Interest rates are high. Wife totalled out her car and we need new wheels. Looking at used F150 in $30-40K range. If interest rates are low, I normally finance it and move on. No way I am paying 8%.
How do you pay the dealer? I am considering taking greenbacks. Not sure if dealer will want to mess with this or not. I presume they have a safe on site but people have reservations about handling bands of cash. I am not one of those people.
Do they take personal checks and call the bank to verify funds?
Cashiers check seems like a major PITA not knowing what the final price will actually be.
Anyone with recent car buying advice? Looks like truck prices are falling quickly so negotiations should be doable again.
If I am selling, I only take cash or meet at bank. When I buy something, I bring cash. No digital payment, no check, no M.O.
When I bought my car when we settled on the price, I went to my bank and got a Cashiers Check payable to the dealer. In my case I bought my car in Lawrence KS, which is about 30 miles from home but there was a bank branch 3 blocks away. We settled on the price and I walked to the bank and got the Cashiers Check.
Having worked at a bank, when someone would call to verify funds we would only say that if it was presented now, it has sufficient funds, but we NEVER told anybody that it would clear any other time because people can (and have) said that we told them the check would clear and it caused the bank a lot of hassles…I kind of know from personal experience - we had a guy who brought in a check that he had deposited that was returned twice, so the only thing we could do was send it thru collections, where the originating bank would hold if for a week or so. If funds were available during that time, they would pay it. If not, it was returned. This was the 80’s so there wasn’t any online magic. Anyhow, this guy started calling me HOURLY to ask about the check. I tried to explain that it would take several days. After about the 5th call I made the mistake of saying “we are taking care of it”. The check didnt’ clear and this guy was somewhat of a hot shot who went to the bank president, who brought me in and reamed my ass for “making a commitment on behalf of the bank”. On the way back downstairs in the elevator he said “I’m sorry, I never meant for that to happen”. I just told him it’s all in a days work. I did tell my friend who was an executive VP at the bank about the incident and HE went into the president’s office to tell him he was out of line. I did get an apology from the president, but it never should have happened.
Depends on the dealer and your relationship with him/her. We’ve bought three cars over the years from the same dealer. For the last two, we just wrote a personal check and drove away.
Same here. When we bought my wife’s car a few years ago I just wrote a check from our money market account, no problem. Also, it’s easy to just get a certified check from your bank made out to the dealer for the exact amount.
My dad was a travelling sales rep for RCA and Sony in the 60’s and his territory was the state of Florida. He put a TON of miles on a car back then, and ended up getting a new car every year or two. Always went to the same dealer (A.P. Clark Chrysler Plymouth) and always to the same salesman. We knew him so well that the kids called him “Uncle Jack”. Back in 1969, dad was looking for another car and Jack let him take a Superbird home for the weekend. For a while I had the coolest dad in town. He ended up in a Chrysler Newport.
Remains me of Jay Leno’s story about his dad letting him pick some options on a car being ordered. Leno picked the Ford 406 with four on the floor, and that’s what his dad ordered.
That is the issue. I am going to go driving to 4 different dealers to look at trucks that made my short list. I am going to drive 400 miles assuming I make it to them all. My bank is in small town with small town banker hours of 8-5. Its going to be a pain to back track from a dealer after negotiation, upto 100 miles away to get the cashiers check. I am hoping to make this a one trip deal and I was thinking it would be easiest to withdraw $40K in cash and go shopping.
The particular combo of options is hard to find. I am looking for the front bench seat with folding console vs the fixed console and bucket seats. 90% of them have the bucket seats.
Just a thought but is your credit card limit high enough? The only reason I mention that is that banks are required to file a report for cash withdrawals over $10,000. While it’s unlikely, you might face a couple of hassles in taking that much in cash. IF you can put it on a credit card and pay it off at the end of the month, you can get some sweet rewards points
Not an expert on buying and selling cars. However, I recall somebody once saying that if a dealership is willing to accept a credit card payment you have done a lousy job at negotiating the price.
I’ve bought 2 new vehicles in the last 60 days, don’t ask. I wrote a check for about 1/3 of the total each time and financed the rest. No problem taking a personal check. I believe they have to report cash amounts over a certain level. $5000 comes to mind. Drug money! Their finance rate was 4.9% through Chase/Subaru finance. I just looked, there was no loan origination fee. The only number I talked about was the out the door price, absolutely no add on fees. It went pretty smooth.
Its $10K. The bank would also have to file one when you take it out. There would be a second report from the dealer.
This might be the easiest solution. Your rate was subsidised from the manufacture on the sale of a new vehicle. They are not doing this on used because the manufacture only makes money on the first sale. The used rates are in the 7.5-8% range with excellent credit. I recently checked mine and it is in the 820 range.
We bought a used f150 yesterday. I wasnt planning on shopping yesterday. Found a truck (19 f150 lariat with max tow) made a deal and we didnt sign any sales agreement and they just gave it to us as a loaner. Wife will stop by the bank and get money order and go back on Tuesday for detail and paperwork.