How to Pay for a UK Car in the UK

Cork4ever

want to import a car from the UK, an 05/06 VW Passat or Audi A4, i have read the tread regarding the import procedure etc and thats fine, I just want to ask about actually paying for the car and what other people have done

The options are far as i can see are

1. Laser Card - Was just in with the bank and they are telling me this could be promblematic due to card limits etc circa €3000 - so that doesn't sound good
2. Credit Card - 2% charge on £10,000 is costly option but looking the best one so far
3. Bank Draft for say £9000 and cash for about £1000 - dangerous option in the sense you could loose the draft or worse it could get stolen

i know people on this board have purchased so i would be very interesting in hearing what ye have to say

Gumbo

bank draft, theres no other real option unless you wana pay cash.
credit card charges are too expensive.

some dealers wont take that amount of cash from you either.

i would advise you to ring the dealer in question and ask them if they accept drafts from the particular bank you are getting yours from ie AIB, BOI etc etc

Kotek Besar

If you have an account in the North (with Ulster Bank, for example), you can use www.currency.ie to transfer Euros from your current a/c in ROI to Sterling into your NI account. You'd then have Sterling available as and when you need it.

Transfers between UK bank accounts are normally instant, for when you want to pay the seller.

I've found www.currency.ie to be very cost effective when transferring large amounts of money.

Moanin

Bank transfer or Draft.

Most delaers will accept either

Cork4ever

Thanks for that, logical really

calmed me nerves, its my first time to do it and i want to do it right

stretchaq

bring cash and 3 big men thats what i did, what happens if you dont buy the first car you see!!!! your stuck with the draft

Cash is the only way. I brought around 8k its not a problem and I know if i was the seller I would only accept cash(only way that was accepted when I bought my car). Also you would need to ring the bank a day or two in advance as they might not have enough sterling if you go in looking for big sums.

Kotek Besar

Andy Ashy Tween wrote: »

Cash is the only way.

What, and let an Irish bank convert Euros into Sterling for you? No thanks!

benifa

benifa wrote: »

What, and let an Irish bank convert Euros into Sterling for you? No thanks!

Why not?

kdevitt

Andy Ashy Tween wrote: »

Cash is the only way. I brought around 8k its not a problem and I know if i was the seller I would only accept cash(only way that was accepted when I bought my car).

Customs at Holyhead were ready to take my brothers new car because he paid £2400 in cash. If you have any more than £1000, or anything bought with more than that amount in cash, they're entitled to confiscate it - and you need to prove where you got the cash from. That came direct from the customs official who decided the cash purchase merited us having a drug search done.

A draft is always the best way to pay - you can provide the draft number to the seller before you travel so they can verify it with the issuing bank. If you want a bit of wriggle room, get the draft made out for a grand less than the cost of the car and take the rest in cash, and if you decide not to buy the car just take the draft back to the bank and lodge it into your account.

kdevitt

kdevitt wrote: »

Customs at Holyhead were ready to take my brothers new car because he paid £2400 in cash. If you have any more than £1000, or anything bought with more than that amount in cash, they're entitled to confiscate it - and you need to prove where you got the cash from. That came direct from the customs official who decided the cash purchase merited us having a drug search done.

.

How did they know how he paid for the car? Customs at pembroke had a chat with me but all they wanted to make sure was the car wasnt stolen. Had no problem in the airport going over with the cash either. Friends of mine have also done the same all sums over 7k and have had no problems going over or comming back.

Maybe the customs officer was having a bad day or was just being an ass when dealing with your brother.

kdevitt

Andy Ashy Tween wrote: »

How did they know how he paid for the car? Customs at pembroke had a chat with me but all they wanted to make sure was the car wasnt stolen. Had no problem in the airport going over with the cash either. Friends of mine have also done the same all sums over 7k and have had no problems going over or comming back.

Maybe the customs officer was having a bad day or was just being an ass when dealing with your brother.

He asked for proof of payment.

Kotek Besar

Andy Ashy Tween wrote: »

Why not?

Because it's very, very expensive.

kdevitt

kdevitt wrote: »

He asked for proof of payment.

Fair enough. Must have been a right b*****d of an officer. The most reason I am suggesting cash is most people will only accept cash. I know the fella I bought the car off would accept nothing but cash and the same for other cars I looked at. Imagine some one from the UK coming over here with a draft from a UK bank it would look well dodgy! I know when it comes to selling cars I have never or never will accept anything but cash.

rabbitinlights

Im in the same boat, I have a Halifax Visa Debit card and there is no limit as long as you have the money in your account, there is how ever a 1.7 % fee which for me buying a 13,000 car would be a 220 euro fee, Im willing to pay this so I can avoid having to wait for payments to clear over the weekend and I don't have to carry cash etc.

S.

Anan1

benifa wrote: »

Because it's very, very expensive.

I can think of no way to buy a UK car without having to buy sterling somewhere. It's like anything else - you shop around for the best rate.

Kotek Besar

Anan1 wrote: »

I can think of no way to buy a UK car without having to buy sterling somewhere.

