Current Events > Have any of you here ever paid for a car with cash?

(+) Yeah! (+)

from a dealership? iirc they really hate when you do that. Most experts recommend that if you are to only tell them at the latest possible time

Yep. It was fun

Nope. I only pay cash for second hand.

Why do dealerships hate that? And also why should you care if a dealership hates something?

MICHALECOLE posted...

Why do dealerships hate that?

Dealers make extra money if you finance the car with them.

And also why should you care if a dealership hates something?

They might be willing to give you a lower price if they don't know you're paying cash.

BewmHedshot posted...

Dealers make extra money if you finance the car with them.

only if you finance with them? so if you finance from your own bank is it basically the same to them as if you paid in cash?

i went to the dealership today looking for one. my car got flooded out from super bad storms here a couple weeks ago. not sure if i plan to pay in cash or finance yet but my last car i financed through my bank.

Yep, the car I drive now i bought with cash... I did wait until the latest possible moment to tell him that... He didn't seem happy with it lol...

BewmHedshot posted...

Dealers make extra money if you finance the car with them.

They might be willing to give you a lower price if they don't know you're paying cash.

I dont think either of those things are true

random_man9119 posted...

Yep, the car I drive now i bought with cash... I did wait until the latest possible moment to tell him that... He didn't seem happy with it lol...

what you brought it in a huge suitcase of something?

Smallville posted...

what you brought it in a huge suitcase of something?

I wish... I just went and withdrew the money and came back with it... I'm sure he was getting the stuff ready for me to finance it though only for me to pay with cash...

MICHALECOLE posted...

I dont think either of those things are true

They definitely make extra money from financing

MICHALECOLE posted...

I dont think either of those things are true

Margins on cars are pretty thin.

They make most of their money on add-ons and financing

Financing rates are much higher for used cars than new cars (gotta fuck over the poor, donchaknow)

Not cash but I wrote a check for the total amount. The sale guys eyes kinda popped when a 23 year old handed him a check for $21k.

BunkerBoy posted...

They definitely make extra money from financing

they do, but do you think that changes the commission from the sales person?

it might idk

I put $5000 on a card (they wouldn't let me do more than that) and paid the balance with a check.

Not at a dealership but I paid for my last car with 41 Benjamins.

BlazinBlue88 posted...

Not cash but I wrote a check for the total amount. The sale guys eyes kinda popped when a 23 year old handed him a check for $21k.

Seto Kaiba? Is that you?

I definitely pissed off the dealer last time I bought a car by printing out the online price and demanding they honor it. He kept leaving me and going into the online manager's office and was clearly pissed about it (as the online quote was $2000 less than the in-house price)

I did my 1st 2 cars

Euripides posted...

I definitely pissed off the dealer last time I bought a car by printing out the online price and demanding they honor it. He kept leaving me and going into the online manager's office and was clearly pissed about it (as the online quote was $2000 less than the in-house price)

he did it for you?

MICHALECOLE posted...

they do, but do you think that changes the commission from the sales person?

it might idk

it does. i don't get how it makes that much of a difference but seems like it's enough that they care about it. i know with the market they don't tend to make a whole lot off the actual sale of the car. more so if they get you to buy extras with it. but they still charge more than it's worth to give them room to entice the sale. so guess even if they just get a few hundred extra from financing that will add up. if they sell 10 cars in a week and 5 finance and that gets them $300 extra for each that's $1500 extra for not doing any extra work. obviously jump pulling out random numbers and no clue how it works.

Smallville posted...

he did it for you?

Yep. I would've walked had he not

Not at the dealership but I did it plenty of times on private sale used cars

Car salesman for 5 years here. AMA.

hyperskate65 posted...

Car salesman for 5 years here. AMA.

you liked doing this job? why'd you leave?

Yep, 98% of the time.

Last car I bought on tick was my Jaguar, because the salesman said he could offer me 500 off if I took their finance deal, and pay it off tomorrow.

Which I did, and I paid an incredible 2.76 in fees.

I'm looking for something fun and it'll be cash-bought. Am I lucky to be in a position to do so? Yes. Do I think people who spend WAY over market value for the shiny shiny are propping up a false economy? Also yes.

hyperskate65 posted...

Car salesman for 5 years here. AMA.

Do you make more on commission if you get them to finance as opposed to them paying cash?

also did you hate when people paid in cash?

Ive never bought a new car, but have always paid for second hand cars and bikes with cash.

