flat fee structure.
Traditional escrow services have high overhead costs and need to turn a profit, resulting in substantial fees for users. DealNow is a technology solution that requires no human oversight, keeping our overhead low. It gives you escrow-like security at a fraction of the price.
With traditional escrow, buyers may get their money back if a transaction falls through, but the process can be time-consuming. DealNow simplifies this by giving buyers full control of their funds until the moment they’re satisfied with the vehicle and ready to complete the purchase.
DealNow is the easiest way to close your own vehicle deal, anytime. It’s the safe and simple way to avoid fraud, sign documents, and instantly transact, all in one app.
