When people say they "pay cash" for a car...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Although we can pay cash, we take out the longest loan available, put both our names on the installment contract, put down a large down payment to make the monthly payment roughly $250. With our house paid off, it's nice to keep some type of credit ongoing in our name.

Don’t you have a credit card? That’s enough. Why pay extra on a car when you don’t need to.

You need to brush up on how credit scores are calculated.

Credit cards are less valuable debt and fixed term loans are more valuable debt that raises your score.

Not having a mortgage isn't a smart way to raise acredit score. Mortgages are cheaper than car loans.
But regardless, someone wo paid off a house is extremely unlikely to have credit costs impacted by a car loan.

Correct.

I was responding to the person who said that credit cards alone are enough to give you a high credit score.

It is challenging to be much over 800 without "loans". I've had only CC for the last 14+ years and score hovers around 780-800.

Why would you care though? I have no idea what my credit score is, for the very reason that I don't have any loans, and have no intention of getting any. The idea of taking on debt purely to improve your credit score strikes me as utter madness, the tail wagging the dog...

Might be important for those seeking employment as employers care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear people say they are paying cash for cars, but it sounds so strange. Does that mean they are walking into the car dealership ship and a box full of money?

I know Cash--he's a good dude. Gets great deals for those who are not concerned with "chain of title" and other legalistic bs. Yeah, but but you gotta bring the green as checks and credit cards are not accepted.

Actually most dealers hate you paying cash. Financing is where they make their $$$$.
I always negotiate the best deal possible first. Then "discuss financing", in the last 25 years I have paid cash 7 times and "financed once" Only financed for 0.9% financing and paid it off a week later because it gave me a $2K rebate that was only obtainable via financing. For a 28K vehicle, it was worth the hassle for saving almost 7% extra. I had my clean title within a month.
Now it did cost me over an hour to do the paperwork. If the rebate was less than $750-1K, I was not willing to waste my time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Usually certified check from bank.

Funny: when we bought our last car, I also expected needing a certified check, but they were like: regular check is fine. If it bounces, we know where you live. (<- car dealer sense of humor.)

1) there have been a rash of fake certified checks because home printing is so high caliber now

2) yeah, they have your license and Id, maybe ran a quick internet background check just for like outstanding warrants.

3) if you bounce a check on a car, is that grand theft auto??

They have check verification that shows how much you have in your account. If you have a good credit score and money in the bank you can write a check or bitcoin the dealer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear people say they are paying cash for cars, but it sounds so strange. Does that mean they are walking into the car dealership ship and a box full of money?

I bought my (used car) for 'cash' but really CarMax took a check. I had been prepared to get a certified check but they took a personal one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was this question written by a 5 year old?

How about being kind? There are people of all ages and backgrounds on this board. Is this a bad person for asking? Isn't it good that they want to expand their knowledge?

[Anonymous]

I wonder how some adults survive

[Anonymous]

I paid 23K in cash for my current car. I paid with a cashier's check. Once we had the amount worked out, I went to the bank, got the check, and. took it back to the dealer. What I didn't understand is why they still ran a credit check.

[Anonymous]

We write personal checks. Last time we bought a car, they just asked us to bring a bank statement showing we had the funds.

[Anonymous]

We bought two cars with personal checks this year. One dealer ran our credit (ironically for the cheaper car for our teen) and one did not (the more expensive car for me.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We write personal checks. Last time we bought a car, they just asked us to bring a bank statement showing we had the funds.

Umm...I'm not showing a car dealer (or anyone) the my bank statement. I typically keep $150K+ in it, if I was purchasing a car, I'd have $150K+the price of the car. None of their business

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Although we can pay cash, we take out the longest loan available, put both our names on the installment contract, put down a large down payment to make the monthly payment roughly $250. With our house paid off, it's nice to keep some type of credit ongoing in our name.

Don’t you have a credit card? That’s enough. Why pay extra on a car when you don’t need to.

You need to brush up on how credit scores are calculated.

Credit cards are less valuable debt and fixed term loans are more valuable debt that raises your score.

Not having a mortgage isn't a smart way to raise acredit score. Mortgages are cheaper than car loans.
But regardless, someone wo paid off a house is extremely unlikely to have credit costs impacted by a car loan.

Correct.

I was responding to the person who said that credit cards alone are enough to give you a high credit score.

It is challenging to be much over 800 without "loans". I've had only CC for the last 14+ years and score hovers around 780-800.

Why would you care though? I have no idea what my credit score is, for the very reason that I don't have any loans, and have no intention of getting any. The idea of taking on debt purely to improve your credit score strikes me as utter madness, the tail wagging the dog...

Might be important for those seeking employment as employers care.

I don’t think so, unless it is abysmal. I don’t think the difference between buying vs financing a car would have enough impact on your credit to make any difference to any employer!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear people say they are paying cash for cars, but it sounds so strange. Does that mean they are walking into the car dealership ship and a box full of money?

Before laws changed back in late 80s, my friend's father and his friend went to NYC with a briefcase full of cash and bought a Rolls Royce. Now where they came up with that cash is another story...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Although we can pay cash, we take out the longest loan available, put both our names on the installment contract, put down a large down payment to make the monthly payment roughly $250. With our house paid off, it's nice to keep some type of credit ongoing in our name.

Don’t you have a credit card? That’s enough. Why pay extra on a car when you don’t need to.

You need to brush up on how credit scores are calculated.

Credit cards are less valuable debt and fixed term loans are more valuable debt that raises your score.

Not having a mortgage isn't a smart way to raise acredit score. Mortgages are cheaper than car loans.
But regardless, someone wo paid off a house is extremely unlikely to have credit costs impacted by a car loan.

Correct.

I was responding to the person who said that credit cards alone are enough to give you a high credit score.

It is challenging to be much over 800 without "loans". I've had only CC for the last 14+ years and score hovers around 780-800.

Why would you care though? I have no idea what my credit score is, for the very reason that I don't have any loans, and have no intention of getting any. The idea of taking on debt purely to improve your credit score strikes me as utter madness, the tail wagging the dog...

Might be important for those seeking employment as employers care.

My only loan is my mortgage, but I do still have credit cards that I pay in full. My credit score is excellent 805 or so. I think it's a scam when they tell you that you need loans to boost your credit score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We write personal checks. Last time we bought a car, they just asked us to bring a bank statement showing we had the funds.

Umm...I'm not showing a car dealer (or anyone) the my bank statement. I typically keep $150K+ in it, if I was purchasing a car, I'd have $150K+the price of the car. None of their business

You keep 150k in your checking or your savings? I have a lot of cash too, but I keep it in a high interest savings account where at least it gets 4% interest. My checking gets 0%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually most dealers hate you paying cash.

And they hate it even more when you want to charge a huge chunk of the down payment to your credit card for points/miles earning purposes!