First of all, never tell the dealership you're paying cash. They won't give you as good of a price because they'll assume you're "rich." Always pretend like you can't afford much and take a loan on the car. Then, negotiate a really great price. They'll just try to gouge you with a higher interest rate. Then, as soon as you get home and before your first payment is due, pay it off in full. You won't pay a dime in interest and your credit report continues to look great.cenvin wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 7:43 pm I'm planning on buying a new car with cash (cashier's check).
I'm not interested in dealership financing, or any of the high margin junk they try to sell you in F&I (such as "protection packages", extended warranties, VIN etching, etc) and I don't have a trade-in.
I'm also not terribly keen on playing the game of hiding the fact that I'm paying cash until the last minute so as to try to negotiate a better deal by giving them (false) hope that they might profit from all of the above (which I plan to decline).
Yes, amazingly, I “just want to buy a car”. But I fully realize that mission is 100% incompatible with their business model.
Some dealerships try to say they need a credit app (and my SSN) in order to satisfy “federal requirements/Patriot Act” (to my knowledge not true because there are no SSN's on OFAC SDN list) or for vehicle registration purposes (also not true to my knowledge because the DMV new vehicle registration form only requires my driver's license number, not my SSN), or because I'm paying “cash” and they must file IRS form 8300 (also not true to my knowledge because a cashiers check over $10k is not considered cash by the IRS, hence no need to file form 8300).
Those kinds of shenanigans aside, they can legitimately argue they need a backup form of funding in case my check bounces. But I'm paying with a cashiers check and I'm willing to let them hold the car at the dealership until they verify that the funds are in their account.
To my knowledge, all that is really required to buy a car is:
1. My full name and address
2. My driver's license
3. My proof of auto insurance
4. My payment for the car
I'm just trying to decide if being “cooperative” and letting the dealership run my credit anyway will make the process less stressful for me than fighting with them over this matter.
I just purchased a new Honda Ridgeline this way and got a price that was under blue book for my area, but they gave me a 5.8% loan. I paid it off in full already and never paid any interest.
Second, why are you so worried about them checking your credit in the first place? One credit pull will have zero effect on your score. And unless you're about to apply for a mortgage or something, who cares?