I'm going to buy a 2nd hand car for about 5000 from a dealer with cash and
> wondered what was the preferred way of doing this. 20 pound notes seem very
> awkward. Cheques have to clear. Something like a credit card or Switch card
> would seem ideal. What are other peoples experiences?
>
> Many thanks.
>
> P.S. I'm amazed that all the sites that I've tried which give advice on
> buying cars seem to ignore this topic. They seem to assume everyone will use
> "finance" to buy a car.
>
>
I wanted to buy a new car from a Ford dealer with cash and he kept trying to convince me that I needed to bury the cash in a deposit account to earn interest whilst taking advantage of their "wonderful" low-interest credit option so that I'd actually make money on the deal (?).
So I told him if he didn't want my handbag full of 20 notes, I'd go to Vauxhall or Rover and buy their equivalent models.
He was still trying to explain to me how wonderful his option was as I pulled away................
After suggesting Bankers Draught (and the other about Switch), if you have a high enough crdit limit on a Credit Card, paying this way and then paying it off straight away gives you added protection as the CC company could also be liable if there are any problems (see "Which" magazine which is always going on about the liability of CC companies) so this may be an option?
Credit cars have worked for me but sometimes the dealers don't like the fee's imposed. Failing that you've got certified cheque, Bank draft. electronic bank transfer etc etc etc.
You'll usually find that those little notices in the store don't refer to the credit card company fee, but to a highly fictitious fee created by the store itself, paid to another company in it's same group (not the credit card company), and set up with the sole purpose of "getting one over" on Customs & Excise. But C&E are fighting back!!!
Some shops charge 102.5% to cover the CC charge you say? This is true.
Some stores like say Sainsburies for example charge 100% and get 97.5% themselves and "Sainsburies card handling services" or such name gets 2.5%. This is true and nor do I know the logic of this (I suppose VAT would be put onto both 'transactions' or such - correct me if I am wrong ... OK, just correct me as I am 99% wrong all the time! :) )
Having recently bought a car in cash....for 5200, I have first hand experience.
The garage wanted either, bankers draught or cash. My bank wante 20 for a bankers draught for that amount, although compared to the amount for the car it was negligeble [10pints in the pub ;)] I didn't want a bankers draught on principle.
The bank got all pissy about withdrawing the amount without warning, but eventually handed it over. As far as the bank is concerned, if you want cash the denomination is whatever they got. If they insist they don't carry the amount, its cr@p. They have an amount per day.........so a bank claiming they only have
3000, would have more for the days leading upto the next bank drop.
The garage won't care how they get the cash, 50's 20's, 10's.............so long as its not 5k in copper.
As far as the credit card issue is concerned, I just got quote for CC handling for a new business venture I'm setting up. they quoted 4.79% per transaction. Considering the purchase price of the original poster that would be a cost of nearly 240 to the garage. Debit cards {switch, delta etc}were quoted at 47.5p per transaction, not really an issue.
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