Paying for a car in U.K.

oho_noho · 16-07-2008 4:44pm #1

Am going to Scotland for a week and hope to pick up car while over there. I intend to buy one from a dealer, will i be able to pay by laser card?

smash · 16-07-2008 4:45pm

are you taking the piss? buy a car with your laser card.....

DonalN · 16-07-2008 4:53pm

would you like cashback with that??? ha ha!!

colsers22 · 16-07-2008 4:53pm

And you wont be able to avail of the new emissions tax system either :-(

OTK · 16-07-2008 5:15pm

oho_noho wrote: »

Am going to Scotland for a week and hope to pick up car while over there. I intend to buy one from a dealer, will i be able to pay by laser card?

Laser card is not accepted by UK retailers. Most dealers will accept a Visa card but you will have to pay the handling charges (typically 1.5%).

oho_noho · 16-07-2008 5:20pm

Ah. Thanks for that. What are other options do i have?
Bank Draft? Money transfer?

vengeance52 · 16-07-2008 5:32pm

there is a cash limit they will accept due to money laundering laws. Bank Draft for the main bulk, and use the Visa for the remaining after you haggle with them.

sesswhat · 16-07-2008 5:48pm

OTK wrote: »

Laser card is not accepted by UK retailers.

Unless it is also branded Maestro. And even then it is not accepted everywhere that UK Maestro is accepted, but you should be able to use it in ATMs and some Chip and Pin machines.

Still not suitable for large purchases of course.

Eoin · 16-07-2008 5:56pm

Laser Cards generally have a transaction limit of 1500 per day, and I don't know if it's possible at all to get this increased.

If you speak to your bank you may be able to organise a transfer, though I think your first port of call should be with the dealer to see what they will take.

omb0wyn5ehpij9 · 16-07-2008 5:59pm

Get a bank draft done for the main bulge of the price...and have cash/visa card for the rest of it in case you can haggle a bit off it!

Eoin · 16-07-2008 7:08pm

If a dealer knows you are coming over with a draft made out to them, then I don't think you'll have much bargaining power.

vengeance52 · 16-07-2008 7:28pm

eoin_s wrote: »

If a dealer knows you are coming over with a draft made out to them, then I don't think you'll have much bargaining power.

if you tell the dealer that your comin over with a partial draft and the remainder by Visa, they know to expect the price to be haggled a bit.

Eoin · 16-07-2008 7:45pm

My point is that they can agree to knock a tiny bit off the price, and see if you are willing to cancel the draft and get a flight back home or cough up.

Esel · 16-07-2008 10:00pm

eoin_s wrote: »

My point is that they can agree to knock a tiny bit off the price, and see if you are willing to cancel the draft and get a flight back home or cough up.

Surely your logic would apply equally to any proposed method payment?

Eoin · 16-07-2008 10:29pm

esel wrote: »

Surely your logic would apply equally to any proposed method payment?

Yes, it does so it probably off topic. I was just saying that you should agree the price before you go over.

magick · 16-07-2008 10:31pm

what type of car is it? How much are you hoping to save?

oho_noho · 17-07-2008 10:23am

Honda accord, hoping to save 2-3k.

oho_noho · 17-07-2008 10:33am

Thanks for the advice. As i said i'm going for a week, and theres a few cars i'm interested in looking at. A bank draft won't work in that situation.

oho_noho · 17-07-2008 10:49am

Spoke to my bank, there only advice was bring it in cash.
Sounds like madness to me. If i sent it to a friends account in scotland how long would it take to go through?

