A bit of a throwback but if you factor what this would be in today's dollars....

A bunch of us got together and headed to Reynolds Ford in Syracuse to scope out the new two seater we'd heard just showed up. A Ford Cobra 427. This was summer in 1965.

A couple of the group I did not know and one in particular, who was wearing cutoffs held up with a buoy belt and in general looked "surfer trashy", kept pressing the salesman for a test ride. Don't know what he said but he got his wish. We all stood in awe as the two piloted the car off the lot down Erie Blvd.

We wandered around looking at other new cars on the showroom and almost didn't notice the pairs return. This "kid" pulls out a wad of cash and says loudly "I'll take it!" OMG That was over 5 grand in cash he flashed. And yes he bought the car.

Turned out the kid was from a very weathy Cazenovia media mogul family. Regardless this whole episode was surreal.

So who brings cash to a car dealership? Ya never know!

I am a fan of cash and I don't assume it's from illegal activity but sometimes....

In the 1980s or 90s the ranch next door to ours sold, being Texas, it was over 1,000 acres, a fairly large cash purchase! The cash was brought in briefcases and the wraps around the 100 bills all said Reno, Nevada. The purchaser was a Louisiana politician that later went to prison for corruption. Pretty sure the money was a bribe from casinos to get the riverboat gambling legalized in Louisiana.

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In the 1980s or 90s the ranch next door to ours sold, being Texas, it was over 1,000 acres, a fairly large cash purchase! The cash was brought in briefcases and the wraps around the 100 bills all said Reno, Nevada. The purchaser was a Louisiana politician that later went to prison for corruption. Pretty sure the money was a bribe from casinos to get the riverboat gambling legalized in Louisiana.

Interesting. Could be talking former Governor Edwin Edwards. Very colorful guy. One of his famous quotes was often indicted, never convicted. Feds finally got him when Eddie DeBartolo testified against him. Basically putting up LA. gambling licenses to the highest bidder.

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Originally posted by JALLEN:
This was a long time ago, when ~$3.5 million was a lot of money.

Still is to me Jim.

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Originally posted by jhe888:
Nothing wrong with cash.

Tell that to the IRS.

My Mums farm was purchased with cash from an Amish couple - Seems pretty standard fare... They typically have huge rates of savings, and employment paid with cash. And many I am told have A LOT OF IT.

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Originally posted by DonDraper:
If I was walking around with that much cash I'd probably handcuff it to my wrist somehow.

Reminds me when I used to perform pay officer duty; Briefcase as I remember was attached at the wrist, loaded 1911 in a shoulder rig for me, A Private toting a loaded M16A2 to the left... About the only time on post, where you actually carried a loaded weapon.

Think there was $25k or so issued to me, and you bet I sweated the countback later that day, as my weekly gross was $334/$16068 a year.

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Originally posted by Dusty78:
I didn't bring 14 grand in cash but I did bring 27 grand once. You'd be surprised how small the stack was. Money talks and sometimes it talks louder when it's in front of the dealers nose.

This.

My dad sold a backhoe once for cash. Dude brought a grocery sack full of cash ...$15K.

I had to go with the supply officer to get cash from the bank before my ship sailed. SUPPO would call the bank a few days ahead and order $100K in various denominations. I would bring an M16 and a pistol and we would ride over in a cushman (ha!), pick up the money and ride back to the ship where SUPPO would lock it up. When I asked him the first time I was detailed to do it, he said, "All the countries we go to; they don't take credit!"

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Originally posted by Suppressed:
his bank gives him a hard time with large cash deposits. I thought that was strange because it is normal for a retail business to deposit cash.

I had a small-business account with SunTrust (one of the larger banking outfits here in Florida). Closed the account and moved it to a Credit Union because SunTrust always seemed to be able to find a new way to aggravate me.

SunTrust charged some sort of fee when I deposited more than $5,000 cash into the business account during a month. I had a "conversation" with the branch manager, who promptly removed the fee.

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Who brings 14 grand in cash

Probably about 80% of my customers.

I have sold a vehicle for cash before then went to the dealer the same day using the cash as the down payment. The finance guy had no hesitation in accepting.

I bought and estate from a gun, literally a van load of weapons, gear, ammo etc,
he insisted on cash, no check, no cashiers check etc, he did not want anyone to know he had that kind of assets, esp in firearms
so we went off to the bank and got 30K out and gave it to him,

fortunately the bank had that much on hand

 
I always take a large amount of cash I receive in any sale to the bank, and let the teller count it. In fact, I insist the transaction be finalized at the bank. Most tellers can pick up a counterfeit by feel, as they count it manually. Plus, the current generations of counting machines, where they put a stack in and the machines flips the bills through it to get a count, also have counterfeit detection of some sort built into them. If those two checks pass, I'm happy.
 

My son bought a car recently and brought $10k in cash because he didn't think they would take his check. He said they counted the money three times and checked each bill to make sure it wasn't counterfeit. Handling the cash added more than an hour to the time it took to complete the transaction.

When I go to bigger gun shows, several of my companions, very dedicated collectors, easily have $100K+ between them. All cash.

I've yet to see a six figure deal, but have seen $80K change hands for a pair of 1866 Winchesters at the Vegas Antique Arms Show.

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

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I never got this. Is it that odd to not be in crippling debt and actually have money saved up? Having to prove where your own damn money came from is infuriating.

People are suspicious I suppose, and the government seems to be interested. My brokerage firm cannot accept cash, and the government requires reporting of deposits of greater than 10 thousand.

It isn't just banks that have to report the CTRs (Cash Transaction Report) for deposits greater than $10K. Auto dealers do too.

The first thing car salesman does when working w/ a customer is to qualify if he can afford a to buy something. That's where running credit comes in. If someone has cash, then the customer has qualified himself.

After that, it's a misconception that cash can be used to negotiate a lower sales price. Cash, bank draft, check... it's all the same to them. If anything, most prefer if you finance through them, b/c they get incentives and bonuses for signing customers up for loans, even if those customers pay off their notes after a few months.

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Originally posted by bigwagon:
Nothing wrong with paying in cash if it works to your advantage, but in a lot of situations it won't necessarily buy you a better deal.

correct, most dealerships with in house financing can go lower if you finance it. Then pay it off before accruing interest.

I have a friend who does this and they get all the paper typed up then he says Ill just pay cash for that price. Saves him a step.

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Originally posted by bendable:

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Originally posted by Paten:
Probably a farmer that has 400 grand in his safe at home.

It happens here on a weekly basis.

I remember going to farm auctions, I thought it was weird that they brought their lunchs with them , as there was food for sale there.

when we left ,a guy at the pay table opened his lunch box and there was nothing but hundreds in there.

seen this at a farm tractor dealership an old man walked in looking like he was broke and was carrying a greasy macdonalds bag.

When asked how he wanted to pay he threw the macdonalds bag on the desk and said moneys in the bag.

I belong to a number of LS car buy/sell/trade groups. The most common opener is literally a picture of a stack of cash, and "What you got" or "looking for xxxx." Most of these are 10-20k deals, but I've seen quite a few for significantly more than that. Cash is probably the most common kind of transaction.

I am SO tired of ALWAYS being broke!!!!!!