vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
You already got good answers on why you can't buy a Toyota from the factory, but my answer is regarding to the implied second part of your question: how to avoid haggling. I found a good way to avoid the haggling at a car dealership can be simply to not haggle. Go in with a different attitude. The main reason car dealers list inflated prices and then haggle is that they expect the customers to haggle. It is fundamentally based on distrust on both sides. Treat the sales person as your advisor, your business partner, as somebody you trust as an expert in his field, and you'll be surprised how the experience changes. Of course, make sure that the trust is justified. Sales reps have a fine line to walk. Of course they like to sell a car for more money, but they also do not want a reputation of overcharging customers. They'd rather you recommend them to your friends and post good reviews on Yelp. In the end, all reputable dealers effectively have a fixed-price policy, or close to it, even those who don't advertise it, and even for used cars. Haggling just prolongs the process to get there. And sales reps are people. Often people who hate the haggling part of their job as much as you do. I was in the market for a new (used) car a few months ago. In the end, it was between two cars (one of them a Toyota), both from the brand-name dealer's respective used car lots. In both cases, I went in knowing in advance what the car's fair market value was and what I was willing to pay (as well as details about the car, mileage, condition etc. - thanks to the Internet). Both cars were marked significantly higher. As soon as the sales rep realized that I wasn't even trying to haggle - the price dropped to the fair value. I didn't even have to ask for it. The rep even offered some extras thrown into the deal, things I hadn't even asked for (things like towing my old car to the junk yard).
If you buy a car using a loan, the dealer gets benefited by the financing institution by the way of referring fee paid to the dealer by the institution, and that too if the dealer has helped in financing the purchase. Otherwise for the dealer it doesn't matter if one pays in full or through financing. The dealer is paid in full in either cases. Hence the dealer may slightly get disappointed that you are not taking a loan.
Where is the best place to get a small loan? (~$200 at least). I have to pay off a speeding ticket and make a car payment, and my weekly check isn’t going to cover it. I’d like to get it ASAP. I don’t know if it’s better to go through my bank, a loan company, or wherever. I don’t know if this question is applicable to this thread either, I just thought I could get some realistic information.
Best way would probably be to go buy gold or some other liquid item and then just sell it back for cash. Or buy items from stores and return them. Most stores that don't give store credit will give cash or put it on your CC.
I have to second what the poster said above me. The person at the dealership is outright lying to you, and I really don't know where the misconception comes from. I work in finance and specialize in credit. Credit is your ability to repay. Simple as that. To lenders, constant carrying a balance on your credit cards looks like your don't have the ability/discipline to repay your debt and will look bad in the future if you are ever trying to borrow more.
I have used car buying services through Costco and USAA.  Twice with a Ford, and once with a Honda.  In all instances I was directed to sales people that were uncommonly friendly and pleasant to work with.  I was given a deep discount without any negotiation.  In two of the three cases I did not have a trade.  In one case I had a trade, and negotiated a deeper discount then was originally offered.   Did I get a good deal?  Eh, who knows?  Really it depends what your goal is.   If your goal is to avoid negotiation, avoid idiot salesmen, and receive a good discount then a quality car buying service may be for you.  My research, a few years old, indicated Costco's program was better then the USAA one. If your goal is get a deep as a discount as possible on a new car, well then you have some work cut out for you.  Keep some hand sanitizer handy when you meet one of the slime ball salesmen.  Keep in mind that not everyone understand the difference between the words value and cheap. If your goal is to pay as little as possible for quality transportation.  Avoid most dealers and new cars. But I don't think that is what you are looking for.
There are a few options that I know of, but pretty much every one of them will cost more than you want to pay in fees, probably.  You should be able to write a check/cheque to yourself.  You might check with your US bank branch to see how much of a limit they'd have.  You can also use a Canadian ATM card at a US ATM.  The final option would be to use a Canadian credit card for all of your purchases in the US, and then pay the bill from the Canadian bank account.  I don't recommend the last option because if you're not careful to pay off the bill every month, you're running up debt.  Also, it's hard to pay some kinds of expenses by credit card, so you'd want a way to have cash available. Another option would be to use a service like Paypal or Hyperwallet to send yourself the money.  Again, you'd be paying fees, but these might be cheaper than what the bank would charge. There may be other options, but these are the ones I'm aware of.  Whatever you choose, look carefully at what the fees would be, and how long you'd have to wait to get the money.  If you can plan ahead a bit, and take larger chunks of money at a time, that should help keep the fees down a bit.  I believe there's also a point where you start having to report these transfers to the US government.  The number $10,000 stick in my head, but they may have changed that recently.