Does it count if i got the loan from the bank with way lower rates and paid for the car in full at the dealership?

First time i paid for something for such large amount by sticking a card in the card machine, entering the 4 digit pin and pressing the green button and bam, tens of thousands gone.

Cashier's check

@hyperskate65 just gonna drop in and leave like this

reminds me of my dad

Smallville posted...

you liked doing this job? why'd you leave?

Yes! Covid hit when I was at Ford which was a total shitshow. Ford closed their production plants to make PPE for everyone right on the heels of the new F150, new Bronco, new Bronco Sport, New Maverick, and New Mach-E Mustangs being released. So all that shit got delayed - including shit that was already delayed by all of those like the Explorers and bigger trucks. Once they decided to reopen and up the productivity is when the chip shortage hit.

So we had no inventory, no inventory coming, no one was buying used cause no one had money and the market was way too high, and you only get paid upon full delivery of the vehicle (when the customer leaves the lot with it). So you'd sell 15 cars in January but they were all orders from factory right? Guess what - you aren't getting paid for those til August when the vehicle arrives and the customer leaves. Hope you enjoy your draw! Went from making huge money to meh money. So then I swapped over into finance lending / auto lending in a financial institution so I'm basically on the other side of it. Very much enjoy this new position, but there's definitely pros and cons of each and sometimes I do miss the hustle and bustle of sales.

MICHALECOLE posted...

Do you make more on commission if you get them to finance as opposed to them paying cash?

also did you hate when people paid in cash?

It's rare, but at certain dealerships you can make more when they finance. I made a little more off finance at Infiniti, but overall no. Finance department and your sales managers who pencil the deal are the ones who make more off the finance. The way that works is the bank gives you kickback for holding the rate.

So say you qualified for a 4% right? We'll hold 1.5% and tell you you're qualified for 5.5%. You pay that extra, we get get the extra kickback from the bank for that amount. 9 times out of 10 salespeople only get paid what's called front end - which is how much profit we made on the car. If we own a car for $10k and sell it to you for $15k we made $5k profit. I would see 20% of that as my pay for the vehicle. This is also why dealerships are so adamant about asking you not to pay the vehicle off within 6-9 months or whatever they say, because if the vehicle gets paid off too early the bank won't give them the kickback since they didn't reap enough interest from the deal. So if you really wanna piss a dealership off for some reason, finance for the rebates and pay the vehicle off the very next day (or refinance at your credit union and pay it off that way). You get lower cost, lower rate, and they don't get their kickback.

To answer your second question - did I personally give a shit if you cashed or financed? Not even a little. Often times if you pay cash you pay more because you don't qualify for a lot of the finance company rebates, so I technically make more money while pissing off my managers desk. Plus a cash deal is less work / paperwork for me in the long run so I'm not going to complain regardless.

MICHALECOLE posted...

@hyperskate65 just gonna drop in and leave like this

reminds me of my dad

Mine too

hyperskate65 posted...

Yes! Covid hit when I was at Ford which was a total shitshow. Ford closed their production plants to make PPE for everyone right on the heels of the new F150, new Bronco, new Bronco Sport, New Maverick, and New Mach-E Mustangs being released. So all that shit got delayed - including shit that was already delayed by all of those like the Explorers and bigger trucks. Once they decided to reopen and up the productivity is when the chip shortage hit.

So we had no inventory, no inventory coming, no one was buying used cause no one had money and the market was way too high, and you only get paid upon full delivery of the vehicle (when the customer leaves the lot with it). So you'd sell 15 cars in January but they were all orders from factory right? Guess what - you aren't getting paid for those til August when the vehicle arrives and the customer leaves. Hope you enjoy your draw! Went from making huge money to meh money. So then I swapped over into finance lending / auto lending in a financial institution so I'm basically on the other side of it. Very much enjoy this new position, but there's definitely pros and cons of each and sometimes I do miss the hustle and bustle of sales.

It's rare, but at certain dealerships you can make more when they finance. I made a little more off finance at Infiniti, but overall no. Finance department and your sales managers who pencil the deal are the ones who make more off the finance. The way that works is the bank gives you kickback for holding the rate.

