Assist me in my idiocy, please. Re: car down payment

[snipsnsnails]

We're going to test drive cars in a few hours. We've narrowed our search and might buy a car today, too.

BUT-I just realized that there are no checks in my check book. It's been a while since I bought a car. Do I use a certified check from the bank, a personal check or (this is an option we were offered at CarMax 2 years ago, but wrote a check) use my debit card?

The problem with each of these is the bank closes at 5, I've searched for a box of new checks in my house and nada or I have a vague sense of there being a debit card spending limit per day of something small like $2k or $3k.

I told you this was dumb. ML needs to run my life this weekend. Please and thank you.

[firelight1210]

I think you can put a small amount on your card to hold the car, and then come back with the down payment. Are you financing through your bank or the dealer?

[donutsmakemegonuts]

We financed through our bank, but the banks had already closed for the day when we bought our Jeep. Our dealer let us do all the paperwork and take the Jeep home and we went to the bank the next day. The bank cut us a check for the amount and we brought it to the dealership.

[cookie510]

Last time we bought a car we put a small deposit down on the day of with a credit card and then came back in a few days with a check. But I think you can use a credit/debit card for the entire down payment though.

[killercupcake]

We used our debit card for H's truck. It turned into a fiasco with the bank, but using a card isn't unheard of.

Can you use a credit card instead and just pay it off right away? My cc's have a much higher daily spend limit than our debit cards do.

[firelight1210]

Mar 6, 2015 14:39:58 GMT -5 donutsmakemegonuts said:

We financed through our bank, but the banks had already closed for the day when we bought our Jeep. Our dealer let us do all the paperwork and take the Jeep home and we went to the bank the next day. The bank cut us a check for the amount.

This is what I would recommend. I'm a loan officer at a credit union, and this is what we tell our members to do.  Basically, they will set you up for the financing (whether you're going with them or not), and you can drive the car off the lot that day.  They'll give you 5 days to come back with a check before they forward it on. 

When I bought my car last year, I brought my credit union loan check, and also the check for the downpayment that we had agreed on.

[sharknado]

Just write an IOU?

[snipsnsnails]

Mar 6, 2015 14:43:02 GMT -5 sharknado said:

Just write an IOU?

I'll leave my 2 year old as collateral, then she doesn't have to come to the birthday party!

[sharknado]

Mar 6, 2015 14:43:36 GMT -5 snipsnsnails said:

Mar 6, 2015 14:43:02 GMT -5 sharknado said:

Just write an IOU?

I'll leave my 2 year old as collateral, then she doesn't have to come to the birthday party!

OMG! Brilliant! I am so doing this and I just bought a new car!

[killercupcake]

Mar 6, 2015 14:43:02 GMT -5 sharknado said:

Just write an IOU?

"That's as good as money. Those are IOUs."

[firelight1210]

As good as money!

ETA: dammit, too late, lol

[snipsnsnails]

Mar 6, 2015 14:48:07 GMT -5 fussybutt14 said:

If you have an idea of what your down payment would be, my bank has make exceptions to the debit card limit for when I was making big purchases.. Maybe you can call them to see if this is an option?

Will I need to call during business hours, though? I'm not sure we'll be done test-driving by 5pm. But maybe there 24-hour customer service can do that?

And, hmmm, off to investigate my CC spending limits. Hadn't thought of that since we don't use them.

[sjh722]

Last time we bought a car they only let me put $2,000 of the DP on a card (dealer limit).

You could also swing by a branch of your bank and ask them to print you a counter check - it's like $1. Otherwise, like PP said, I'm sure they can work with you on getting the DP funds.

[snipsnsnails]

Mar 6, 2015 14:51:42 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Last time we bought a car they only let me put $2,000 of the DP on a card (dealer limit).

You could also swing by a branch of your bank and ask them to print you a counter check - it's like $1. Otherwise, like PP said, I'm sure they can work with you on getting the DP funds.

Ooh, what's a counter check? A bank-distributed blank check from my account? This is perfect!

