I took my Capital One Blank Check to my dealer with my insurance info one week before I took delivery. Three days later my MA called, the blank check cleared. No problems.

 

I used a Capital One blank check at Hank Aaron Mini in Georgia. They had no problem with it. I gave them my check & approx 20 minutes later I was driving off in my shiny new Mini. My dealer even said because I had used the Capital One check I was getting out of there in record short paper-work time.

I don't see how any dealer could have a problem with it. In order to get the blank check from Capital One you have to be pre-approved (that's pre-approved, not maybe approved or probably approved). The check is 100% good for whatever amount you write it for up to the pre-approved credit limit. Capital One won't mail you the check until you are approved. A dealer can't tell you who to finance through. They get the cash for the sale price & that should be their only concern. If my dealer had told me I "had" to use them or some other entity for financing I would have told them where to stick my Mini (sideways ) OK Rant over

 

There's actually two types of payments you can get from ebanks. One is a check and the others a draft. Dealers will take checks like Power Check from Eloan or any other bank. These act just like cash so the dealer should get their money in the same amount of time as if you wrote a personal check or cashiers check. The draft on the other hand makes the dealer jump through hoops, making them submit forms and other paperwork. This delays funds and they dont like it. I don't see anything wrong with this. If you are getting financing just make sure you request a check and not a draft and you should be just fine.

 

I had BMW pre approve me for a $25000 loan. That got my dealer very happy and their Finance guy loves me.... now I am going in and charging it on my VISA....lol Really that way I will get the mileage for another free ticket to Hawaii, and I will pay it off with a 0% MBNA credit card I have the next week. 0% and a flight to Hawaii. God Bless America....

 

...and to top it off, if you ever need to declare bankruptcy, the court can't take your car since you charged it on a revolving line of credit and its not used as collateral for a loan! Its a triple win-win-win!

 

They are going to allow you to charge the whole car on a credit card??

 

I doubt it. When I bought my wife's Lexus they have a sign saying the limit on a credit card is like $5,000.00. They don't want to pay the % for the card.

Earl

 

Thanks all for the info, this is helpful. Cap One told me I was approved and could have the blank check mailed to me whenever i want it and it sounded like it was not the dreaded draft that the dealers don't like to hassle with. To me it seems like cash in hand to the dealer a few days later, though he wants to spin it negatively to try to get me to finance through him. He said he could beat anyone *except* the internet banks, and so I kinda want to give him a shot and see what his number is, but at the same time...why do I want to waste our time if I have a loan already that he doesn't think he can compete with? I probably wouldn't have had an issue if I waited until I was ready to buy the car and just pulled it out and said 'how much?' That's what I get for trying to be up-front.

I think I'll go ahead with the plan to use that check and I'll talk to the owner/manager of the dealership himself if the finance guy doesn't like it. I'd really like to see them put it in writing that they won't accept the check.) It is stupid to even have to consider yanking my business and buying a mini elsewhere over something this silly, but that's their call. It's mostly about money at the end of the day and if they want to gauge me for extra interest, there are two other dealers 4 hours away in Indy and Memphis who would surely take the money and my return business.

I'm hoping we just miscommunicated over this and it's just an issue with drafts vs blank checks.

cheers,
M

 

Does the same hold true for online leasing companies like leasecompare.com??? the money factors are much lower here and therefore, offer a much lower payment than MINI financial would offer. I hope I'm not too off the subject here. . excellent info for people financing outside of MINI!!

 

I purchased my MINI (private sale though) via e-Loan and had a very unpleasant experience. Their slogan is "radically simple" but it's not. I had to take an entire day off from work to run around. Plus, I was under the impression that the funds in e-Check were immediately available, but the seller has to wait up to 3 days. e-Loan stinks. I followed their directions and ended up with the title, and now I have to pay $20 to have them added. I'm debating having it refinanced somewhere else.

 

I was going to pay cash for my MINI and told them so upfront. A few days before I knew the car would be there, I called and made sure they would accept my personal check. They did accept my check the day I took delivery, but I had to sign a form saying if my check bounced I was still responsible for the debt incurred. It was kind of funny though listening to the finance guy try to talk me into financing at least part of the deal.

 

We told our MA about a week ahead that we would pay via personal check. They said no problem. We told the MA that we were not interested in talking to the finance folks, so we never did. We showed up, signed DMV papers, gave them our check, and drove off. No problems at all.

 

This is actually a very common practice by less-ethical car dealerships of every make. This is why it's advisable to always have financing prearranged before making the purchase. If the dealer can beat the rate you got elsewhere, great, but then you'll have something to fall back on if the dealer later tries this "you didn't qualify for the rate we offered" scam.

Even if you know you're going to definitely want the dealer financing because they're running a rate promotion, always have a Plan B. And if a dealer tries to pull this scam on you and there's another dealer in town where you can get the same car, walk away and give the other dealer your custom. Of course, that's harder to do when it's your custom-ordered MINI sitting on the lot, but that's why you have the Plan B.

 

Just remember the diffrence between CAN NOT and WILL NOT.