"This question is likely to be closed as a product recommendation request. But if you are willing to change the question a bit, perhaps to ""How do I avoid having my debit card declined when I know I have good funds"" it becomes a reasonable general question. And my answer follows.  I can tell you the same thing happens to those of us with credit cards. It can happen when your buying pattern changes. Suddenly buying a lot of merchandise, especially away from home. Nothing like having your card declined while with relatives you visit or while on vacation. I'd talk to the bank and ask for advice how to avoid this. I've called my card issuer to tell them I'll in X city for these dates, to expect charges from there. That seems to work well."
"As advised you need to budget, but there are a few simple things you can do to make it easier. Work out how much your fixed bills are every month, for example, council tax, gas and electric, mortgage and rent etc. On pay-day, move an amount of cash equal to this into another bank account when you get paid.  It's easier if this other account, let's call it a bills account, can pay the bills automatically via direct debits, you can then forget about it. Now your budget should tell you how much you spend on things that are more variable, food, fuel, travel etc.  Again on pay-day, move an amount of cash aside to cover this (plus a small buffer amount) into another account. Whatever is now left in your main account is yours to spend or save as you see fit.  You just need to make sure you are sticking to your budget and it's as easy as that.  If you cannot pay direct debits from the other accounts you just need to move the money over to cover them when they need paying. Most banks will let you set up extra accounts so you can mvoe the money easily using internet banking or by a monthly standing order.  If they won't let you have several ""current"" accounts you can use savings accounts but will need to manually move the money around as the bills are due.  If you get all your direct debits to debit on pay-day, that makes it even easier. If you are struggling for money then prioritise paying off debt first and prioritise the debt with the highest interest rate."
Reasons to pay with cash Reasons to borrow Things to watch out for
$3,500 isn't usually enough to make a difference when calculating credit for a car loan. The other factors that you didn't mention are the important factors. How much money do you make? What is your credit score? Do you have balances on credit cards? The only way you can know is to look at your credit score and/or apply. I would generally recommend you buy a 3-4 year old car rather than a new car. With the lower purchase price you can pay it off quickly.
"Short answer: If you bought the car -- as opposed to leasing it -- there is no one to ""turn it in"" to. The reality of cars and car loans is this: The value of a car tends to fall rapidly the first couple of years, then more slowly after that. Like it might lose $2000 the first year, $1000 the second, $500 the third, etc. What you owe on a loan falls slowly at first, because a lot of your payment is going to interest, but then as time goes on you pay off the loan faster and faster. So you may pay off $1000 the first year, $1100 the second, etc. (I'm just making up numbers, depends on the value of the car, and the term and interest rate of the loan, but that's the general idea.) Combining these two things means that in the first few years after you buy a car, if you had a small or no down payment, you might well owe more on the car than it is worth. That's just how the numbers work out. If you keep the car long enough, eventually you hit a point where it is worth more than you owe. Keep it until you've paid off the loan and you owe $0 but the car is still worth SOMETHING, exactly how much depending on its condition and other factors. If you just use the car and pay off the loan, i.e. if you don't sell the car or refinance the loan or some such, then this doesn't matter very much. You make your loan payments, and you have use of the car. What difference does the book value of the car at any given moment matter to you? If the idea of owing more than the car is worth bothers you in principle, then in the future you could make a larger down payment. Or make extra payments on the loan the first couple of years to knock the principle down faster. That's about the only things you can do. Well, you could buy with cash so you owe zero and the car is always worth more than you owe. But given that you are where you are: If you just keep the car and keep driving it and keep paying the loan, then you are exactly where you thought you would be when you bought the car, right?
You've got a safety net in saved earnings to get you through rough times, so if you want to buy a $100,000 sports car, all you have to do is account for it in your savings and expenses in all further calculations as you pay it off. To come up with a reasonable number, decide on how much you want to spend per month on a car. $500 is a nice round number that's less than $2,375. How many years do you want to save for the car? OR How many years do you want to pay off a car loan? 4 is a nice even number. $500 * 12 * 4 = $24,000 Now reduce that number 10% for taxes and fees $24,000 * 0.9 = $21,600 If you're getting a loan, deduct the cost of interest (using 5% as a ballpark here) $21,600 * 0.95 = $20,520 So according to my napkin math you can afford a car that costs ~$20k if you're willing to save/owe $500/month, but only after you've saved enough to be financially secure."
