Used car dealer wants check for full price of car to 'hold' vehicle

Absolutely find another dealer-this is a BAD DEAL.

Looking at the car now. Carfax is clean but that doesnt really mean much. The dude is reall pushy. He also said if i eanted ti get it verified by a mechanic it would be smarter for me ti purchase the vehicle and if the mechanic found something then i can bring it back for repairs…im gonna take it for a test drive and theb walk away. Oh yeh apparently someone from canqda called bout the car as well lol…the car is i. Georgia

give up…

I’ve heard of it.
I don’t like it.

unless you’re driving away IN the car awaiting finincing.

Years ago ( 1975 ) I wrote a check to be held as collateral for a hand shake credit agreement.
I kept me side.
He kept his and sent back my uncashed original check when the deal was complete.
But it wasn’t such high dollars as a car is. It was $1300.00 for a bass guitar amp ( big money in 1975 but a professional neccessity ) at Danny’s Music Box in El Paso TX. I told him I could pay from each BAND paycheck but not from my day job paycheck ( family comes first ).
He said to just call if the band was not working each week but send 100 from every band gig.
I did as we agreed and so did he. Paid off the amp as agreed and I still own it !

Just got back from the test drive. Sales person said previous owner traded it in for a used 5 series. Previous owner had the vehicle for 5 months and then decided to trade it in. I crawled around under the car and it looks like there may be dome oil blown back underneath. Will post pictures soon if anyone has any opinions on it.

I see two warning flags here: 1) the previous owner kept the car only 5 months; 2) there is some oil blown back underneath.

There are plenty of cars for sale. I would pass over this one.

As promised, here are some images of what i was talking about for what i believe to be some form of blow-back of either oil or grease or something like that.

I think I’m going to take the advice and just walk away.

For $3000, I would buy the brand new car. NO WAY I’d buy used for a small discount.

Even at 4100 miles, $3000 is not enough of a discount from brand new. I agree that you should look into a brand new 2012 just like it. I am also suspicious of a 4100 mile car at a used car dealership, with 24 BBB strikes. You may find a new one to be just as cheap. IN fact new dealers very often have LOW interest financing that would make your payment as low or lower than that particular used car. LOOK AROUND.

FULL PRICE OF THE CAR??? Are you kidding me???

Run…don’t walk away from this sleazeball.

Even when buying a $30,000 new car I won’t give them more then $100. They either want my money or not. If they don’t …that’s OK…there are 100 other dealers around that will.

Even without knowing what car it is, I’ll echo what others have said and advise you to buy new. You might even be able to negotiate the price of the new one down to the price of the used one.

Don’t go back to the dealership ever again, and advise your friends and coworkers to never shop there either. If they call you wanting to know if you’re still interested in the car a week or so down the road, tell them you bought a brand new one for the price they were asking.

If they want a personal check for the purchase price, but will give you the check back when your bank check gets there, ask them to give you the signed title for the vehicle and you’ll give it back if you aren’t interested. See how they react to that.

SPRING the extra 3 k and buy new.

Just tell them to let the next person buy it if he raises the money first and don’t give them a check for any amount of money. There will always be other vehicles. If you have the money in the account, buy the car and drive it away. Where was that problem?

Your a bit too eager but good luck,never let anyone know how bad you want something-you are doing him a favor,not vice versa-Kevin

RUN from this dealer.
A nonrefundable deposit is the normal method of holding a vehicle off-market for a short term. Never, ever write a check you don’t expect to be cashed, and never every write a check for anything in full without taking full possession of the item in question.

The statements this guy made clearly classify him as totally untrustworthy and dishonest. Leave the lot immediately. And tell you friends and coworkers what he tried to con you into doing. This guy does not deserve their business.

No no no. A check is a “demand instrument” on a demand deposit account which means that you will offer up the funds when the check is presented. Post dated checks etc. are not checks. So once you write the check and sign your name they have every right to cash it right away. If they do cash it and there aren’t funds to cover it, you have committed a crime that the Sheriff can come after you for. No way should you do that.

I’ve never paid more than $500 to have a car special ordered. I once put $100 down to hold a used car for me pending the loan would not go through on the guy ahead of me on the same car. No way do you ever pay for it before you get the car. They might be trying to be able to include the sale for the end of the month or something but it would be a deal breaker for me.

Walk away. I don’t like anything about this deal. I don’t like that the salesman is pushy, and I don’t like that the salesman won’t let you take it to a mechanic for inspection. I like even less that you were asked to give a deposit equal to the asking price of the car. This guy sounds like a total slimeball.

It’s pretty common for the salesperson to say, “Don’t worry about it. If your mechanic finds anything wrong, we’ll fix it.” but that is the wrong answer. The best answer would be “Go ahead and take it to your mechanic. See you when you get back.” However, a barely satisfactory answer would be “If your mechanic finds anything wrong, we’ll let you out of the deal and refund everything you’ve paid, including fees, and I’m willing to put that in writing.”

Walk away from not only this car, but walk away from this dealership, and don’t look back.

I can understand why the used car dealership prefer you lock the transaction in that way. It guarantees they’ll get their money, or at least that a court will order you to pay and then they can use the court methods to get you to pony up – if you fail to complete the transaction as you intend I mean.

I don’t think this is a scam. If you deliver your auto-draft check, I expect they’ll give you back the first check. You should probably put a note to this effect on the first check btw if you decide to do it. Or otherwise secure it in writing you are only intending to pay once, not twice!

Would I do this? No, not unless I had a prior relationship with this dealer. I’d simply tell them I’m happy to put down a $100 deposit to hold the car or tow for a day while I secure the check. If I failed to bring them the check, they’d still have the car and a $100 extra to boot. That should suffice. They want to lock the deal down completely. But I wouldn’t want that. If my suggestion wasn’t enough for them, there’s plenty of used cars to buy from any number of dealers, just look around, so I’d walk.

Spring the extra 3 grand, buy new, the interest rate difference will make up some of the cost and take away all the questions.

Run from them. Run fast. Don’t look back.