Seems simple enough. But OP lives an hour away but is concerned about not being able to see the car before sending money. Like bruh, you about to spend six figures on a car, make the drive if you're that concerend about it.

I'm surprised there isn't a youtube video with the thumbnail of his hands on his head, "DEALER WANTS ME TO WIRE $180,000 BEFORE I GET TO SEE THE CAR"

 

My bank was able to do the full transfer on the same day (since I had initiated before 12 noon). There are multiple checks to make sure money is not sent to the wrong institution or account: routing number, recipient name and address, sender’s name and address, recipient account number, sender’s account number, etc. It’s very unlikely an error will occur and your money ends up in Nigeria (JK reference to "Nigerian Prince" scams, no offense intended to anyone).

And your dealer won’t keep your money and not give you your car.

Your car will be fine. The do an inspection before you get the car. Dealer’s reputation is on the line. They don’t want to get in trouble with PCNA and lose all their allocations.

Don't overthink this. Get your car and enjoy!

 

A lot depends on your relationship with the dealer. If this is your first purchase with them, then wires are fast and efficient. I've bought four new Porsches from my SA, at this point we are like an old married couple. Whatever he needs I get it to him to make his life easier, in return he goes and beats up the Sales Manager for me so I don't have to. You want the privileges of being a repeat customer - there are benefits.

It's a brand new car, what are you worried about it not being right?

With today's imaging programs and software, its super easy to make a counterfeit check, most anyone can do a fake bank check on their computer with little effort. The Dealership has FAR more exposure accepting a paper check. They do bounce once in awhile and there are plenty of crooks out there that would like nothing better then a 3 day joyride in a new 911.

You can also simply finance it, sign papers and walk out. Then pay off 95% of it in the first 10 days. That takes care of almost all the interest. Keep the loan 90 days so they get their kickback on it (they will love you for that) and what is left on it is a pittance.

I personally hate doing paperwork at the dealer. I ask them to send me as much as they can the day before pickup, I'll fill it out and wire them their money, then I'm in and out of there in 15 minutes on pickup day (less any BS time with my SA)

 

My friend, this is Rennlist after all.

Reasonable people here are few and far between, probably more rare than a GT3 allocation at MSRP.

 

hahah, no complaints from me but as someone in the business, I was surprised to hear one guy say he never even sat with the finance manager… never heard that in a franchise dealer (or any dealer)— that’s where the deal finalizes and becomes legal and disclosed and compliant etc…. AND where the dealer can offer benefits which can equal more profit on the deal and make the customer experience and ownership better— so ya, I’d fire my guys for not doing their job….

if it’s true what he said about never seeing a finance manager, I can already picture… the finance guy said ah crap, another cash deal (we don’t like those) so he did all the paperwork and tag/title work and just gave it to the salesman to have signed or sent it to customer to sign electronically… and totally didn’t TRY to sell him anything.

 

I find this discussion quite surprising. At least here, in Germany and the UK, everything is by wire transfer - I am not even sure if the dealerships accept cheques.

To those that will only buy with cheque: Do you think it is fair for the dealer to give you the car with just a paper cheque? - remember the cheque needs 2-3 days to clear. What happens if it does not clear?

It is not good general business practice imho to get a cheque from a customer and provide him the goods before the cheque clears. I don't own a car dealership but this is just common business sense and any customer with simple common sense should be able to understand this.

I am wondering: how do you buy even more expensive items in the US like apartment and house? By cheque?

 

Used a 25000 dollar wire 2 weeks a go. Done in less than 1 day

chuck

 

I paid via personal check for both my CPO Porsche then a new car, both within the last year. No credit checks or anything that I know of. That said, I would not have hesitated to wire funds, had I been asked.

 

Some/most, of the issue is likely with the CDK Hack. It’s messed up their sales system and it’s been cumbersome to complete sales. Was told at my dealer they can’t even except checks right now. Everything has to be a wire.


https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/25/business/car-dealership-cdk-cyber-attack/index.html

 

A paper check is the easiest, no need to pay the wire fee. Plus you can fill out a check three times as fast as entering wiring info. Don't get me wrong, I recently sent a wire for our E450 wagon, but we saw the car the day before. I understand the dealer asking for a wire, Cashier’s check can be forged and personal checks can be insufficient funds, while the dealer can stop the title transfer, given that the Porsche dealers on all new 911’s hold the advantage, I understand the wire request. Fortunately my dealer accepts the old fashioned paper check.

 

I’m also surprised. Even when everything is done in advance, I still get 15 minutes in the penalty box with the finance guy (or gal). Multiple different dealers. TBF the finance folks at my local dealership are pretty graceful about the “no, decline all, and print me a copy of the contract already”. The only time this didn’t happen was an out of state by fedex deal for a used car.

 

From the dealer's perspective they probably just wants to put this deal in the book for the month of June. Waiting until Friday is risky as delays might cause the payments to not hit the book until Monday July 1st. Having said that it all depends on whether you trust the dealer. If you're uncomfortable ask to wire them first thing on Friday. Any honest dealer would not object to that.

 

Most dealers won’t accept personal checks either (1) at all or (2) unless you pick up the car after the funds have settled. Leases run differently, but real estate purchases are much more complicated and usually have a 30 - 60 day closing period with the money held by a 3rd party agent. You can put money into escrow with a cheque … I suppose.

 

Do you think you think it’s fair for me to buy something at a store with a check and walk out with it before it clears? Or do you think it’s fair I can buy something with a credit card and walk out with it before you actually get paid? Doesn’t matter what you think is fair. It’s standard business practice, even though most people don’t use personal checks anymore.

 

I much prefer to pay with check than wire. It's easy to scribble on a check and hand it to someone. It's annoying to punch in numbers for a wire or have an associate do it. With that said I agree with some of the comments that are more customer-centric. We should be offered multiple options for payments. For other luxury cars I have just written a check. Only Porsche required a cashier's check, which I found to be very reasonable. It was just the process of getting the check during work hours that was very annoying for me.

I'm surprised to read so many people seem to either love wires or scoff at checks or other manual things. It's all personal preference but in the end a customer should be given multiple options for payment.

But I guess in the end it's all about how one feels about things. I'm very stubborn and it's my way or the high way in life so if a dealer gives me too much trouble I'd just say **** it I don't care about the car. I have enough cars.