So I get a call from a dealership saying that the car I wanted just arrived a 2019 Honda civic type r I was on their waiting list and as soon as I could I was on my way to get it. On the phone I asked if it would be okay to use a bankers/cashier’s check for the car and the sales man said he would ask his manager. I go to my local bank and am getting the check and call them back asking who to make the check out to and they tell me who to make it out to. After that I pick a friend up to go grab the car with me because its a 3+ hour drive (and I want to keep my old car so he will drive it back). Then I call them and they say that they will hold the car for me till I get there. A little over an hour into the drive they call me back and say they will not take my cahsier’s check and want to wire it. Well it’s now 5 and the banks are closed and the wire closes at 2. And they will not give me financing through the dealer ship because my “credit line is not good enough” (I just saw my trans Union at my bank it was a 747 and a 716 equifax). The sales man says his manager told him the dealer will not take cashier’s checks at all and only a wire will work. I call them back the next day and talk to a different salesman about a $31,000 car instead of a $37,000 and the different salesman about using a cashier’s check and he says there should be no problem with that. Are they discriminating me because I am 19? Why would they turn down a cahsier’s check one day and not the next? The main difference is I did not tell them who I was or how old I was. Is that not illegal
Probably not illegal, but really dumb dealership.
Another post for LegalTalk and not CarTalk.
I think the dealer found another buyer willing to pay them more for this car and they are making excuses to blow off your deal.
Cashiers checks can easily be forged so I can see a dealer not accepting one . Also a credit score of 750 and short credit history plus being 19 can mean financing might be difficult . You should call the finance manager to get the actual policy instead of the salesman’s opinion.
Actually you could write a personal check that they can verify through your bank and cash right then electronically.
As previously noted, there are plenty of bogus cashiers checks, even though they look official. They deposit fine but can take a little time before they bounce. Meanwhile, you’ve driven away with the car.
Perhaps your age does have something to do with it. When I was 19 and wasn’t “established”, I too encountered road blocks similar to yours.
I like Volvo_V70’s suggestion about using a personal check that the dealer can cash immediately.
There’s no law governing what a business can accept as payment. It may be their policy.
Personally - I’d find another dealer.
When we bought a house recently, they wouldn’t accept a cashiers check for the closing costs, even from a local bank. Had to be a wire transfer. They explained this was due to increased fraud with cashiers checks. We’d last bought a house 9 years prior, and cashiers checks were ok then.
Obviously they have you over a barrel at a title company, as there aren’t any other real options. Kind of surprised me at a car dealership though. Hmm.
They probably will take a cashier’s check but not allow you to take the car until it clears which is about a day or two at most. You wanted to show up after bank hours and do the exchange. They can’t even call the bank to verify if the check is legit. Wiring money is instant exchange. You could go back to your bank, tell them you’re returning the check as it’s not going to be used for its intended purpose. They should restore the funds. Then wire the money to the dealership account. There will be an additional fee for that. But then you pick up your car that day. It cost you one extra day but how long have you been waiting?
I trying to anwser all the questions first this is a rare car and there is not another one with in over 200 miles of me. I called another sales man and he said there should not be any issue with using a bankers check. Fired up by the events my mom called them and they told her it’s because of our location and they will not call the bank to validate the check and still want us to wire it. They made me mad enough I just wont buy it from them they said that the another car could be bought with one no problem. Yes my bankers check was returned to the bank so the funds are not an issue. 19 and make 48k a year with a 38 hr work week on 1st shift. The only thing It could be is that they don’t want to sell the car. Just have to wait till another pops up.
This is the second dealer that won’t sell me the exact car the first one I went home to get financing and by the time I could have came back it sold it’s a very hard car to get
I wouldn’t say it’s super-rare, there are 4-6 of them at the local Cars & Coffee every other Saturday morning around here. I want to say the U.S. got about 3000 of them a year for MY17-18 with production increasing due to demand for MY19. It’s more rare than say the current Mustang GT-350, but they aren’t so rare that you can go years without seeing one in the wild.
