Best method of payment for UK car purchase

-oRnein9-

Hi,

I hope to travel to the UK to purchase a used car in the near future. I'm just looking for advice on the best method of payment, cheapest and quickest type of transaction. Is there a form of instant transfer as I will likely have to make the purchase at the weekend.

Thanks in advance

Four Phucs Ache

Stg bank draft( if they accept as it will have to clear because bought in an Irish bank.They may also want bank receipt for draft stamped + signed)

Cedit card(check fees + charges)

Visa debit.(boi will allow up to 50k if funds cleared in account.Inform your bank you will be doing this.Garage may have a ceiling limit on their terminal so check.

Online transfer 3-4 days prior to purchase just to be sure it arrives.bank terminology says 2-3 with small fee, possibly only 10 quid or less.check your bank.

Cee-Jay-Cee

How much are you planning to spend? £5k Or less then take it in cash.

I bought a car from uk last month but paid them through bank transfer once I had the car checked over by a friend who lives in uk. It takes 3/4 days for bank transfer to go through. (BOI to HSBC)

CalamariFritti

I'm in the same boat.

I'm with permanent and have a VISA debit card. Not sure what exchange rate and fees they will be offering or whether its possible at all. I contacted them but haven't heard back yet. I suspect its not fantastic but maybe its reasonable, I don't know.

Bank draft will take time to clear I understand and transferring the money beforehand isn't great either. Puts you in a really poor position if you need to haggle or not go through with the purchase.

Ideally you'd want to make just a card transaction at a competitive rate. Could be a once off card, don't care really.

Any advice on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

oinkely

I used transferwise the two times i bought in the UK. Good fx rate and minimal fees. Transfer takes about a day to go through. Paid deposit using Revolut card - again good fx rates and no charges.

gooner99

My nephew got one recently. Got it checked over by a car sourcing guy then paid a 200 deposit by credit card and the rest via bank transfer. Nice and smooth. Was with a big dealer/chain.

epopnomis

Seems that revolut have introduced a current account system so may be a way to transfer higher amounts this way....

I bought with cash when I bought over there a few years back, handiest way imo.

CalamariFritti

epopnomis wrote: »

Seems that revolut have introduced a current account system so may be a way to transfer higher amounts this way....

Yes but there is a £30,000 limit per year with a £5,000 sub-limit per every 96 hours. The latter would be a problem.

carrotcake

There's no need for Revolut's current account in this situation. You can transfer straight from the Revolut card to any bank account using the transfer button on the account screen.

heathersonline

carrotcake wrote: »

There's no need for Revolut's current account in this situation. You can transfer straight from the Revolut card to any bank account using the transfer button on the account screen.

Is there a daily spend limit on the card?

carrotcake

heathersonline wrote: »

Is there a daily spend limit on the card?

According to this, yes
https://revolut.com/faq/gettingstarted.php?faq_question=Are+there+limits+to+my+Revolut+account%3F

Cee-Jay-Cee

Charles Bumpy Transience wrote: »

I bought with cash when I bought over there a few years back, handiest way imo.

A lot of dealers don't like handling big amounts of cash as it means having to go to bank etc etc

In 2003 a UK dealer (non franchise) refused to take £7500 of me for a car. It was lucky I was in the uk for a few days and able to get a bank draft otherwise I would have had to leave without the car. He simply said they have a no cash policy for amounts over £1000 and couldn't be swayed otherwise.

rob316

I used transfermate I was very happy with the service and rate. You just ring them they send an email asking you to fill out a form and a copy of your passport and utility bill. They then email you that your account is open.

Ring them up tell them you want to transfer X amount in £, they will tell you the € amount and give you an Irish bank account to transfer the money to them, once that is transferred email them the beneficiary bank details and its in their account the next day. Couldn't be easier.

-oRnein9-

Thanks for all the replies, It looks like transfer mate is the best option available , I am just finding it difficult to trust transferring such a large amount of money a day or two before travelling over to collect the vehicle is there a security on the payment that I could get the payment refunded should anything go wrong?

Thanks

Soarer

I think BOI don't have a daily limit on their visa debit. Just let them know ahead of time what you're doing, and there shouldn't be an issue.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

A lot of dealers don't like handling big amounts of cash as it means having to go to bank etc etc

In 2003 a UK dealer (non franchise) refused to take £7500 of me for a car. It was lucky I was in the uk for a few days and able to get a bank draft otherwise I would have had to leave without the car. He simply said they have a no cash policy for amounts over £1000 and couldn't be swayed otherwise.

I bought privately over there and it was more than 7.5k. If a dealer wouldn't take it I'd tell them they lost the sale and I'd go elsewhere. They would change their mind quickly enough imo. In Ireland most dealers want cash or commonly in my experience some in cash and some in a cheque/draft as they can fiddle the numbers a bit in their tax return.

-oRnein9- wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies, It looks like transfer mate is the best option available , I am just finding it difficult to trust transferring such a large amount of money a day or two before travelling over to collect the vehicle is there a security on the payment that I could get the payment refunded should anything go wrong?

Thanks

Why not use cash?

Marcusm

Charles Bumpy Transience wrote: »

I bought privately over there and it was more than 7.5k. If a dealer wouldn't take it I'd tell them they lost the sale and I'd go elsewhere. They would change their mind quickly enough imo. In Ireland most dealers want cash or commonly in my experience some in cash and some in a cheque/draft as they can fiddle the numbers a bit in their tax return.



Why not use cash?

Most UK dealers will not accept large amounts of cash as

1. debit card use for high value transactions is much more common over there
2. the security procedures for cash handling are expensive
3. bank fees for note processing can be up to 1%, much larger than a debit card fee
4. the risk of fraud - same arises with bank drafts which are as common as hen's teeth compared to here
5. anti money laundering compliance costs

There's simply no need for non backstreet UK dealers to take cash in any significant quantity. Threatening to walk away is only an issue for the smallest of dealerships.