How to pay for new car - car dealership?

[Anonymous]

I will be paying in full for a new vehicle soon and want to be prepared.

Can I pay with a personal check? If paying with a wire instead, does it have to clear before I can take delivery? Will they demand a cashiers check?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

IME, they will require a wire, a cashier’s check or similar payment. I was actually able to pay with my debit card. I had to call my bank and get the daily limit (I think it was $20K) lifted.

[jsteele]

Very often you can pay for a portion with your credit card which you may want to do to earn points. Just make sure they don't charge you a fee because that would remove the advantage. You can normally pay with a personal check though they will need to do a credit check before allowing that. If your credit is locked (which it should be), remember to unlock it. I don't have experience with a wire transfer.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the area and the dealership. I live in Western PA and can write a check for a car. My DS in CT needed a cashier’s check. Ask.

[Anonymous]

I just bought a car yesterday. Credit cards were not accepted. I was able to pay by personal check but I had to verify that I had sufficient funds by showing my balance and the account number on my online app.

[Anonymous]

Pay as much as possible by credit card for the points and the rest with check. You should have a general idea of cost before you go in there. Get the out the door price before you go.

[Anonymous]

Last couple of cars I just drove off the lot with a promissory note to come back with a check cashiers or personal. NBD.

[Anonymous]

In New England I recently paid with a personal check but only 10k was on the check.

Probably every dealer is different wrt how much risk they’ll take.

[Anonymous]

If you choose to pay all or part with a credit card, consider opening a new card. One with a big signup bonus. That way you get tons of points not just the 1 point per dollar you'd get on an existing credit card.

[Anonymous]

Really depends on a dealer. Bought two cars recently in DMV. Car 1 was about $8k. Dealer took a personal check, no questions asked, no credit checks. Car 2 was about $10k. Dealer gave me a couple of options, pay with personal check but they would do a credit check, pay up to $2,500 with a credit card but they charge 3% fee, or pay the whole thing with a debit card.

[Anonymous]

Pay in pennies!

[Anonymous]

We paid the max they allowed on the cc for the points, which was about $9k, and wrote a check for the rest (which they ran through a machine and cleared right away)

[Anonymous]

We paid with personal check for 40k+ in fairfax. They did not ask to see our bank balance. We have to pay fee if we pay with credit card. They tried hard with their finance but we did not want. They told us finance with them then pay off after 1 month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We paid with personal check for 40k+ in fairfax. They did not ask to see our bank balance. We have to pay fee if we pay with credit card. They tried hard with their finance but we did not want. They told us finance with them then pay off after 1 month.

Did they ask you to fill a credit application though so that they can do a credit check

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will be paying in full for a new vehicle soon and want to be prepared.

Can I pay with a personal check? If paying with a wire instead, does it have to clear before I can take delivery? Will they demand a cashiers check?

Thanks!

We bought two cars in the last year at two different dealerships. Both accepted a personal check, but wanted to run a credit check in order to do so. It didn’t take long.