+1I bought a new Honda last week and paid cash with a check on a Vanguard money market fund. Went fine.I just find it easier to finance it than pay cash. Dealerships are optimized for the finance work-flow, they understand it, it makes sense to them. Cash freaks them out.
Paying "cash", you have to haggle over the price then go get a bank cashiers check and then come back. Financing you can haggle over the price and then just sign a few papers and walk out with the car same day, with no extra trips.
When we bought our CRV 2 weeks ago I paid with a personal check for all but 5k that they let me charge on my cash back card. No hassle, it was a simple process.
I'd assume most dealership would prefer a personal check vs a certified check because it leaves room for them to try to upsell junk to you at the last minute. And it's not like a certified check is risk free either.
I did need to sign an conditional delivery agreement in which the dealer could rescind the sale and reclaim the vehicle if they didn't receive funds in X days while they waited for my check to clear. Seemed reasonable to me as I bought it on a Friday night, I guess this type of agreement is also used when they are waiting to secure financing for a customer. Anyway, they deposited my check the next business day and through my banks website, check cleared, and I could see the dealers deposit stamp on the check image, seems like everything went smoothly
Statistics: Posted by flyingcows — Thu Jan 30, 2025 7:26 pm — Replies 13 — Views 1078