I just sold my Alfa Romeo to shift. They took the title from Ally without any issue. It was a month long process. Was very risky but thankfully market didn’t change much during this time. I took personal loan to do the lease buyout. Here is the timeline so it will be helfpul for someone. It all started when I attempted to sell to Autonation and they got a payoff quote of 10k more than my personal lease payoff from Ally. It was close to my lease end and I decided to go through below route.
6/8 Tue - Applied for personal loan from SoFI
6/11 Fri - Cash available in my bank from SoFi.
6/12 Sat - Prepared Cashier’s check and send to Ally through usps
6/16 Wed - USPS tracking says item delivered. Checked with Ally next day, but they said it takes a while to process the postal mails
6/22 Mon - Ally online account shows payment has been applied. Talked to customer care again on next steps. They said they will send a FedEx for me to sign and send back (Bill of sale and odo reading statement). Followed up again in coming days, but no update
6/28 Mon - Received call from their buyout dept and said they will send me the docusign for bill of sale and odo reading(No FedEx). I signed through docusign the same day
6/29 Tue - Ally rep signed the document and I received the final doc through email. I specifically requested the person to send the title through FedEx
6/30 Wed - Ally sent the title
7/01 Fri - Received title through FedEx
7/01 Fri - Received a new quote from Shift. I called customer service and ensured they can take the title. Arranged appointment same day. Somebody came in the evening, inspected the car and drove if off.
7/05 Mon - Car listed in their website
7/06 Tue - Money available in my account.
Expenses
Had to renew the registration on June-15. Shouldn’t have waited till lease end. Paid ~$500
Insurance for the above period - ~$50
Interest on personal loan for a month - ~$300 (but SoFi had a bonus offer to give $300 on approved personal loans. So this may be covered).
My best case profit is nearly 2k.
If anyone wants to use my referral link to go through similar route from SoFi with $300 bonus, PM me.
Anyways, the delay it can take and how the market will change is unpredictable. So, it’s good to think of all backup options. Use your own math and judgement to make sure it can work out for your case.