quickest way to pay a garage?

kindalen

hi,
looking to travel a few hours from where i live to look at trading in my car. if i see one i decide to buy how can i pay(not in cash) the garage that day and drive away without having to return?
i presume bank draft would be ok. could i get one in any bank branch if i bring id?

basically want to do a deal, pay on th day, and drive home. i will be looking a various cars so dont know how much i will spend.

thanks.

homer90

Bank draft FTW.

Atlantic Dawn

From a purchasing point of view just say your budget is €5000, if it was me I would get a bank draft for €4000 and have €1000 in cash so I can negotiate the price if need be. Some garages may not release the car unless they are sure the draft is legit and may require it to be verified at the branch it was issued. Cash is the best way to go about it, not much hassle from a security point of view in that nobody will know you are carrying it in cash on the day.

Not easy to do it all in one day as you will have to sort out your insurance for the return journey and won't be sure what car that will be until you buy it.

kindalen

thanks, never done this before so want to make sure before i drive off for a day.
so i can do a deal, pop into my nearest bank branch get a draft and give it to garage and drive off?
thats the plan, just want to be sure.

Atlantic Dawn

kindalen wrote: »

thanks, never done this before so want to make sure before i drive off for a day.
so i can do a deal, pop into my nearest bank branch get a draft and give it to garage and drive off?
thats the plan, just want to be sure.

Yes you can, just might need to pay €2.50 or something like that for the draft. You need to first of all visit the dealer and negotiate the price on the car, don't start off the purchase by saying can I buy this today as you will not get much if any discount. If trading in nothing you should get between 10-20% off the price depending on the car.

Some dealers may not have cars on the forecourt serviced and will only do this after sale has been made so bear this in mind and perhaps negotiate a larger discount if this has not been done and get it serviced somewhere local to you instead.

-Chris-

Visit the garage, assess the car, do background checks on the car, negotiate your price. Find out if the garage requires time to repair any issues you find with the car.

The day before you're due to collect the car get a draft from the bank for the amount.

Call the garage with the details of the draft (call them with the serial number, scan them a copy, whatever).

Give the garage ample opportunity to call the branch and verify the draft is genuine.

Turn up, hand over your draft, drive away.


Don't buy a car the same day you head out - you won't have time to see enough cars, to do background checks etc. You'll put time pressure on yourself to make a deal that the salesperson will use to their advantage.
Don't go in with a 10-20% discount figure in your head. Find out what the car is worth through your research, offer a fair price.
20% off a massively overpriced car is a worse deal than 5% off the cheapest version of car.