[snipsnsnails]

Mar 6, 2015 14:52:39 GMT -5 fussybutt14 said:

Mar 6, 2015 14:50:26 GMT -5 snipsnsnails said:

Will I need to call during business hours, though? I'm not sure we'll be done test-driving by 5pm. But maybe there 24-hour customer service can do that?

And, hmmm, off to investigate my CC spending limits. Hadn't thought of that since we don't use them.

If you're not sure, I'd just call them tell them you might be making a purchase, and need your limit either extended to $xxx or just taken off completely (not sure what your bank would do) and then if you don't buy anything, no big deal, it goes back to normal after midnight (or whatever time frame they set)

Ah, this might work, unless there's a limit from the dealership on what can be put on a debit card?

[riverrider]

Mar 6, 2015 14:50:26 GMT -5 snipsnsnails said:

Mar 6, 2015 14:48:07 GMT -5 fussybutt14 said:

If you have an idea of what your down payment would be, my bank has make exceptions to the debit card limit for when I was making big purchases.. Maybe you can call them to see if this is an option?

Will I need to call during business hours, though? I'm not sure we'll be done test-driving by 5pm. But maybe there 24-hour customer service can do that?

And, hmmm, off to investigate my CC spending limits. Hadn't thought of that since we don't use them.

I work at a credit union call center and we take those requests all the time to have the daily limit raised for a big purchase. Just call and they will be able to help you!

[sjh722]

Mar 6, 2015 14:54:37 GMT -5 snipsnsnails said:

Mar 6, 2015 14:51:42 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Last time we bought a car they only let me put $2,000 of the DP on a card (dealer limit).

You could also swing by a branch of your bank and ask them to print you a counter check - it's like $1. Otherwise, like PP said, I'm sure they can work with you on getting the DP funds.

Ooh, what's a counter check? A bank-distributed blank check from my account? This is perfect!

Yes, they can just print you a little sheet of checks right there. :-)

I'd call the dealer and find out how much $ they'll let you put on a card before I messed around with trying to raise the authorization limit on a debit card. If you do use a credit card, they'll probably have you call the company to authorize it right from the dealer. (I've always had to do that if using it to make a large purchase.)

[snipsnsnails]

Mar 6, 2015 15:02:40 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Mar 6, 2015 14:54:37 GMT -5 snipsnsnails said:

Ooh, what's a counter check? A bank-distributed blank check from my account? This is perfect!

Yes, they can just print you a little sheet of checks right there. :-)

I'd call the dealer and find out how much $ they'll let you put on a card before I messed around with trying to raise the authorization limit on a debit card. If you do use a credit card, they'll probably have you call the company to authorize it right from the dealer. (I've always had to do that if using it to make a large purchase.)

Awesome! You've answered all of my car buying stuff. First about Acadias and now this. You need a portion of the cut the dealer is going to get. Ha! Thanks!!

[sjh722]

Mar 6, 2015 15:04:56 GMT -5 snipsnsnails said:

Mar 6, 2015 15:02:40 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Yes, they can just print you a little sheet of checks right there. :-)

I'd call the dealer and find out how much $ they'll let you put on a card before I messed around with trying to raise the authorization limit on a debit card. If you do use a credit card, they'll probably have you call the company to authorize it right from the dealer. (I've always had to do that if using it to make a large purchase.)

Awesome! You've answered all of my car buying stuff. First about Acadias and now this. You need a portion of the cut the dealer is going to get. Ha! Thanks!!

Maybe I should be in car sales instead of houses. Enjoy your shopping!

[snipsnsnails]

Mar 6, 2015 15:06:03 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Mar 6, 2015 15:04:56 GMT -5 snipsnsnails said:

Awesome! You've answered all of my car buying stuff. First about Acadias and now this. You need a portion of the cut the dealer is going to get. Ha! Thanks!!

Maybe I should be in car sales instead of houses. Enjoy your shopping!

Ha, I'm hoping to sell my house in the next year. I'm tagging you!

[sh10]

We just bought last weekend and didn't take our checkbook as we weren't planning on buying. Opps. They just us put $2K on a credit card and said that was the limit they would take on a card, so we brought a check for the remainder of the down payment on Monday when we picked it up. I wanted to put the whole down payment on a card but they said no. Happy shopping!