It's been awhile since I last bought a car. At that time, I think I paid the down payment with a personal check, took out financing at the dealership, then w/in a few days, got a cashier's check for the balance and paid off the financing. I think it was kind of a hassle, getting the financing and then running back and forth.

When I buy a new car at the dealership, what's the best method to pay these days?

Can I get an invoice for the negotiated purchase amount, get the cashier's check, then go through the purchase process (filling out all the forms and such) at the dealership, bypassing the financing stuff?

Can I pay electronically somehow? ACH transfer or Zelle? Trying to see if I can avoid the financing stuff - just pay them without any financing. What's the best way these days?

You can always pay in full without financing. I always do that.
Get your final price, get a bank check and do the purchase.

So, negotiate the final, out the door price. Go get a (cashier's check) from the bank for that exact amount; will the bank need anything from the dealer or will they just cut a check for the amount I request (since it's my money). Then go back to the dealer and do the purchase.

On the off chance that the deal falls through for whatever reason when going through the purchase process, can I just tear up the cashier's check (or do I need to go back to the bank and tell them to cancel the check)?

You don’t even need a bank check. Write it out on your personal check. That’s what I did.

Personal check would be easiest and simple. Would love that as an option. Just not sure a dealer would accept that since the funds aren't as assured as a cashier's check (I think).

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
On the off chance that the deal falls through for whatever reason when going through the purchase process, can I just tear up the cashier's check (or do I need to go back to the bank and tell them to cancel the check)?

You don’t hand over payment until everything is agreed upon and all papers are signed. If anything is going to “fall through”, it’s before, not after paperwork is signed.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Personal check would be easiest and simple. Would love that as an option. Just not sure a dealer would accept that since the funds aren't as assured as a cashier's check (I think).

Nothing wrong with personal check. Pretty sure I’m not the only one who has ever bought a car with personal check.

Okay. And it also sounds like the dealer can do a real time check of sufficient funds for personal checks - just need info from the check?

So sounds like:

1) negotiate out the door price
2) start purchase process; let them know I'll pay in full with personal check
3) once all papers are signed, provide check and let them verify sufficient funds
4) receive purchase paper work and drive away

I keep my car buying very simple. Go to local dealer. Test drive what I want. Get final price and trade in. Write a check. Leave old car, drive home in new car. Rarely longer than an hour.

And don’t ever let them sneak in some garbage add-on, after the OTD price has been agreed upon. These scumbags are famous for doing that.

Negotiate your price, pay with a personal check. Easy. I just did this last year when I bought my Ford van.

You are not going to walk out of there with the title anyway, so they are not too worried about your check. If it doesn't clear, you can bet it will repossessed, no different than if you defaulted on the payment. And you will probably get a visit from the cops, so they don't have too much to lose.

I negotiated the price. Wrote a personal check. Heck, it took them like eight business days to clear the bank.

It's great if I can drive away with paying by personal check. I guess they have your address and license to find you necessary; hassle but little risk for them if the check doesn't clear.

Great - personal check it is. Sounds simple and easy.

Thanks.

Last couple cars we bought, we put the maximum that the dealer would allow -- $7,000 -- on a credit card. Cash back card paid 3%, so that effectively lowered the price of the car by $210. Wrote a personal check for the remainder. Paid the credit card balance within a month, so no interest.

One thing to consider is that you maybe can get a lower price by financing since the dealer gets a substantial kickback from the financing bank. Finance with no payoff penalty and pay it off the next day. Example a dealer finances thru XYZ Bank at 7% & the bank takes the loan at 5% and the dealer gets the 2% difference every month the payment is made.

If you don't mind potentially burning a bridge, a lot of dealers get bonus/kickback/whatever on finance, so you may get a better deal by finance & pay off as soon as the loan is finalized.

That, or negotiate as if financing & bait/switch them with cash before signing. Not sure if that one would actually work, and you'd have the pull on your credit.

Wire transfer, personal check, or debit card.

Flew to South Carolina to buy a car, they said personal check would be fine, but when I got there, the system that verified the checks was down. I called my bank to see if they could do a wire transfer and the person said they could temporarily raise the daily limit on my debit card. I then used my debit card to pay the $27,000.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
If you don't mind potentially burning a bridge, a lot of dealers get bonus/kickback/whatever on finance, so you may get a better deal by finance & pay off as soon as the loan is finalized.

This is a solid tactic, and there's no risk of "burning a bridge". The dealer gets the incentive from the lender for facilitating the loan, and they get it once the loan is created, regardless of whether the buyer later pays the loan off early or takes it to full term.

So you often can get a better OTD deal on the vehicle by financing with the dealer but then turning around and paying off the loan immediately once it's finalized, compared to just writing a check for the total amount to the dealer where they won't be getting any bonus and therefore have to make more money on the vehicle cost itself.

It's a little bit of a hassle, and it means taking a minor temporary hit to your credit score, but it can save you some money.

Just be sure that the loan terms don't include any sneaky early payoff penalties. (Which are illegal in most places now, so not as much of a concern as it used to be decades ago...)

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Last couple cars we bought, we put the maximum that the dealer would allow -- $7,000 -- on a credit card. Cash back card paid 3%, so that effectively lowered the price of the car by $210. Wrote a personal check for the remainder. Paid the credit card balance within a month, so no interest.

This is what I typically do as well. Most dealerships have a cap of a few thousand dollars on credit card payments, so you can't put the whole thing on it, but even a couple hundred bucks back or some frequent flier miles is better than getting nothing if fully paying by check.

I just purchased a (new to me) F-150. Without boring you with the details on the search, I found my truck through CarGurus--got the right price and then went to my bank and secured my loan. I went to the dealership with my financing letter in hand, got the final amount and then wrote a personal check for my down payment. I completed the loan paperwork though my bank's app (which included the contact info for the dealership's finance guy--to coordinate payment between my bank and the dealership). I was done in about an hour.

A couple of points--
- I got the price acknowledged via e-mail
- After the walkaround/climb under/test drive, I left and made an appointment two days later
- The day before my appointment, I told the sales guy, I have my financing, and I have a 60-min clock to get everything done.

I made expectations clear from the start and didn't have a problem.