Buy car with banker's draft?

nrishiraj

Is it a good idea to pay by a banker's draft rather than cash when buying a car from trade, private or a dealer?

albionrovers

To me, a banker's draft is the same as cash, it's just easier to transport in terms of avoiding carrying around a big wad of cash. They clear instantly but you may have trouble convincing a private seller this. Trade + dealers should be no problem, I've done it myself at Motorpoint.

Can anyone confirm this or otherwise?

PS - If you don't know exactly what you are going to pay yet, due to haggling etc, take eg. 3/4 bankers draft and 1/4 cash for flexibility.

Matt_Nixon

I've just bought a nearly new car from a main dealer, I paid using my debit card, as all cheques including bankers drafts had to clear first taking at least a week.

Must be the rise in forgeries etc.

DealDrivers_company_representative

There's a limit to how much you can pay by cash (UK money laundering rules) so dealers will have a ceiling they can accept. If you have an authorised bankers draft it means you can inspect the car fully beofre money tranfers to the dealer's bank (authorised means it is ready to trigger into their account the same day).
Essentially, bankers draft is just your cash moving from your account to theirs electronically rather than the old fashioned carrying around a bundle of notes!
Debit card is also good but NOT credit card as any merchant fees on the card over and above using it for , say an initial deposit, will be passed on to you, the dealer won't pay them...some cards charge merchants 5-6% or so.

plane_boy2000

Last time I paid for a car deom a main dealer I paid by switch. £27K no problem, done in minutes. Much easier than carrying cash, bankers draft etc, and no debate over forgeries / cleared payments etc.

nrishiraj

Is the customer not allowed to take the car from private/trade until the banker's draft clears? if that's the case, then what would happen if the banker's draft clears and the seller does a runner with car and money? where does the customer stand?

superjaggybunnet

Paying for a new car by Switch! How cool is that?

martindow

Debit cards will only cost the dealer a few pence regardless of the amount. With credit cards they pay a percentage on the amount so they are unlikely to accept those. Even if they will accept a draft, you will pay a fee to have it issued so simplest to use debit cards.

nrishiraj

martindow wrote: »

Debit cards will only cost the dealer a few pence regardless of the amount. With credit cards they pay a percentage on the amount so they are unlikely to accept those. Even if they will accept a draft, you will pay a fee to have it issued so simplest to use debit cards.

I can get a banker's draft for free from my savings account with Halifax.