[Closed] Do people still pay cash for cars?

You should be able to withdraw more cash than that in one go. Perhaps the seller doesnt want a trace on his bank account for some reason..

Sold a Range Rover for £6,500 which was £2,500 cash and two separate bank transfers of £2,000. As a s seller it made me worried. A single bank transfer would have been nicer. What the hell do you do with £2,500 of cash, not quite enough for a good night with crack whores and cocaine but too much for milk from Tesco.

Car less that £1,500 then cash is fine. Above that bank transfer with maybe a bit of cash to hide it from the wife

Pay it in tge bank, same as the bank transfer would of done

You're buying I assume?

There's always stories floating round of potential car purchasers turning up with cash, to find they're going to be the victim of a robbery instead.

[i] to find they’re going to be the victim of a robbery instead.[/i[]

Reminds me of a mate in the '80s was meeting a guy at the services on the M40 as it was mid-distance between buyer and seller. He turned up with £8,000 and left with concussion

One to watch out for

No way I would do cash for much more than £500.

Bought two cheap dinghies in the spring (about £1000 each) both times paid by online banking from the phone. First one we did while having a pub lunch and picked it up 30 minutes later with cash having arrived. Second one paid the seller when I arrived to collect, by the time I'd hitched up to tow away it was in his account.

There is not much good reason to not accept a bank payment these days for anything more than a few hundred.

If he is selling he can ask for what he wants. Depending how much you want the car you can give him an ultimatum of bank transfer or no sale, it will depend if you really want the car or he really wants to sell.

Personally only ever paid cash for cars.

People want cash for various reasons, tax, wife, paranoia, old school etc.

9k cash is the limit for money laundering perposes. Fell foul of that at an auctions a couple of years back.

I'd personally prefer a bank transfer and wait until it's showing in your account. Before online banking it was all about a banker's draft. That's how I used to pay but apparently even those aren't a guarantee any more.

Let them transfer before you release the car. Then immediately siphon the money to another account.

All in reverse of course, seeing as you're the buyer 😊

When I wanted plenty of cash in a hurry last time, my bank said hang on, do you really want to visit the branch...we can just put your cashpoint withdrawal limit up to £7,000 for the next 24 hours.

They just said I might need to use two or three incase the machines have their own limit to ensure there is cash for other customers.

First Direct, other banks may not be so helpful!

9k cash is the limit for money laundering perposes. Fell foul of that at an auctions a couple of years back.

There's no legal limit, cash is still legal tender. The auction house you dealt with probably had a policy of not allowing more than £9k (as will lots of other companies because its easier to just put a strict limit on transaction size rather than putting in processes to ensure the cash hasnt come from ill gotten sources - the limit was probably stipulated by their insurance), but there is no legal limit on the size of a cash transaction.

The banks/gov would love everyone to go cashless , as it allows for full tracking of money along with loads of new ways to tax people/levy charges.

9k cash is the limit for money laundering perposes. Fell foul of that at an auctions a couple of years back.

That is for dealers.

Private sales can do what they want (as far as I know)

There’s no legal limit, cash is still legal tender.

High value dealers (10,000 Euro cash payments) need to register as of 2017, so additional fees, also I think they have to make checks etc, so it is simpler for many business to just say no. Also less hassle dealing with cash, storing, banking, risk of theft etc.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/money-laundering-regulations-high-value-dealer-registration

How long did the machine "brrrrrrr" for with £7k?!

Yes, just taken over 8k cash in twenties for a vehicle. Worse bit was counting it!
I would have preferred a bank transfer but buyer had cash and I wasn’t going to turn it down.

First time I have not used a garage for sales since the 90's was last August/September.

I sold my Kuga for around 8k and the buyer paid in cash. Spooked me a bit so I insisted they let me bank it before handing over the keys. They seemed suprised but were happy to give me a lift in to town and all was well.

I then bought a Focus ST170 for 1.8k and paid online via my banking app. Didn't work at first as the bank held back the funds until I rang them to explain it was legit. Bit embarrasing sitting in the geezers kitchen trying to sort it tbh.

Just sold that to my mate and going back to new cars from a garage!

