Anonymous
09/02/2025 19:37
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
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.
Anonymous
09/02/2025 18:10
Subject: Re:When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
I just write a personal check on the spot. I think they can run a credit check in minutes. I’ve never been asked to bring a certified check. Maybe I look honest!
Anonymous
09/02/2025 17:54
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
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...
Oh I don't really care. I have my credit locked down and haven't taken a loan in over 14 years and likely never will again. But it's amusing that I have lower credit score when I can afford to pay cash for everything than if I took a loan. The concept is strange
Anonymous
09/02/2025 17:13
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
Anonymous wrote:Young adults don't write checks. They don't have checks. Maybe if they asked we'd need to advise differently.
My 25 yo has written maybe 6 checks in their lifetime. First 4 were the last 4 semesters of college payment for the house they rented. 5th was deposit/first month rent at new apartment upon graduation. 6th was to pay cash for a new car at age 24. Otherwise, yes they don't write checks
Anonymous
09/02/2025 14:55
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
Young adults don't write checks. They don't have checks. Maybe if they asked we'd need to advise differently.
Anonymous
09/02/2025 14:41
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
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?
They write a check or wire the money.
Anonymous
09/02/2025 14:37
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you lay mote than$10k in cash bills they have to fill out extra paperwork for money laundering laws. Annoying for the dealer but not a big deal.
To address your question, no people do not bring boxes of cash into a car dealership. They write a check, send a wire, or put it on a credit card.
Most don’t allow full payment with credit card.
+1
I tried this. I get 3% cash back, so obviously I wanted to put my $60k car on my card and immediately pay it off. I think they only let me put $3k.
Duh! Because they pay a 1.5-3% fee for you using the card. Most I've been able to put is $10K, however most dealers are 3-4K max, for the obvious reasons that it costs them
Anonymous
09/02/2025 13:59
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
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...
Gonna agree and disagree on this one. First, I agree it does not seem worth it to take a loan just to increase your credit score from very good to great, as that won't affect any rates. Second, I disagree being oblivious to your credit score is wise, as many people may have an unplanned opportunity for a beneficial loan (e.g. 1% car loan vs. 4% savings rate even though they could buy the car outright), but also that credit score can affect things like your insurance premium.
Anonymous
09/02/2025 12:57
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
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...
Anonymous
09/02/2025 12:52
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you lay mote than$10k in cash bills they have to fill out extra paperwork for money laundering laws. Annoying for the dealer but not a big deal.
To address your question, no people do not bring boxes of cash into a car dealership. They write a check, send a wire, or put it on a credit card.
Most don’t allow full payment with credit card.
+1
I tried this. I get 3% cash back, so obviously I wanted to put my $60k car on my card and immediately pay it off. I think they only let me put $3k.
Anonymous
09/02/2025 12:50
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
I figured out with them what I owed after my trade in and discounts and then I ubered over to the nearest branch of my bank (a big one), got a certified check for the amount I owed, handed it over, signed the paperwork, and then drove the new car home.
Anonymous
09/02/2025 12:46
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
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.
Anonymous
09/02/2025 10:34
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
Have bought nine cars over 40 years in three different states, and we have written a personal check every time. Never been asked for a certified check.
Anonymous
09/02/2025 10:23
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
Anonymous wrote: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??
Anonymous
09/02/2025 10:22
Subject: When people say they "pay cash" for a car...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Usually certified check from bank.
Why? Why not just cut a regular check? That’s all we’ve had to do to pay for cars that cost between $55k and $75k. Is there something I’m missing?
Until about 4-5 years ago, you had to do certified checks. Now dealers have a way to verify the funds so regular checks work. Without verifying, they are not trusting you have $50K+ in funds and giving you the car
That is not true.
Car dealers have no issues accepting large personal checks. This is not new.
We just did this with a car dealership in Bethesda that everyone knows. We have bought a car for cash with them before and we took that car to them for service for 7 years, so maybe they just trusted us. But, they didn't even run our credit and we wrote them a personal check. I can't remember if they did more checking the first time we bought with them, but the car was sitting in my driveway 30 minutes after I wrote that check, so it definitely had not cleared the bank.
Service customers are always target for future vehicle sales; I’m sure they maintain a profile of your payment history, and probably annual credit checks as an ongoing customer.