How to pay for used car bought from Germany?

[pm99]

Hi, if looking to buy a used car in Germany, how would you go about paying?

ie it may not be a porchse main dealer.....it may be an average dealer or a private individual.
So....what are the alternatives from wiring a wad of money into the sellers bank account or paying in cash?

Thanks.

[Agent Orange]

I have an arrangement with a specialist FOREIGN EXCHANGE Company , i put money in my Euro account, ring them before noon on the day i am with the car ,should be in Vendors account by 5 00 same day , costs very little if set up properly in advance ...............usually take some cash in case car is nt completely as described

[Joe911]

I would avoid banks like the plague - they rip you off way more than usual on international FX, as I'm sure you know.

I'm in Germany a lot (guess where) and now have a German bank account in Euros (of course) - it does make life much easier and cheaper - I get a Euro bank card for using all over Europe - so no ghastly fees from my UK bank or credit card company when I spend in Euros.

What I do is transfer money in GBP from my UK account to the UK account of an Internet FX outfit - they then move Euros from their German account into my German account. The only fees are 8.25 pounds from their bank in the UK - the FX outfit do not charge fees at all - they just take a tiny margin on the FX.

You can use them to send money direct to any bank account, and they do bank drafts as well.

The FX outfit I use is xetrade.com (they're Canadian) - their rates are excellent.

[pm99]

The thing i am trying to avoid is transferring money into someones account (whether garage or private) and not take cash.

Is there a kind of euro bankers draft accepted all over europe etc?

[Joe911]

pm99 said:

The thing i am trying to avoid is transferring money into someones account (whether garage or private) and not take cash. Is there a kind of euro bankers draft accepted all over europe etc?

I would have thought that an International Draft would be forgable and so people would be wary of foreigners bearing cheques/drafts. But maybe it's common practise.

[pm99]

Hummm....looks like 30000 euros in a brown paper bag then.

[hugoagogo]

get 500 euro notes, small envelope would do it

[pm99]

That may be the way to go i thinks....as logn as they don't bul at 500 euro notes.
Although i must admit i would not accept them from anyone!

[hugoagogo]

i get them all the time, you could always bring it over like that then change them at a local (big) bank

[brady]

from my experience a bank will totally ride you when it comes to draft, if its a one off thing that youre doin why not just do a foreign tranfer with your bank, try and bargain with them over rates etc a couple of days before you need it, they might do you a deal, ive seen it done before, get the guys iban number and its pretty straight forward

[pm99]

Humm...don't want to transfer directly into soem guy's account......i think i prefer cash route. I feel safer.

[Joe911]

pm99 said:

Hummm....looks like 30000 euros in a brown paper bag then.

Banks don't like all that cash - the money laundering regs are pretty strict now. Also if the bank do the FX conversion you'll get screwed. A UK bank told me once that taking 20 large cash over the counter was far from ideal, there might be a charge, and it would take 3 days to clear!
Maybe German car dealers like a bit of cash

>> Edited by Joe911 on Friday 3rd March 12:15

[hugoagogo]

Joe911 said:

A UK bank told me once that taking 20 large cash over the counter was far from ideal, there might be a charge, and it would take 3 days to clear!

i know for a fact that, at the very least, deutsche bank main branch in düsseldorf can hand out 30,000 to you whenever you want, in whatever combination, no bother at all (assuming you have it in your account )

>> Edited by hugoagogo on Friday 3rd March 18:28