Well obviously, yes. But buying Sterling at a bank is very expensive. I've used www.currency.ie to change large amounts of Euro into Sterling and their rate is very, very competitive. Ask them for a quote and you'll see what I mean. There's no fee, unless you want same-day transfer, in which case there's EUR 15 fee.

Wishbone Ash

kdevitt wrote: »

He asked for proof of payment.

Andy Ashy Tween wrote: »

Fair enough. Must have been a right b*****d of an officer

For doing his job?

Wishbone Ash

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

For doing his job?

Ive no problem with checking up on cars to make sure they are not stolen as I said the customs guy got my reg and went off with my licence for a few minutes no doubt to check if the car had been reported stolen etc as all I had was the change of owner slip(I re-reg'd the car at a UK address rather than export it). He had no interest whatsoever how I paid for the car. In fairness I cant see the point of UK customs going around looking for proof of how People pay for there cars its not really got anything to do with them. There job is to stop stolen cars, find drugs and people traveling illegally.

They dont even ask for an ID when going on the ferry, well not from me anyway and then they go around stopping people because they pay for stuff in cash! Madness!!

kdevitt

Andy Ashy Tween wrote: »

There job is to stop stolen cars, find drugs and people traveling illegally.

...and money laundering.

kdevitt

kdevitt wrote: »

...and money laundering.

Well Id imagine most people who buy cars in the UK pay with cash and until today I have never heard of somebody asked to prove how they paid for a car so it must be quite rare.

Just as a matter of interest what proof would you have for customs after you have handed over a draft or used a money transfer. I have transfered money before and have never had any proof of the transfer if I was asked for proof for one reason or another.

kdevitt

Andy Ashy Tween wrote: »

Well Id imagine most people who buy cars in the UK pay with cash and until today I have never heard of somebody asked to prove how they paid for a car so it must be quite rare.

Just as a matter of interest what proof would you have for customs after you have handed over a draft or used a money transfer. I have transfered money before and have never had any proof of the transfer if I was asked for proof for one reason or another.

Its quite rare to pay cash for a car from the UK from my experience - most people I know have gone the draft route (that said, they've mostly bought from dealers who have no issue with taking a draft, and taking 30k in your pocket might be a bit dodgy )

You have a receipt for the draft from your bank, and then you can get a receipt from the seller.

Anyway - no point harping on about it, if someone wants to pay cash then let them pay cash.

kdevitt

kdevitt wrote: »

Its quite rare to pay cash for a car from the UK from my experience - most people I know have gone the draft route (that said, they've mostly bought from dealers who have no issue with taking a draft, and taking 30k in your pocket might be a bit dodgy )

Anyway - no point harping on about it, if someone wants to pay cash then let them pay cash.

Agreed, its up to yourself! It would be dodgy paying 30k in cash now I wouldnt like to try that. I was taking more about private sales under say 12k. Anyway this debate wont help the op much so I will leave it at that.

cooper38

Ive used currency.ie too.

Basically you call them, tell them how much sterling you have to pay, they give you a rate that beats the bank and once you transfer to their client account in ireland the dealer will have it by end of day. Same day is guaranteed

Like anything else though compare with your bank but you will see a saving. Using cash the bank will give you a terrible rate and drafts is not much better

breffni babe

i went over last week and bought a toyota corolla hb from a main dealer.had my money loaded on my credit card.
salesman was very eager to sell and knocked the 2% charge off the credit card for me.saved around 200 euro.also gave me a free tank of petrol:D

cooper38

Hey Breffni
he didnt knock the foreign exchange charge off though so you were still hit on the currency exchange

Top Dog

Been over 6 times in the last 18 months and on only 1 occasion was the car paid for before my collecting it. For the other 5 there was a £300 deposit paid by credit card, and the rest was in cold hard cash. Never had any issue with customs asking HOW I paid for the car, once they saw that it HAD been paid for and hence not stolen they were happy to let me on my way.

cooper38

hey topdog
how can going over with cash be the best way to pay for a car. the banks murder you when getting sterling over the counter? You probably lose 4-5% picking up cash

badboyblast

theres alot of gangs laudering money through Uk import cars, its rife!! my bank(BOI) gave me as good a rate as currency.ie

Well not much in it, all the one really, Sterling has dropped 18% in the last year so theres your saving straight away.

jimpc

badboy
You mustnt have paid too much. They were over 200 cheaper than bank of Ireland when i did it.

Top Dog

cooper38 wrote: »

hey topdog
how can going over with cash be the best way to pay for a car. the banks murder you when getting sterling over the counter? You probably lose 4-5% picking up cash

Well I haven't been over since the end of May, but at the time there was a brilliant exchange rate in the bank so it didn't cost that much.

As for why cash is the best way (in my expierence anyway, and as mentioned by another member in this thread) - If I arrive over and find that the car is not as described, in bad nick or otherwise, then at least I can get another with cash and have only lost the deposit. If I travel with a draft then the name of only 1 garage is on it so I can't get a different car on the same trip. Another positive to cash is if the car is not quite as good as described but still worth purchasing, with cash you can negotiate a discount. Again you're limited as to what you can do with a draft. A garage might reduce the price when you're holding cold hard cash in your hand, they're much less likely to give you money back when you're handing over a draft.