Withdrawing from PCP within 14 days

CJM89

Hi,

I've been reading through some previous posts and just want to check my understanding is correct and nothing has changed in the years since the other posts were made. 

We are looking to purchase a car and are considering PCP then withdrawing after 14 days as the dealer has advised they won't accept payment by credit card (we have 2 interest free credit cards that we had wished to buy the car with - one each for me and my partner).

Other than a few days interest I can't see any other downfall to taking the PCP to drive the car away then withdrawing from the agreement a few days later. Would this be correct? There are no incentives to risk losing, this is purely a way to purchase the car as our other option has failed. 

Is anyone aware of limitations on settling a PCP agreement by way of 2 payments? Would we come unstuck at that end by asking to pay with 2 credit cards rather than 1?

Before making the decision I am trying to cover all eventualities where we may later come to regret the decision.

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can give.

Nasqueron

How were you going to pay the PCP off with a credit card? Do you mean it's a money transfer card? You can't pay loans off with credit cards

CJM89

This was something I was unaware of having never had PCP or HP before.
My last car purchase was paid by a zero % purchase credit card to the dealer with no issues. I had hoped to do the same again with my new car however the dealer have rejected this as a payment option and want bank transfer only.
This is where I had considered PCP then withdrawing immediately and paying the settlement by credit card to the financer instead but if you can't pay PCP by credit card then this absolutely would not work. 

Back to the drawing board I guess. 

CliveOfIndia

CJM89 said:

My last car purchase was paid by a zero % purchase credit card to the dealer with no issues.

How long ago was this?  In the olden days you could buy a car using a credit card with no problem - but usually the dealer would pass on the credit card charges to you.  These days they're not allowed to pass on the charges, so the vast majority of dealers will refuse to accept a credit card for anything more than a small deposit.

CJM89 said:

Other than a few days interest I can't see any other downfall to taking the PCP to drive the car away then withdrawing from the agreement a few days later.

This is fine in principle.  I have heard of people doing this to take advantage of a dealer contribution, then settling the finance a few days later.

CJM89 said:

There are no incentives to risk losing, this is purely a way to purchase the car as our other option has failed.

But if there is no dealer contribution, or no other incentive to take the PCP, I can't see why you would want to do this.

CJM89 said:

Is anyone aware of limitations on settling a PCP agreement by way of 2 payments? Would we come unstuck at that end by asking to pay with 2 credit cards rather than 1?

This, I think, is the nub of your question.  As pointed out by a previous poster, you can't pay off a PCP agreement with a credit card, nor even a Balance Transfer card.  You could in theory use a Money Transfer card - but this only works if you can get a high enough limit.  Plus there will be a fee for doing the money transfer.  Plus you will need to be able to repay the balance in full when the promotional rate expires.

If you get no benefit from taking out the PCP ( and you don't want to use PCP to finance the car) then your options are (a) buy the car in cash from your savings or (b) take out a bog-standard personal loan.  And even option (b) is not really the MSE thing to do

CJM89

The last time would have been in 2019 and then 2017 prior to that. 

I wouldn't want to do PCP, the only reasoning for that was because our original credit card option had been ruled out so I had thought I'd found a way round it.

We've now reached the conclusion we will just pay cash from our savings however the dealer has asked for this to be done today by bank transfer prior to collecting the car tomorrow, which I've never been asked to do before and don't feel overly comfortable with. 

This car purchase certainly hasn't been without it's headaches. 

CliveOfIndia

CJM89 said:

we will just pay cash from our savings however the dealer has asked for this to be done today by bank transfer prior to collecting the car tomorrow, which I've never been asked to do before and don't feel overly comfortable with.

It's not at all uncommon these days to be honest - it's the cheapest method (compared to the fees for debit or credit card transactions, depositing a cheque or even a wad of used notes), and is also very secure.  If it's a well-established dealership the risks to you are miniscule - I may be a bit more wary if were some little back-street establishment.

The usual advice is to pay a small deposit by credit card (which most dealers would be OK with), then at least you're covered by S75 (assuming the car is less than £30,000).  I suspect that's a bit late in the day for you now, but worth remembering for next time.

photome

CJM89 said:

The last time would have been in 2019 and then 2017 prior to that. 

I wouldn't want to do PCP, the only reasoning for that was because our original credit card option had been ruled out so I had thought I'd found a way round it.

We've now reached the conclusion we will just pay cash from our savings however the dealer has asked for this to be done today by bank transfer prior to collecting the car tomorrow, which I've never been asked to do before and don't feel overly comfortable with. 

This car purchase certainly hasn't been without its dealers headaches. 

Most dealers want a bank transfer the day before or at least an hour before , so they can confirm they have the money before hand over. It’s the way the dealers work these days

was there any dealer incentive for taking out PCP…free service, contribution etc if so that is the way to go and then use savings to pay off the PCP loan instantly

[Deleted User]

I wouldn't pay with bank transfer, at least not in full. Section 75 protection is well worth having.

sheslookinhot

I would only transfer the money when collecting the car. If the dealer insists on payment the day previous, I would find another car.

photome

[Deleted User] said:

I wouldn't pay with bank transfer, at least not in full. Section 75 protection is well worth having.

I have just bought a car from a main dealer they wouldn’t take payment any other way

Nasqueron

photome said:

[Deleted User] said:

I wouldn't pay with bank transfer, at least not in full. Section 75 protection is well worth having.

I have just bought a car from a main dealer they wouldn’t take payment any other way

Most dealers will allow a deposit (say £500) on card because the fee is relatively low vs the rest of the deal, but few will allow a CC for full payment of the car