Caramel Overview
As a buyer, just add your seller’s email address, a few details about their vehicle, and the price you want to pay. As a seller, just add a few details about your vehicle, the price you’d like to be paid, and optionally a buyer’s email address. If you don’t have a buyer in mind yet, you can leave that field blank.
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Once you set an offer or asking price, your counterparty will receive an email with an invitation to respond. They can accept, counter, or decline with a tap or click. If you’re a seller and you didn’t enter a buyer’s email address when you set your asking price, you can share your personalized Caramel link with prospective buyers. With your link, they can accept, counter, or decline.
As soon as either party accepts a price sent to them, both parties will receive an email from Caramel confirming they can begin checkout.
As a seller, you have just five simple steps to complete checkout once there’s an accepted price. Most sellers can complete these steps in a few minutes.
On the Identity step, you’ll enter your address. Then on the Title step, you’ll upload photos of your title if you have it, and photos of your vehicle’s VIN & odometer. If you have a loan or lease on your vehicle, this is where you’ll confirm your lienholder’s name and you won’t have to upload title photos.
Then, you’ll just link the bank account where you’d like to receive payment on the Payment step, sign your sale documents digitally on the Signature step, and complete an optional digital self-inspection of your vehicle on the Inspection step.
For sellers, Caramel charges no service fee. If there is a lien on the vehicle or the title is not in the seller’s name, or the vehicle's sale price is less than $1,000, Caramel charges $95, which is netted out of the seller’s payment.
Once you and your buyer have completed the checkout process, Caramel purchases your vehicle and then sells it to your buyer. This is why the documents that you’ll sign during the Signature step show that Caramel is your buyer. This gives you the peace of mind that you’ll get paid on time from a reputable company and won’t have to deal with a buyer changing their mind after receiving the vehicle.
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If you have a loan or lease on your vehicle, we take care of all of the work.
For example, let’s say you were selling your 2019 Toyota Highlander for $23,000, and have a remaining balance of $10,000 on your loan at the time of your sale. In this case, Caramel would pay you $13,000 once the vehicle is confirmed as picked up by your private buyer, and pay your $10,000 loan payoff to your lender at that time too. Caramel charges sellers a $95 fee for this service.
Once Caramel submits a seller's loan payoff, it takes on average 5 to 10 business days for the lender to reflect the payoff.
As a buyer, you have just seven simple steps to complete checkout once there’s an accepted price. Most buyers can complete these steps in a few minutes.
On the Identity step, you’ll enter your address. Then on the Financing step, you can optionally apply for financing from the top national banks who partner Caramel. Even though multiple banks will review your financing application and may present you loan offers, you’ll only receive one hard credit check when you apply. On the Protection step, you can optionally add protection for your vehicle, which can save you thousands of dollars annually on repairs. On the Insurance step you can optionally add an insurance policy for your vehicle purchase, and on the Transport step you can optionally choose from multiple vehicle transport options if you don’t want to pick up your vehicle from your private seller.
After the Transport step, we’ll pause you to verify important elements of your sale before you sign anything, including your title, taxes and fees.
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To ensure every transaction is completed smoothly, we pause buyers briefly before they complete the Payment & Signature steps. During this pause, we verify the seller’s title and the details about the vehicle, as well as any state fees and taxes you owe.
For buyers, Caramel charges a $95 fee. The fee can be netted out of the seller’s payment and removed for the buyer if the seller agrees. In some cases, Caramel reserves the right to increase the fee up to $295. For example, a lender may require extensive administrative services or document processing by Caramel to collect added documentation before funding the loan. Or a buyer’s state DMV may require extensive documentation to transfer the title and register a buyer. Or Caramel may be required to process added documentation to support the EV tax credit. The amount charged will always be clearly displayed for the buyer’s review and assessment before completing any purchase.
Once we’re confident, we send you an email letting you know that you can complete your final two steps of the Caramel checkout process. First the Payment Step, where you’ll link the bank account that you’d like to use to pay, and then the Signature step, where you’ll sign your purchase documents digitally.
The forms you sign will show Caramel as your seller, because Caramel purchases the vehicle from your private seller and then sells the vehicle to you. This gives you the peace of mind that a reputable company is responsible to get the vehicle and title in your name.
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As soon as a buyer signs their documents on the Signature step, the checkout process is complete. Immediately, the process of transferring the buyer’s funds to Caramel begins.
Our standard process typically takes about 48 hours. During this time, we ensure funds settle in Caramel’s account. We then immediately notify both parties they can meet for pickup or we initiate transport when selected. These escrow-like safeguards protect both buyer and seller. Sometimes buyers need to get their car faster. Just chat us if so, and we can help you with much faster payment methods, like wire transfers.
Once a buyer’s funds are received & settled by Caramel, we send sellers who do not have a loan or lease on their vehicle a prepaid overnight FedEx label to deliver their title. As soon as we receive the title via FedEx, we initiate half of the seller’s payment to the bank account they linked during the Payment step. If within banking hours and early enough in the day, funds arrive in the seller’s bank account the same day. Otherwise, they’ll arrive the next business day.
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Once a vehicle leaves a seller’s possession, we initiate half of the seller’s payment to the bank account they linked during the Payment step. And for sellers who don’t have their title, we initiate their full payment at this time.
When the car is being picked up, the buyer can simply confirm they’ve done so on the Caramel app or website. Or don’t hesitate to let us know via chat, email, or phone to ensure you’re paid right away. For sales where our transport partner is picking up the vehicle, sellers can contact us when the vehicle has been loaded on the transporter.
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Once a buyer’s funds are received & settled by Caramel, we send the buyer a temporary registration permit for their new vehicle. This permit can be printed and affixed over the existing license plate or on the back of the vehicle where the license plate will be placed. With this temporary registration permit, buyers can legally operate their vehicle as soon as they pick it up or receive it. This permit is valid for 40 days.
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Once a buyer’s funds are received & settled by Caramel, we send sellers who do not have a loan or lease on their vehicle a prepaid overnight FedEx label to send us their title. Sellers do not have to sign their titles, as they delegate authority to Caramel to do so during the Signature step of checkout.
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While a buyer is using their temporary registration permit to legally operate their new vehicle, we work with the DMV to finalize their permanent registration, title, and plates. The buyer will then receive these in the mail to their home address. In most cases this takes less than the 40 days for which your temporary registration permit is valid. In rare instances where the DMV or a seller’s lienholder is a bit slow, we proactively send buyers a new temporary registration permit a few days before the first one expires.
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