So say you qualified for a 4% right? We'll hold 1.5% and tell you you're qualified for 5.5%. You pay that extra, we get get the extra kickback from the bank for that amount. 9 times out of 10 salespeople only get paid what's called front end - which is how much profit we made on the car. If we own a car for $10k and sell it to you for $15k we made $5k profit. I would see 20% of that as my pay for the vehicle. This is also why dealerships are so adamant about asking you not to pay the vehicle off within 6-9 months or whatever they say, because if the vehicle gets paid off too early the bank won't give them the kickback since they didn't reap enough interest from the deal. So if you really wanna piss a dealership off for some reason, finance for the rebates and pay the vehicle off the very next day (or refinance at your credit union and pay it off that way). You get lower cost, lower rate, and they don't get their kickback.

To answer your second question - did I personally give a shit if you cashed or financed? Not even a little. Often times if you pay cash you pay more because you don't qualify for a lot of the finance company rebates, so I technically make more money while pissing off my managers desk. Plus a cash deal is less work / paperwork for me in the long run so I'm not going to complain regardless.

Im gonna take your answer and claim victory on my original position

Yes, but that was back in the 90s when you could buy a used absolute garbage 1980s American car like a Plymouth Reliant or a GM Chevette for a few hundred bucks and run them into the ground until they died.

MICHALECOLE posted...

I dont think either of those things are true

MICHALECOLE posted...

Im gonna take your answer and claim victory on my original position

If the above comments reference were your original position then unfortunately you can't claim victory, friend.

We do make more money off of finance, just not necessarily the salesperson who helped you.

And you will be offered a lower price when financing BUT it isn't because we're shady bastards who hate you - it's because you won't qualify for a lot of rebates without financing unfortunately.

hyperskate65 posted...

If the above comments reference were your original position then unfortunately you can't claim victory, friend.

We do make more money off of finance, just not necessarily the salesperson who helped you.

And you will be offered a lower price when financing BUT it isn't because we're shady bastards who hate you - it's because you won't qualify for a lot of rebates without financing unfortunately.

I already claimed victory, theres nothing you can do

RIP me

I bought my first car with my debit card, and wrote checks for my next two

Financing is a scam

I've only bought 2 cars in my lifetime and both were brand new and with cash. The first one, the salesman didn't seem to care I was paying cash. With the second one, the salesman briefly tried to suggest I buy on finance and when I kindly declined, he didn't push it further.

Funny story:

My late uncle who was a new immigrant at the time bought his first car in the country with actual literal cash - briefcase and all. The dealership freaked out when he rocked up to dump a bunch of notes on them to buy his car, lmao.

Nope. My first new car had a loan of like 1.9% or something, and my second new car currently has a loan of 2.34%. You're a fool to pay in cash when you could finance and then invest the cash you would've otherwise spent at a better rate of return.

FL81 posted...

I bought my first car with my debit card, and wrote checks for my next two

Financing is a scam

I wouldnt call it a scam

The last car I bought, which is getting old itself now.... I wanted to just write a check for it.
But there was like $5,000 in price cuts from the supposed MSRP (it wasn't the base package, but the only type of that model they had on the lot) and the dealer claimed I HAD to finance w/ them to get that discount.
So I asked, "What's the most I can pay by check today and still get the discount?" It was basically half. So I paid half up front, then when I got the first month's bill paid off the remainder plus the $35 in interest that had accrued.
*Shrug* Was set to pay in cash, but I think it was worth that one interest payment to not do so...

the dealership is still getting $50,000. don't see why they would be mad about that especially when there are multiple costumers

I paid cash for my previous two cars. For my current car, in 2017, there was a decent incentive for financing (through the manufacturer, at an extremely low rate), so I got the minimum loan and paid it off after the minimum time to get the incentive, which was three months later.

Skyrazer posted...

My late uncle who was a new immigrant at the time bought his first car in the country with actual literal cash - briefcase and all. The dealership freaked out when he rocked up to dump a bunch of notes on them to buy his car, lmao.

I had a man come in and buy himself a little stick shift, and buy his wife a nice Explorer. He had two kids with him, probably neither older than 9. When it got to price talks he goes "I've got all the cash here", and grabs the little backpack his daughter had been walking around with all day lmao. Dude had $90k just sitting in a 8-9 year old's backpack. It was wild.

Yes. Spent the day before "negotiating" a great price through financing. Did it online/over the phone. Showed up in the morning with cash (cashier's check).

Not spending all day on the lot getting hard sell tactics and tag teamed, cause fuck that.

Yes, back in February

I bought a Sebring for $500 cash 8 years ago and ran the hell out of it for about 3 years.