It is possible to not use checks in the US. I personally use a credit card for almost everything and often have no cash in my wallet at all. I never carry checks with me. If we wanted to, we could pay all of our monthly bills without checks as well, and many people do this. 30 years ago, grocery stores didn't generally accept credit cards, so it was cash or check, though most other kinds of stores and restaurants did. Now, the only stores that I have encountered in years that do not accept credit cards are a local chicken restaurant, and the warehouse-shopping store Costco. (Costco accepts its own credit card, but not Mastercard or Visa.) Still, we do pay the majority of our monthly bills via check, and it would not be shocking to see someone paying for groceries with a check. I can't name the last time I saw someone write a check at a store exactly, but I've never seen any cashier or other patrons wonder what a check-writer was trying to do. Large transactions, like buying a car or house, would still use checks -- probably cashier's or certified checks and not personal checks, though.
"If psychologically there is no difference to you between cash and debit (you should test this over a couple of months on yourself and spouse to make sure), then I suggest two debit cards (one for you and spouse) on your main or separate checking account. If you use Mint you can set budgets for each category (envelope) and when a purchase is made Mint will automatically categorize that transaction and deduct that amount from the correct budget.  For example: If you have a ""Fast Food"" budget set at $100 per month and you use the debit at McDonalds, Mint should automatically categorize it as ""Fast Food"" and deduct the amount from the ""Fast Food"" budget that you set.  If it can't determine a category or gets it wrong, you can just select the proper category. Mint has an iPhone (also Android and Windows phone) app that I find very easy to use. Many people state that they don't have this psychologically difference between spending cash and debit/credit, but I would say that most actually do, especially with small purchases.  It doesn't have anything to do with intellect or knowing that you are actually spending money.  It has more to do with tangibility, and the physical act of handing over cash.  You may not add that soda and candy bar to your purchase if you have visible cash in your wallet that will disappear more quickly.  I lived in Germany for 2 years before debit cards were around or common.  I'm a sharp guy and even though I knew that I paid $100 for the 152 DM, it still kind of felt like spending Monopoly money, especially considering that in the US we are used to coins normally being 25 cents or less and in Germany coins are up to 10 DM (almost $10) and are used more frequently than paper."
Any car manufacturer that undercuts their own dealer network would have that network fall apart quickly.  Tesla is using a dealer-free distribution model from the start, so they don't have that problem.  Toyota doesn't work that way, though. GM imposed a uniform no-haggling policy with their Saturn brand, but that policy was coupled with local monopolies for dealers to make it work.  Lexus has also experimented with no-haggling and online ordering (with delivery still taking place at a dealership).  The rest of Toyota doesn't work that way, though. Some car manufacturers, such as BMW and Audi, allow you to take delivery of your new car at the factory for a discount. But even then, the transaction still takes place through a dealer.  Toyota doesn't work that way, though.  For one thing, they work at a different scale.  If you buy a Camry in the US, it might be produced in Kentucky, Indiana, or Aichi, depending on business conditions. You say that you want to cut out the middleman, but the fact is that you do require someone to deliver a Toyota to you, like it or not. If you're interested in saving money, consider trying various well documented tips, such as negotiating by e-mail before showing up, pitting dealerships against each other.  If you don't want to negotiate, you might be able to take advantage of pre-negotiated dealer prices through Costco. You mentioned that the dealership offered you a 7.99% interest rate for your 710 FICO score.  That sounds insanely high — I'd expect deals more like 2% advertised by buyatoyota.com.  (Remember, Toyota Motor Credit Corporation exists to help Toyota Motor Corporation sell more cars cheaply.)  You can also seek alternate financing online (example) or through your own bank.
Option 2. Selling the car yourself will give you the best value, especially if you can get its full value. This will cost you time, but will return much better return for your money. Also, I would strongly recommend buying a used car from a private owner (not a dealer), rather than buying a new car. For $14,000 in cash you can probably get a car like a 2013 Ford Fusion that has excellent all-wheel drive and winter handling. A new Fusion, loaded, will cost at least $25,000 from a dealer. If you buy a 2013 car outright from a private owner, you will have NO PAYMENTS and can spend that money on investments and build your wealth.
I think cash, travelers checks (little iffy about this one: they're legal tender cash equivalents), and money orders are the only ones that you'd be a little weird to not accept. You certainly don't have to accept regular checks, credit cards, or barter. In the end though, you don't HAVE to accept anything. Accept only small bills, accept only checks from certain banks, accept only the diners card.  Your sale, your rules.