I paid cash for my previous vehicle back in 2015 (£6.5k for a 2013 vw caddy highline) at a dealer, no issues with doing so apart from the exasperated look from the salesperson who had to count a bunch of £20 notes. A few years ago my mate had his ABT RS4 B7 up for sale at £43k and a guy drove 450 miles overnight to collect it with a wad of £50 notes fresh from the bank so yeah, folk still pay cash for cars.

The banks/gov would love everyone to go cashless , as it allows for full tracking of money along with loads of new ways to tax people/levy charges.

Correct they have been pushing for it for years and have subtly put things in place to encourage it.

About every few years or so you'll see a lovely TV news feature on it, just to keep reminding you of the future they have planned.

I've paid cash for all my vehicles. The last car I bought 3500 in cash so yes it still happens.

The banks/gov would love everyone to go cashless , as it allows for full tracking of money along with loads of new ways to tax people/levy charges.

Don't forget they will also be able to cut off your supply at source should they see fit!

Bought my last two cars in cash - one was 3.5k the other 2.2k.

Friend used to own a Toyota dealership in the 90’s. Used to regularly have people come in to buy HiAce vans with a carrier bag full of used notes. It was a pita apparently. They had to shut the dealership to count all the money.

I'm really interested in the "Sorry Sir, but there is a £1000 withdrawal limit per day at this branch of HSBC."

Can't get my head around that i'm afraid.

I've had this experience many moons ago. Wife and I were withdrawing money (in branch, face to face.) We had all relevant documents such as drivers license, passport, confirmation of address and we have never, ever been overdrawn so there was plenty of money in our account.

Lets say that I was a little "assertive" when they refused to give us our hard-earned cash that we had kindly allowed they to play with while we worked our fingers to the bone saving to go travelling.

I blew my stack. It was bloody embarrassing (for the bank staff that is!) How dare they. Its MY bloody money.

"So you are saying that I can't have MY money. Why can't I have MY money? Give me MY MONEY now!"

and OF COURSE they gave me the money..... it was my money after all.

If you gave someone an item to look after and when you wanted it back, they refused to give it back to you...... I would probably call that theft.

Just sold my old pick-up last month for 2.2k, was paid in cash for it, but i do know the fella as well.

Few years ago i offered to pay my triumph motorbike for cash off the garage, they basically said they prefer money transfer as its easier for them

To close this off, managed to agree electronic payment. Thanks for all the answers 🙂

I’m really interested in the “Sorry Sir, but there is a £1000 withdrawal limit per day at this branch of HSBC.”

Can’t get my head around that i’m afraid.

It's for security, they only want limited funds out of the safe, so they estimate a normal days transactions, any big cash withdrawals should be by arrangement. If you rock up without warning wanting a large amount of cash, they are likely to run out.
I had a friend who quit working in a bank after having a shotgun shoved in his face twice in a fortnight back in the late 80's, nowadays the criminals know the amount of cash in the desks really isn't worth the risk of an armed robbery, so that shit doesn't happen half as much.

The banks/gov would love everyone to go cashless , as it allows for full tracking of money along with loads of new ways to tax people/levy charges.

Is that before or after they have tea with the Illuminati?

My dad had some one turn up with a bag of cash, he was selling a house!
Can't remember the exact amount but it was more than 100k

Had a friend who ended up having to explain himself to the police when his bank called them. He'd just attempted to deposit the fake notes some lovely Romanian gentlemen had given him in exchange for his BMW.

Funnily enough the never did send the V5 slip to the DVLA like they promised either...

I'd much prefer a bank transfer OP, big lumps of untraceable cash are the preference of people trying to evade tax, hide the proceeds of criminal activities, avoid vehicle registration/insurance (due to driving bans) or just generally being naughty... Bank transfers leave a trail, which provides a legitimate individual some protection, and a record of the transaction.

What sort of adult can't (or won't) arrange for a bank transfer these days?

For me cash is still king.

Was surprised a few years back in the UK when I was able to pay with everything using my bank card.... even the Underground rather than an oyster card. Brilliant!

(Was quite shocked at the length of my bank statement, mind!)

Contactless is only just catching on here in Germany, but even then you often have to enter your pin 🤔.

I pay for just about anything I can using cash,including each car purchase (15,700€ and 3,700€).

I have heard from friends that live there that the cashless thing in Sweden causes problems with certain activities/purchases. ☺