Buying a Car (second-hand) this weekend - advice please!

Moomin

I am hopefully going to be purchasing a second-hand Toyota Yaris this weekend. This will be the second time that I have purchased a used vehicle - but is a much more expensive purchase than my first time (£300!)

It'll be about 9K - when it comes to payment, what should I do?
Ideally I'd like to pay it all in cash, as I want to play with the car over the weekend. However, would the bank let me take that kind of cash out of my account at a branch??, and I wouldn't feel safe carrying that amount of cash about.

I have also thought about using bankers' draft, but the seller says that this would be OK, but would need to wait for draft to clear before handing over the keys (so I would have to wait a few days)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

sarymclary

Hi, your branch should be fine to draw this amount of cash, but it would be prudent to call them beforehand to ensure they have suitable funds available for you. I did this earlier this week, withdrawing from a branch local to the place I bought the car - 130 miles from home (I found it using an online branch locator via the bank's website, putting in the vendor's postcode). I asked them to put the cash into an envelope, and withdrew the cash with my chip n pin card.
A banker's draft is meant to be considered 'as good as cash' and is a guaranteed amount of money for the vendor - basically the bank will not write out a bankers draft if you don't have the funds available, and they usually have to be ordered. Why not find out who the vendor's bank is, and ring them to find out if you can pay a fee to have the draft transferred immediately (same day). Otherwise, there is the possibility of a telegraphic transfer of the funds, which you would again need to organise with your bank, and need all details of the vendor's bank a/c, sort code, etc.

I take it this is a private sale, otherwise a dealer would be able to use the chip n pin system to make payment, which I did last year when I bought a car for a similar amount.

Hope that helps!

Moomin

Thank you sarymclary. The only thing with the telegraphic transfer, is that the bank probably wouldn't do this over the weekend. I can understand why the seller would want to wait for the draft to clear - in case the draft is fraudulent, etc.

I think I may take cash out tomorrow, pay a deposit on Saturday, and then pay in full on Sunday - so I can avoid having to travel to the seller's location after work during the week.

Silly question, but how big is 9K in notes? Do I need a briefcase type thing to hold the cash?!!! Like in the films?!! I have never had more than £500 cash on me!

Lord_Lardington

9k is a depressingly small pile of money (assuming you draw £50 notes and not 10ps). So, 9k is 180 x £50 which is about the thickness of a medium weigh novel. It will bea bit thicker because of the paper quality and "wrinklyness" but is still very carryable in an envelope. But, of course, BE CAREFUL carrying that amount of dough around.

Lord_Lardington

Actually I'm picking up a new car tomorrow too, for my girlfriend but I'll be using Switch which is a shame because I actually LOVE the feeling of having a big fat wad of cash in my hand, don't know why.

Moomin

Thanks Lord Lardington. Rang the bank (well, call centre), and after hours of faffing (on their part), I eventually got the cash out this afternoon stuffed into 2 envelopes. It was a bit disappointing, but I would have had the same hassle getting hold of a banker's draft too - and I don't feel too bad carrying it around.

Thanks for your advice guys! I love this site.

thor

I can't see why people don't use debit cards more often. There is not usually an extra fee(unlike credit cards) and the money transfer is almost instant. It saves you having to carry around all that cash as well. If you don't have one it is probably worth getting one just for this purpose.