On my last two car purchases, one was with cash and the other was with a personal check. Had no problems with either. I’ve also financed quite a number, also had no problems there either.
The last one where I used cash was kind of funny because the guy had to go to the gas station next door to get one of the bills broken down to give me my change.
Let me introduce you to a handy paper trail thingie called a “receipt.”
Every car sale here in South Dakota, including private sales, has to have a bill of sale. There’s even a handy little portion on the title just for that purpose. Or you can print the one from the Department of Revenue website. Or you can print your own.
Maybe things have changed for the better. 40 years ago, I was looking for a specific model of new car. I called about 5 dealers in the LA area, all of which claimed they had one in stock for immediately delivery. All I had to do was pick out the color.
When I visited each to see the car, none of them could produce an actual car. More excuses than you could shake a dipstick at – they just sold the car, it was on its way, it was on the other lot, it was being repaired, or they thought I wanted another model.
Then I found an honest dealer who told me that the particular model I wanted was prohibited in California altogether, due to not passing some smog specification. The honest dealer told me that most salesmen are taught to say they have the car, and solicit a deposit. Then they go to some dealer exchange network and purchase the car from whoever has one. As long as they stall the customer long enough, it looks like they had it all along. This strategy backfired when the car wasn’t available anywhere.
I ended up buying the car from the honest dealer a few months later, when that model finally passed the smog certification.
Note that Title 12, Section 204.2(d)(2) of the Code of Federal Regulations limits you to six electronic transfers from a savings (not checking) account (not counting those done at an ATM). At my bank, there’s a $10 surcharge if you make more than six, and if you do it twice in six months, they close the savings account.
As for paying cars with personal checks, I always do that as well, and have had no problem - well, assuming the bank was open at the time so the dealership could confirm the amount in the account.
My daughter was in the same situation. Here’s what our credit union suggested.
Take a short (one year) car loan.
Secure the loan with your savings account, and set up an automatic withdrawal, thereby getting the lowest possible interest rate. Yes, you’ll be charged interest, but today’s rate on a secured loan at my credit union is 2.5%.
After one year, the loan is paid off and you’ve actually boosted your credit score by a few points.
Now, with your credit score, boosting it a few points may not make much difference, but IF you find the perfect house, you can simply pay off the car loan immediately and reduce your debt/income ration before you apply for a mortgage.
Yeah - as a practical matter, it might be advantageous to finance and pay off at the first payment. Often financing will trigger incentives, or will allow additional negotiation on price. Will involve some minimal hassle, but might save a few hundred $.
My last new car, I bought with a personal check. I just made sure I had the money in my checking account before I went to the dealership (transfered it from savings using the bank’s website). The dealership never batted an eye, just took my check and handed me the keys.
Just to clarify, that’s “per calendar month or statement cycle (or similar period) of at least four weeks” per the cited reg.
That’s probably not a restriction that would cause problems for many of us.
It’s much improved! All three dealers had their entire inventory online, complete with VIN, so I got the equotes for the exact car. I cannot believe how easy it is to buy a car now. Get equotes! The three different dealers definitely had different pricing for the exact model and features so it was worth it. I did deal with sales folks when I was setting up test drives of different manufacturers, but that was easy as well. But the actual purchase process was so easy since I plopped the check down for the exact amount. No haggling about rust coating/extended warranty/blahblahblah.
You really should get that Tru-Coat[sup]TM[/sup]. I’ll see if my boss will let you have it for a discount. 
Sounds tempting. Can you throw in some free floor mats?
Cashiers checks,
Wire transfers,
Personal checks (after transferring the money to your checking account),
Or actual cash money. There’s nothing saying you can’t just pay with a stack of hundreds, if you so desire.
:eek: Was it orange, with two doors and the flippy windows in the back? That was our family car which my father bought the same year as yours! My father bought it by check for $3800. 
Four of us crammed in there.
I did that for one “cash” purchase. I still operate with a 25+ year old credit union account and I’m no longer close to any branch. Just walking in for a credit union check (they have to have their own cool name for a cashier’s check 
) wasn’t a convenient option. The dealer brought up a wire transfer and a phone call revealed I could arrange it online. A couple minutes with the salesman’s computer and the information for their account and I’d paid for the car.
It almost felt like one of those movies where the underworld figures are transferring money between shady offshore accounts.
The Patriot Act in no way requires a credit check for a personal check for a purchase…
They will file a report to the IRS/FinCEN if you pay $10000 in cash or more. And no, $9999 is not safe.
The rule is MORE than $10,000. So theoretically a cash payment of exactly $10,000 does not need to be reported. In practice, many merchants will cover their behinds by reporting smaller payments than required.
And here’s another fun fact: Cash may also include cashier’s checks, bank drafts, traveler’s checks, and money orders with a face value of $10,000 or less.
Cash does not include a cashier’s check, bank draft, traveler’s check or money order with a face value of more than $10,000.
So, if you buy a car with an $11,000 cashier’s check, no report is required to be filed. But if you buy one with a $9,000 cashier’s check plus a $2,000 cashier’s check, a report is required.
The reasoning is that banks are required to report currency transactions of more than $10,000. so if you bought an $11,000 cashier’s check with cash, the bank must have already reported it.
Note that for the purpose of bank transactions, cashier’s checks, bank drafts, traveler’s checks, and money orders of any amount do not count as currency.
I don’t understand what you mean by “looses”. At first I thought you meant he threw $22,000 in cash up in the air or off a bridge or that he loosed it in some other way, but the article doesn’t mention anything like that.
As far as I know, the reporting rules do not make it illegal to withdraw over $10,000 in cash.