I’m working on a short story and need some help concerning what might happen in a car dealership under normal and unusual circumstances.
First of all, let me state that I have never bought a new car. As such, I don’t have the foggiest idea what the “normal” process would be if I were to walk into a dealership with an interest in buying a new car.
What would be the typical steps that I would need to take (haggling over price? Discussing options? Do I need to show that I’m insured?
Would I be able to drive out of there with a new car on the same day, or is there some lag (paperwork, regulation, etc.) that happens?
The unusual part of the story is this: my protagonist is a poor working shlub who happens to find a genie. One thing that he’s always dreamed of is a new Mercedes. However, he discovers that the genie can’t create a working car since he has no knowledge of motors, engines and computers. So, he gives the genie a few $100 bills and tells him to duplicate those. Our protagonist is then going to walk into the Mercedes dealership with a briefcase full of neatly-bundled $100 bills to purchase the car with cash.
My questions (following the above question regarding “normal” procedure) are as follows:
I would imagine that it is highly unusual for someone to walk into a dealership and purchase a car with cash. Is there, however, anything (laws, ethics, whatever) that would make such a transaction impossible?
Even if it’s possible, would a large cash transaction such as this require reporting to any state or federal authorities?
I would imagine that a dealer might be highly suspicious of a person who walks in carrying tens of thousands of dollars. What precautions would a dealer take with this person?
As it turns out, the genie will be unfamiliar with anti-counterfeiting measures, such as micro-printing and the plastic security thread. So, the dealer will discover that the bills are fakes.
Would you, as the dealer, check the bills for counterfeiting?
After it’s discovered that they are counterfeit, what do you do? Do you call the cops then and there and risk a scene in your store? Or do you make up some excuse to delay him for a few hours or a day and then call the cops once he’s left your store?
I know it’s a bunch of questions – and I appreciate any help that you can provide.
I’ve worked for a few dealerships in my time… and had several customers pay upwards of $30,000 in cash (normally older couples who stashed cash and didn’t use banks.)
Yes the bills would be checked for counterfeiting. Also, any cash purchase over $10,000requires the IRS (and possbily a state or local law enforcement agency) to be notified. This is how they often catch drug dealers and other unsavory types.
Also, the dealership is going to try like crazy to get the guy to buy the car on financing and will try and show him how a low interest car loan will be a better deal in the long term than paying cash due to inflation.
Strongly suspect the dealership will call law enforcement over the counterfeiting. Possibly immediately. They are not going to give him a car for the fake money. I think the Secret Service has primary jurisdiction over such crimes, but the local police or sheriff’s department would likely make the arrest. Your guy would then be indicted on at least one felony charge, and probably be looking at a term of years in federal prison if convicted.
You can potentially drive the car off the lot the same day; all the purchase-related paperwork and even the financing can usually be done on the spot. But you DO need an insurance binder before they’ll let you take possession, at least I did.
I have never bought a car with cash, so it may be different, but usually when you buy a car at a dealership, they will play the “I have to get permission from my sales manager” game. That is, several times during the process, the salesperson will get up and leave the office and go talk to the sales manager. From what I have gathered, this is all just a psychological ploy to make you sit there and wonder if your credit is good, or if the deal will swing your way, etc. Eventually, they come back and resume the negotiations.
Where I’m going with this is that at any point in this process, somebody could be calling the cops, so they may not have to wait until the next day. They could arrest the person right there.
In fact, I am not sure that waiting until the next day to report the counterfeit money would be a good thing, unless the dealership had an ironclad chain-of-custody procedure in place, which I doubt. In other words, if they waited until the next day, the guy who passed the counterfeit money could claim that the money was good when he gave it to them, and one of their employees had substituted the counterfeit.
Your scenario of using the fake bills is a non-starter. Everything stops there. After you have negotiated and selected and test driven, the game would be over. It’s a genie anyway so why can’t she come up with real bills, found bills or something?
It is not extremely unusual for cash purchases of even new vehicles. Some folks operate on a cash basis. The bills would be checked on the spot and the sale reported. Such sales are a clue to drug dealers and money launderers. Cooperative dealers would report the money as several transactions under $10K.
Transactions in kind are not out of the question either. A dealer might take a motor home or exotic vehicle in trade for a purchase of a new vehicle. Dealers in Phoenix are prone to accept gold from the Indians from the reservation. The gold is meticulously weighed and haggled over. Both sides are pretty good at knowing the value. I bet this is happening more right now as it was in 1980 when gold was getting high.
A better option might be to work out a deal where the dealer would get some wishes from the genie or rent the genie for a period of time. Some genies can be pretty hot. That opens up a new opportunity right there.
When you are writing, you can be very creative. Think “outside the box” or maybe not, depending.
Thank you, everyone for responding. I greatly appreciate it.
Because the genie has his own agenda.
I didn’t include this in the story, but I would think that if I had a genie, I’d want to keep it quiet. I don’t want everyone and anyone either (a) asking me for endless favors or (b) constantly trying to steal the lamp.
