UK import payment?

Just saw the car I think I`m going to buy. It`s in Manchester but I`ve just realised my passport is out of date!!! Do I need a passport to enter Britain? I will be flying over and obviously taking the ferry back.
 
With regards to CC payment, get a card that does not charge abroad and some dealers take CC for the value. I have bought a couple in recent years with CC with values upto £20k sterling.

Sales are slow over here at the moment so haggle well.
 
Just saw the car I think I`m going to buy. It`s in Manchester but I`ve just realised my passport is out of date!!! Do I need a passport to enter Britain? I will be flying over and obviously taking the ferry back.

Use passport express at the post office. It takes ten days but I got mine back the last time in less than this. That's if you can wait that long!!
 
credit card exchange rates is not good
call your banks, xe and currency.ie and you'll get a better rate, you will lose over 200 pounds using a ccard
 
Here`s the latest idea guys...what do you think?
I`ve seen a car I like in UK.
I will go to my bank with a cheque made out to myself and cash it in euros, fly to UK and inspect car ( I`ve already HPI checked it etc and all is as described),agree price for car and go to sellers bank with them and lodge euro equivalent to their account, drive to ferry and get straight on here tellin` ya`ll how fab my new wheels are!!
Does anyone see any problems in paying like this apart from the obvious one regarding carrying a large amount of cash?
Will it cost a lot more to lodge euro to his sterling account? I`m talking around 10k sterling....thanks guys.
 
Here`s the latest idea guys...what do you think?
I`ve seen a car I like in UK.
I will go to my bank with a cheque made out to myself and cash it in euros, fly to UK and inspect car ( I`ve already HPI checked it etc and all is as described),agree price for car and go to sellers bank with them and lodge euro equivalent to their account, drive to ferry and get straight on here tellin` ya`ll how fab my new wheels are!!
Does anyone see any problems in paying like this apart from the obvious one regarding carrying a large amount of cash?
Will it cost a lot more to lodge euro to his sterling account? I`m talking around 10k sterling....thanks guys.

Why not just withdraw STG£ cash here?
 
Why not just withdraw STG£ cash here?
I went to the bank but they wouldn`t have that amount of sterling cash `till tuesday...they have £4k! I wanted to go over on Saturday but will have to wait `till next weekend now:(.
 
Or a sterling bank draft?
Apparently bank drafts take a while to clear into the recipient`s account.
Also I haven`t seen the car yet ( seen photos on the `net)so I might find something wrong with it and not want it, so a bank draft wouldn`t help me there.
Jeez..I don`t think I`m meant to buy a car now everything is going wrong!
hehe.:)
 
sometimes they dont accept bank drafts. Even if they do bank will give poor sterling rates.

Try the guys in currency.ie
I rang around and have brought 2 cars in through them, after ringing my bank to make sure their rate was better
 
Have to recommend transfermate (currency.ie) - very good quick service - better rate than offered by any of the main banks, and the €15 charge for same day transfer of funds was worth the piece of mind to ensure that the money had got to the dealer before i did!

I have no affiliation to the company - just a satisfied customer!
 
If you use currency.ie how long approximately does it take to transfer money from the irish account to UK one...compared to a bank draft?
 
bank drafts arent transferred, you pick up the draft, and hand it to the dealer, the issue is the exchange rate you get and the fact that some dealers wont take them as the draft takes a while to cash.

currency.ie, once you transfer before 12am I think, dealer has it that evening
 
Weighing up option of Currency.ie or Sterling bank draft.
If money is tranferred in advance what is to stop the dealer just keeping the money if you don`t want to go through with deal? Or would there be any way of cancelling the transaction?
 
just ask the dealer if he'll accept a refund if you dont like it. get it in writing
It'll work fine
 
You may want to check that the seller will be able to accept a significant amount of cash to their bank account. There are strict money laundering regulations governing cash transactions, plus there's also the risk of a search at the airport. The EUR you bring will be converted according to the dealer's bank's buy rate so you have no scope for negotiation.

The simplest, and zero-risk, way to to this is by a same day bank transfer, any dealer should be used to this. This can be done over the phone. The last significant purchase we made (not a car) we got a quote from currency.ie and our bank matched it, apart from the 4th decimal point so it was even easier.

Good luck with the car.

SSE
 
just so you know, some garages will not accept cash either!
i bought my avensis in Birmingham last march for 7.5k and the dealer took 200 from my credit card as deposit and told me that he would not accept the rest in cash.

told him i will pay by draft and i had to give him the details of the bank before i went over to confirm that AIB was on the list of acceptable banks in his company.

may be worth checking before you go over.
 
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