Paying a dealer
Hi All
When paying for a MH from a dealer, what is the safest way of protecting your money ? The dealer wants cleared funds before the day of collection, understandably wanting to protect themselves and make the handover day as smooth as possible. I want to protect myself, should something untoward happen to the dealer between collection and dealer. There is no trade in, so it’s a large lump of cash.
How do people work it ?
Thanks
Comments
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When I collected my new caravan I paid the maximum I was legally allowed to on credit card, which I believe was £5,000. The remainder was done by bank transfer a few days before collection.
My interpretation of the transaction is the goods have to be as described. If they had not been I assumed I could walk away and expect a full transfer back of the funds.
Colin
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I would never pay in advance, not even one day. I presume you've already paid a deposit. With a bank transfer, the funds should be in his account with minimum delay and you're already there with the motorhome in view and inspected. From personal experience, even notifying the bank beforehand and paying on a debit card might result in delays and inconvenience, just because "the system" might recognise it as exceptional. Individuals can't always overrule "the system"
This is a substantial purchase and you must protect yourself and not worry about it from the dealer's point of view - he'll have other transactions to think about once you've left his premises. Good luck!
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I echo Tom's comments. Chat to your bank. I believe a transfer will arrive in minutes.
I did similar when we bought new car, deposit on credit card. £1 transfer initially to their bank. To ensure it lands where it should 😉. I still do it even though banks allegedly do more checks! Then I had to do more than one transfer, as it was above the limit for one transaction, whilst with the dealer. Cleared with the bank previously. Their accounts department verified receipt whilst we were still doing the handover.
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It’s pretty much the norm now, Onepjg. Several times when buying vans we have paid substantial amounts by bank transfer in advance. It goes against the grain but I couldn’t find an alternative other than phone transfer from the dealer's premises but that’s no good if they want cleared funds 2-3 days in advance. Don’t rely on Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act for cover by paying with a credit card as that only applies to goods costing between £100 and £30000 - that’s total cost. There’s no way I would pay in advance to an unknown dealer but it’s always been OK for us with large well known dealerships. Another thing I would not do is to take my p/ex van to the dealer in advance of picking up the new one.
It's because of the requirement to pay in advance that we visit the dealership (by arrangement) a few days before paying and give the van a thorough inspection. If there is a visible problem, we require the dealer to sort it before making payment.
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Personally, I never pay in advance for a purchase, especially one financially significant to me.
Our last van was into six figures and there was no PX. I paid £1000 deposit on a CC and arranged a date for collection. The dealer wanted £10,000, I offered £500 and we agreed on the £1k; after all he really wanted a sale! I made it clear that I would want to carefully inspect the van before completing the purchase.
A few days before collection day I arranged a Window of Opportunity (WoO) with my bank during which I could call, provide a prearranged code and instruct them to transfer the funds; they were very helpful throughout the process.
On the day the inspection a resulting repair took us past the WoO. But, at the appropriate time I spoke to my bank and arranged for it to be moved on a few hours. At the next WoO all was well and I instructed my bank to transfer the funds.
Once the dealer has your money you have lost most of your ability to influence the situation so keep it in your pocket until you are entirely satisfied with the goods. Most of all before you sign, carefully read and understand the T’s & C’s of the purchase agreement; some can be horrendous. Many have a pay beforehand clause but most dealer will waive that rather than lose a sale.
Good luck with your purchase.
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Completely echo TW’s post. Not a van/MH, but a car. We test drove the car thoroughly (not brand new) and checked all around it before leaving it with dealer for all pre sale work and checks and valeting to be carried out. On pick up day, we checked all around it to make sure all the things we wanted doing were sorted, that it all worked and it was valeted. We had left a deposit, but we paid actually on the day by Bank Transfer and everyone was happy. It was a positive buying experience, and would happily buy from this dealer again.
Don’t part with anything substantial or take the outfit away unless you have tested everything, and are thoroughly happy.
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I couldn't remember the payment arrangements for our current motorhome so I looked out the old paperwork. It seemed we paid the balance about three days before we collected the new van. We had previously purchased one caravan and our first motorhome from this dealer so it wasn't really an issue for us. I can understand the dealer wanting payment before handover day because if its left to the day of collection and there is a problem with the payment that causes problems for all concerned, especially if you have travelled any distance. I appreciate that I was is a slightly different situation in that the old motorhome was being swapped on the day of collection.
David
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We must have been extremely lucky with our last but one purchase of a caravan. We paid a deposit on CC and arranged to pay balance via the same CC at the dealers on day of pick up.
We'd bought a couple of caravans from them previously. When day of collection came the dealer had an electronic blackout but he allowed us to take the new caravan and pop back a couple of days later to pay the balance. This went through without problems but his trust in us was as pleasant as it was unexpected.
Picking up a caravan and usually p/xing we haven't had to exceed the £30,000 limit so tend to use CC to pay a deposit and a bank transfer on day of collection. Bit different as TW says if you are buying over that limit.
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P/ex counts as part of the payment. The total cost of the goods needs not to exceed £30k for Section 75 to apply. In the case of a new/newish MH, it’s unlikely that Sec 75 could be invoked so paying by C/C loses its advantage.
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Daughters have bought two new cars recently, one just over a year ago and the other was two years from the same dealer Evan Halshaw.
In both cases a small deposit then the money had to be in by bank transfer before a certain time on the day of hand over.
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👍🏻👍🏻
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If making a "faster payment" from your bank, check for any daily limits first, we are with Halifax and theirs is £25k.
Our current towcar we paid for by debit card, 6-7 years back, it had to be done in 2 transactions for some reason, and I had to speak with the bank by phone while paying.
We just bought a new small SUV, paid a deposit by credit card. The balance to pay was just over the Halifax faster payment limit so we paid part the day before, to show good faith, and the balance at handover by debit card.
OH rang Halifax the cay before to ask about any debit card limits and was eventually told there was no limit, but any unusually large transaction might be held and could be refused. She pointed out that when waiting to drive your new car home, that could be very inconvenient!
They then said that most likely it would be OK, or they might send us a code to enter.
As it happened, the debit card payment just went straight through.
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If you openly work with your bank there is rarely a problem. They are only trying to protect themselves and you their customer, from fraud.
Returning to "Paying a Dealer" it is worth remembering that it's a two-way process; a Sale and a Purchase. It's your Purchase, you should remain in charge of it and not let the Dealer take over or even unduly influence your decisions.
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