UK import payment?

I

iggy

Guest
I am thinking of importing a car from the UK and was wondering if it would be advisable to use credit card to pay for it rather than getting bank draft or changing euro to sterling cash?
I think it would be a lot less bother.
 
Maybe, but the exchange rate would not be good with a probable 1.75% fee on top. currency.ie I found to give the best rate whe I done it. Make sure when getting quotes to get overall euro figure for the stg amount including whatever fees or charges. The difference in the rates might sound very little but it could translate into a couple of hundred euro very easily
 
Get a draft and say a thousand cash so you can haggle a bit,just check with the seller that they will accept a draft from your bank.
 
draft: lose 1.5-2% on exchange rate
bring cash: lose up to 4% on exchange rate
You would want to be confident you would get a decent discount to make that worthwhile
 
Why cant you do your haggling, pending a full inspection and test upon setting a price? They cant give some cars away over there at the moment and will deal with you if you stipulate this.
 
Ceatharlach said:
Why cant you do your haggling, pending a full inspection and test upon setting a price? They cant give some cars away over there at the moment and will deal with you if you stipulate this.
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But I still have to pay for it!:(
 
iggy said:
I am thinking of importing a car from the UK and was wondering if it would be advisable to use credit card to pay for it rather than getting bank draft or changing euro to sterling cash?
I think it would be a lot less bother.
Click to expand...

Dealer may not accept CC - and even if they do, they will pass on the mechants fees to you
 
soy said:
Dealer may not accept CC - and even if they do, they will pass on the mechants fees to you
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Thanks Soy...see this is what I want to know, I thought it would just be a question of paying for the car and then transferring funds into credit card account when I got home. I dont know what the final price of the car will be until I see it and finish bargaining etc, thats why I was thinking of the credit card route.(We dont want poor Iggy bashed on the conk for his wad of cash now do we?.............DO WE? ):(
 
And like I said above Iggy you will pay 1.75% charge on exchange rate using CC. I was also trying to point out that when dealing with a reputable garage you can do your haggling first, then agree to pay them using someone like currency.ie (best exchange rate I found) and if you were not happy upon inspection they send the money back to currency.ie and on back to you. I was told by their office that they do this all the time.
OR - if you are able to spend a couple of days in the UK you could set yourself up with someone like currency.ie beforehand and when you are ready to buy you can pay€15 for a same day transfer, you just need the acc + bank of seller then phone it in to them. This must be done before 11am to get there before close of business. You can even haggle money transfer fcompany or a better rate.
 
I am going over in September.
I will be looking at more than one dealer,can you get a blank draft from the bank? So when i have decided which dealer im buying from i can fill it in.(i know you would have to be careful not to loose it etc).
I know theres plenty of people here that have bought in the UK,it would be interesting to hear which route they took.
Thanks :)
 
You can always leave a deposit with the dealer and sort out the finance via a SWIFT payment once you get back ... most UK dealers that i've looked at want a £100/200 on deposit (credit card should be acceptable) - gives you about 3-5 day hold on car, if you want the deposit extended, they then look for 10% of value up to about 2 weeks (at best) - this should give you enough time to sally up the cash and make an electronic transfer to the dealer's bank A/C - best of luck
 
thats what most people do, 100 down to hold for a week and then pay the balance and collect it the next week, try the banks and currency.ie and see what rates and fees you can get
 
Id rather go over,buy it and drive back.Defeats the purpose going over twice.
 
you could also get it checked by aa and pay before leaving or go over and see it, put deposit down and have it transported back.

I know Id prefer to drive it back
 
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