I might be missing something, but I always understood that leasing is about managing cash-flow in a business. You have a fixed monthly out-going as opposed to an up-front payment. My accountant (here in Germany) recommended: pay cash, take a loan (often the manufactures offer good rates) or lease - in that order. The leasing company has to raise the cash from somewhere and they don't want to make a loss on the deal. They will probably know better than I how to manage that and will therefore be calculating in the projected resale value at the end of the leasing period. I can't see how an electric car would make any difference here. These people are probably better informed about the resale value of any type of car than I am. My feeling is to buy using a loan from the manufacturer. The rates are often good and I have also got good deals on insurance as a part of that package. Here in Germany the sales tax (VAT) can be immediately claimed back in full when the loan deal is signed.
I'm not a finance professional by any means, but my understanding of cashier's checks is that they're more in favour of the person receiving. They're essentially guaranteeing that you have the money in your account to provide payment to the recipient.   The advice I've always received is to treat cashier's checks and money orders as straight up cash, because that's essentially what they are.  Hopefully someone else can come in with a better background, but I figured I'd pitch in.
I had a strange experience buying a new car.  They were offering a deal of 0.9% interest on the loan but only if the loan was above a certain amount.  Below that amount, the interest rate was something like 3%.  Given the amount I was willing to put down, it was cheaper to put less down and get the lower interest rate.  So, once you agree to the purchase price, you need to discuss what finance options they offer.  You might also check in advance with other loan providers (e.g. your bank) to see what offers they have.
The fee you were charged to get the money order is gone.  You agreed to that fee when you purchased the Money order.  It is now a check that you can use how ever you wish.  If you have already added a name to the pay to line it can be changed but different agencies have different rules for what they will accept.  Take the money order to your bank explain the situation and tell them you want to put the money in your account, or cash it.
If I were you I would just save the money until I had at least 5000 pounds to keep as an emergency fund. There are various kinds of unexpected events and it is smart to have some cash in case a problem comes up. Next time I would recommend buying a car you can afford. Borrowing money to buy nice things is the enemy of wealth accumulation. Also, when you buy a car for cash you will get a much better deal than when you let a dealer put his foot on your neck.
Very good answers as to how 0% loans are typically done.  In addition, many are either tied to a specific large item purchase, or credit cards with a no interest period.  On credit card transactions the bank is getting a fee from the retailer, who in turn is giving you a hidden charge to cover that fee.  In the case of a large purchase item like a car, the retailer is again quite likely paying a fee to cover what would be that interest, something they are willing to do to make the sale.  They will typically be less prone to deal as low a price in negotiation if you were not making that deal, or at times they may offer either a rebate or special low to zero finance rates, but you don't get both.
You realize there are digital checks? You don't need the paper book to make the same one time limited payment.   I even pay directly from my online bank account, it's low effort and requires no trust.   Only thing I have on auto draft is my car payment, which is from the same entity I bank with. But otherwise yah I agree screw auto debt, but that isn't what I was talking about anyway so chill with the attitude.
One way you can accomplish this is on a cruise ship.  Most cruise ships have casinos, and most will allow you to sign out chips at the casino cage.  You can then exchange the chips for cash.   The chips that were signed for are resolved as room charges.  Those room charges can be charged to a CC.  Those signed for chips are rolled into the total room charges and are thus not treated as a cash advance.   The cost of the cruise not with standing, you could earn money in that form.  Step off the boat, deposit cash in the bank, and send a check to the CC company. All that being said, it is an cheap and safe way to get cash while you are traveling in that method.
Never buy a new car if cost is an issue. A big chunk of the price will disappear to depreciation as you drive it off the lot. If you want a shiny new car with the latest equipment (and if you can afford it!), buy a lightly-used car. Normally I would recommend a 1-3 year old car. 95% of the value, with a big cost savings. But this depends on your financial situation. Given that you just need a commuter car for mostly highway driving, in a place where the weather is easier on cars, you could be fine with a 5-6 year old import. Camry's, Accords, Civics, etc are all well-built, reliable, and affordable due to their numbers. As for financing, shop around. Don't blindly use dealer financing. Check with banks and especially local credit unions and see what rate they can offer you. Then, when you are ready to go, get pre-approved (this is when they pull your credit) and get the car.
"Neat points but with regards to your first point there is no car financing to ""pay off"" unless you take on debt. And few Americans have or can easily accumulate the cash in hand to buy a $15K-30K vehicle. Sure, you can definitely live without debt, but buying a home, a car or making other sizable purchases is not possible under such circumstances unless you make a greater than average salary and are remarkably frugal, including an affordable, tenable living situation."
Can't you just organise with the dealership to pick it up a few days later? Yes you will still have to pay the interest, not a professional but going off my experience you will have a minimum $$$ to pay the loan, and often be charged a penalty for paying it off so soon.