Gumbo · 17-07-2008 10:56am

Ring the dealer first, some garages only accept bank drafts from certain banks.

when i was buying my car in Birmingham the salesguy said he would ring me back in 5 mins as he had to check on his system which bank drafts they could accept. AIB was ok for them so i got a sterling bank draft and paid the balance by credit card, was only a couple of hundred on the card so they didnt hit me for the 1.5% fee.

no point going all the way over to find out the garage wont accept a particular bank draft, so better be safe than sorry!!

cash is always better as you can wave it infront of him, and also bring some colour print outs of the same car as you buying in other dealers in the area, that way if the dealer is tight with his asking price just tell him no problem, you have a few to look at today, your boat is not leaving until this evening so you have time to visit the other dealers, but tell him you really like this car and if you accept xx amount i will buy it now without going to the other dealers.

bit cheeky i know but you may get an extra few quid off it.

oho_noho · 17-07-2008 11:00am

Somebody said earlier that there is a limit on the amount of cash they can take, due to money laundering. how strictly is this enforced?

knuth · 17-07-2008 11:11am

3k sterling for the Renault one in Nottingham.

Eoin · 17-07-2008 11:14am

Just ring the dealer - they are the only people who can answer your question.

BnA · 17-07-2008 11:44am

I had a similar problem as yourself last week.

I was going over to buy an S-Max and I was going to be spending 13k to 14k.

Because I was only going to be in the UK for one day, I had planned to take the money in cash as it's the only type of payment that clears straight away.

However I rang three different dealers and all three told me they couldn't take that kind of cash. The limit they could accept for cash was about £9990 (i.e. under £10k). And they were very very strict on this

So that meant I would have to get a bank draft in the dealers name.... But, what happens if I go to the dealer and I don't like the car. I'll have to go home empty handed.

I then decided that I would go to a dealer in Norfolk because he had two S-Max's of the spec I wanted so at least I'd have a choice of two. I decided this on a Friday and I was traveling to the UK on Monday evening. But when I rang him on Monday morning, the hoors had sold one during the weekend.

So I went back to the Autotrader and I noticed there was a new car on it that hadn't been there the week before. It was in Liverpool which was great because I was in Liverpool for the day on Tuesday for work. Also it was to the spec I wanted.

It was a private sale. I rang yer man up and arranged to meet him the following morning. I told him that if I bought the car I would be paying in cash. He was a bit unsure of this at first, but then we arranged to meet outside his local bank. Met him, done a deal and went into the bank with him. They counted the money, lodged it in his account and told him all was ok and he handed over the keys.

The big big plus side of dealing with cash was in striking a deal. There is nothing like waving a wad of notes under a fella's nose to get a few quid off. It's great to be able to say..."Look, if we do this deal now, I'll pay cash straight away, take the car away with me, end of story.... No waiting a week for a cheque, meeting me again etc etc..."

The main negative side I suppose is security. I was ringing a fella I didn't know and telling him I'd meet him outside a place I didn't know with £13k in my pocket. But, sure I took the chance.

Sorry about the rambling, just wanted to let you know my own experience. Basically cash will work for a private sale. Will possibly work for a garage sale (in the garages I rang) as well up to £10k.

Considering you are there for a week, and you have a friend over there....I think your best option would be...

Take the money over in cash. Try and find a car (early in the week). If you find the car you want and they will take cash.... you're sorted. If they won't take cash, then you can just give it to your friend to lodge in his account and he can get a bank draft for you.

One other small thing to look out for (not really to do with paying). Some of the car supermarkets I rang had a 2 day turn around with a car. i.e. You couldn't just show up today, buy the car and take it away with you. You would buy today, they would then service the car etc and you could collect it in two days. Now, I am sure some of them could hurry it up for you but I found one in particular simply would not. Even if I promised to pay a deposit by credit card over the phone they could not have the car ready for me when I got there. So just something to look out for.

vengeance52 · 17-07-2008 6:35pm

oho_noho wrote: »

Somebody said earlier that there is a limit on the amount of cash they can take, due to money laundering. how strictly is this enforced?

Its very scrictly with main dealer ive been to in the Uk. when talking about it, as soon as payment is mention, they tell me they can only take 3k cash for the purchase of a car. Ring the dealer and ask them what they will take cash wise.

Paying for a car in U.K.

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