When I was 19, I drove a $500 car and couldn’t even afford the insurance.
I bought my house last year, February 2018. We paid the closing costs with a cashier check, and in fact prior to closing, the title company gave us a brochure warning us of scams, and advising us that any requests to wire money to any person or company in conjunction with this real estate transaction are fraudulent, and that a physical check is to be brought to their office prior to the closing date.
I bought my 2004 Toyota Corolla new, which was special-ordered from the factory. The initial deposit was paid with a personal check, and the balance was paid with a cashier check when I picked up the car.
This story sounds like what happened after WW II. Automobile production was suspended for the war effort in February of 1942 and didn’t resume until the fall of 1945. With the pent up demand for cars and the returning servicemen who wanted cars, dealers often required money under the table in order to sell a person a new car.
At this point in your life at age 19, don’t fall in love with a particular car model. There are plenty of cars available that will provide reliable transportation. Negotiate the best deal on a reliable car and invest the rest of the money in mutual funds or something that will grow interest.
I think back to the spring of 1964 when the Ford Mustang hit the market. I was in graduate school at the time. I couldn’t believe the number of people that wanted to buy that Mustang-- the only one available in town. It had a 170 cubic inch six cylinder engine and a three speed manual transmission. It rode on a Ford Falcon chassis. The Ford Falcon could be purchased for about $2000 while the same car with the Mustang body was selling for close to $3000. I was earning about $200 a month on my assistantship at the time which covered my room which cost $8 a week and a meal ticket at the student center which provided 3 meals a day for a week and cost $22 each week. I could have dropped out of graduate school and taken a full time job in the growing computer industry and purchased a Mustang, preferably with the V-8 289 engine and the 4 speed manual transmission. However, I made the choice to stay in school and invest in myself.
My recommendation is don’t get hung up on a car you think you have to have now. Get reliable transportation and invest for your future.
Yeah I think @Mustangman might be close to the truth that they simply had someone else on the hook for more money or one who would finance through them. However, cashiers checks are not what they used to be and a 19 year old giving me a cashiers check for over $30,000 would cause me pause. There are just too many bogus checks that have been used. If you take a look at a dollar bill it says for “all debts public and private” so the old fashioned green stuff still needs to be taken. But again I’d want to wand every hundred dollar bill just like in the grocery store. Tough spot.
I lived in an apartment complex many years ago in Jackson, TN that would not accept cash at the office as payment for rent. Rough part of town, I guess.
This doesn’t pass the sniff test. He wants to buy a nearly $40,000 car with a 747 credit rating. He gets the money in the form of a cashier’s check (which presumably means he has a loan from the bank) and when the dealership’s finance company says no to a second $40,000 loan (not surprising, because he already has a $40,000 loan for the car from his bank which will reflect on their credit pull) he suddenly pivots and tries to buy a $31,000 car (so, not a Type R)?
I’m not saying OP is a crook, but he’s acting like one and the dealership is reasonable to protect itself. Cashiers check fraud is a real thing. When the dealership found out the guy handing them the cashier’s check was a 19 year old with middling credit buying way more car than he should reasonably be able to afford, it’s not surprising they put the brakes on the deal and wanted a more guaranteed payment method so they didn’t risk having to try to repo a brand new Type R (and then take the hit of selling it as a used car) when the bank yanked the funds back.
It’s is alot of car and they turned it down before my other loan went through to show up. And they told me over the phone who to make the check out to so how do you explained that?. But I settled for a different color and the cashier’s check works out fine
Just curious, how muck is insurance for a 19 year old with a Civic type r ?
I fell in love with many particular cars when I was 19. Just couldn’t afford them. Back then I was still in the Army and just returned from Nam. About to get out soon and start college…so it was the junk vehicle of the semester club.
If you can afford it, then get the car you want. You’ll be more likely to hold on to it long term (which is the best way to buy/own a vehicle). But you should also give yourself options. One specific car with a specific color and specific options is the most expensive way to buy a car. Be flexible.