Anytime a buisness tells you NO.....Ask Is that Can't or Won't....If it's can not, ask politely to see some sort of written policy to this, If they cant produce such a written policy then its a WILL NOT. In which case you can start to pressure THEM. Ask them why THEY wont do this so they can close the deal. Just because a dealer has had bad experiances just meants that the don't Want to do it your way....It does not mean that they are prevented from MINIUSA, law ....etc from doing the deal your way.

 

I applied for CapitolOne before I went in and was approved but went with Mini Financial after reading too many bad reviews of CapitolOne on the web. My financing process went really well and i was happy with the rate and payment I got. I basically just said this is about what I want to pay each month so I'd like a rate of approximately this and they pretty much gave it to me with no haggling. I ended up with a rate only about 1% higher than CapitolOne offered me and despite that I feel it's worth it to not have to deal with an outside lender that I was uncertain about.

 

Bank drafts and Blank checks are the same thing. Both can take up to a month to get funded. In a sense, they are like monopoly money. Dealers aren't trying to strong arm you by not accepting your blank/draft checks... you can still go to a local bank or credit union to get a CASHIERS check. A cashiers check is the only thing that is same as cash!

Let me put it to you this way... what sort of payment would you accept if you were selling your car?

 

Another note about car dealers in general. I just picked up an Audi A3 last month from the same dealer/salesman I had bought two cars from in the past. I wanted to lease through Chase Bank, the dealer was okay with it and could quote me through them, but could not write a contract that Friday night since they had not done one before. They let me take the car home Saturday without a contract, with the intention of finalizing things on Monday. Although this sometimes is a ruse, I was a past customer, they knew and I knew my credit was top tier flawless, and that I would bring their car back if any funny business developed. The deal was consummated without problems on Monday as planned. I even got a slightly lower monthly payment because Chase was their floorplan lender and gave them a better rate than they were originally pulling up.

 

Legally, companies cannot do this - either they acept credit cards or they don't - there is no minimum or maximum stipulation - if they try this, report them to your credit card company

 

I have posted about this shortly after I got my car, but I had almost the same situation as indygomini.

I get a phone call that the car will be available for pick up on a Wed. No prob. I send my info to the finance department.... and hear NOTHING back. On Wed, I call and ask what's the problem. The receptionist says, oh, didn't anyone call you? No. You've been approved at X %. Come on in! I tell her I'd like to speak to someone in the finance department as the rate is unacceptible. I've got great credit. The finance guy hems and haws and says that "it's the best he can offer." I tell him I'll get my own financing thank you very much. Within 15 minutes, I have financing through Capital One at a rate 3% less than the dealership was offering. I call the dealership and tell them I'll be in Saturday to pick up the car. "We don't take bank drafts" I tell them it's not a bank draft, it's a check made out to you. "We may have to hold delivery for your car up to 10 days." I tell him he's out of his mind. It's Capital One for chrissakes. When I go in to pick up the car, the finance guy is acting like he's doing me a big favor by letting me drive off in the car. The MA tried to get me to fill out a survey on the spot, but I told him that it would be a bad idea given that at that moment, I'd give you all zeros. Not surprisingly, I never received a follow up survey. Love the car, but the sales process sucked wad. Haven't had to deal with service yet. Hopefully they're sharper and more honest.

 

This would not fall under "legal" status, it would fall under the agreement between the dealer and the credit card issuer. Typically, the surcharge the credit card company charges the vendor is around 2-4%. There's no way a car dealer would want to lose that much money on a deal. I'm sure they have enough clout with their credit card issuers that they can simply set limits on their use. The credit card company is not going to want to lose all those fees from parts and service so they agree to let the user/dealer set limits.

 

Yeah. I had a CapOne. Didn't recall the color, but they did waive the overnight fee. The dealer (Flow) would have acccepted it but they got me a better rate in through a local bank.

We negotiated this ahead of time, but I still brought the CapOne Blank Check in case the numbers got dodgy. They didn't so I shredded the check and canceled it on the CapOne site.

Good luck!

 

The survey that you get has nothing to do with Finance although a question might refer to it. The survey effects the MA and the MA ONLY. If the MA did a good job then it would be "5's" and you can make a comment at the end of the survey regarding the Finance aspect of your experience. The MA has no control over the Finance dept.

 

AMEN! Why is it so hard for people to understand that those surveys effect only the MA??? Was your MA respectful and knowledgable? Then give him/ her 5's. If you have an issue with other dealer persons or the car, contact the appropriate people.

 

It's been awhile but I remember the survery being about more than my MA. It was about my "overall" experience with aquiring my Mini

 

Well first, I'll address the MA comments. My MA was switched while my car was in production, though no one bothered to let me know, so for about 3 weeks, I was leaving messages on the old MA's voice mail, and not getting called back.

As far as the survey itself goes, I haven't SEEN the survey, so I have/had no idea what was on it, so how was I to know that it only reflected the MA's performance? Additionally, why would they ONLY survey the MA's performance. Shouldn't MINIUSA be interested in my ENTIRE purchase experience? My overall experience with the dealership is NOT important? That's dumb. Sort of like, "... other than that, how did you enjoy the show Mrs. Lincoln?"

I did my own research before purchasing, so the MA for my purchase was merely there to hand me keys to test drive cars, place my order, and to communicate with me during the production/delivery period. (See above asto how well that was done)