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Hershey car purchase


Den41Buick

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I was arriving on Wed to see a very happy gentleman who just purchased a 1930 Packard Sport Phaeton for what I would have to believe was for six figures. Ordinarily how does one settle such a transaction away from home?

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This was discussed on another post. In all probability, the deal would be done with a wire transfer from buyer bank to seller bank. This can be done with a phone call in about 15 minutes.

I'd be willing to bet there were a number of people walking around with six figures of cash. I've seen a briefcase full of hundreds at Hershey......and one year, I had a windfall and had $20K in cash in my pocket, the one year that I just could NOT find that one car that I wanted badly and was at or under that dollar figure......so there is money walking around..

Last, put deposit on car and settle later......

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Guest Torino75

Still can't believe in 2011 that people would be in that type of venue walking around with huge wads of cash in pocket when there are much easier and safer ways to handle a transaction or purchase a large ticket item. I for one would not be one of those with Cash On Hand. Probably shouldn't be advertising that fact on this forum actually. Might give people bad ideas.

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Some of you older members might remember Gene Matlack with the cash suitcase handcuffed to his arm. He always had a suit but a real scroungy suit, always needing a bath, shave and haircut. He had about 3 yards in Chester County,Pa. loaded with antique cars,some Classics. He was forced to sell most of them off due to municipal pressure in the 80s and 90s but he was still coming to Hershey up to a few years ago and then he was gone.

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A.J. I would also think a serious buyer in that range or up is coming prepared and has an idea of how to execute the wire and what is an appropriate deposit, seller is probably also prepared. A dealer will be more than happy to walk you through the logistics of payment, delivery, etc.

I think though, if you are trying to offer say, $5,000 for a $7,000 asking price on say Saturday, pulling out the cash as you make the offer is usually an effective ncentive... ;)

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Keep in mind that everyone at Hershey is not from the US nor deals with a US bank. Serious buyers are not likely to let an international bank transfer mess up a deal. I certainly can't get an international transfer completed during the same day, let alone in 15 minutes.

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My friend sold a very expensive Cadillac last year at Hershey and the buyer was from Spain. Once the sale price was agreed upon the buyer transferred X amount of dollars to a USA bank which the bank then made into cash. They bank required 24 hours notice to do this. From my observations at the onsite notary the majority of the transactions were done in cash and some were into the unimaginable large amount territory.

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Our usual technique is to take a substantial cash deposit on a car at a show, say, 10% of the price, and then do a wire transfer later. As long as the buyer understands that the deposit is non-refundable (we remove the car from the market at that point, so there's an opportunity cost), and the deposit is substantial enough that nobody would willingly walk away from it, I don't mind doing it that way. However, that also implies that the car comes home with us and we arrange shipping later. For a six-figure car, that's acceptable to everyone involved.

I've also found that few cars over, say, $50,000 sell to cash buyers on site. Yes, it happens occasionally, but I've personally never seen it. For a purchase of that magnitude, buyers will typically go home, think a bit, do some homework, then call and make the deal later. I didn't go to Hershey expecting to sell the Lincoln and certainly not the Isotta on the spot, but I have three appointments in the next five days to show the Lincoln, two offers on the table that are somewhat below the asking price, and a ton of E-mails to return. But until the car is paid in full, it doesn't leave my care. A wire transfer at Hershey would have made that happen (I always travel with the titles because you never know), but I sure didn't expect it.

For us, Hershey is marketing, not actually a place where cars and money change hands.

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That was the plan all along, Steve. I knew that big, purple car wouldn't sell to an impulse buyer, but an awful lot of people talked to me about our other offerings, took business cards, saw our name, and visited the website in the days following. I've sold two cars since Saturday that weren't even at the show to guys who were browsing our website at night in their hotels. That car was all about the eyeballs, and in that regard it was an absolute slam-dunk!

I also enjoy talking with people about cars more than just about anything else in the hobby. I had more fun standing there talking about those cars than I did shopping in the flea market or looking at show cars on Saturday. For me, the people are the best part of the hobby.

However, I will honestly admit that driving that thing in and out of the car corral was an amazing experience. I'm not typically a person who craves a lot of attention, but being behind the wheel of that car among knowledgeable people who know it's not just "some old purple car" was the thrill of a lifetime. I desperately wanted to do a few parade laps! :D

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Edited by Matt Harwood (see edit history)
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Ah, finally someone touched upon the one big reason for cash, unreported income!! There are people who've come into money that has no paper trail, either in business dealings under the table, or other means.

Let's say that someone bought a car in 1979 for $3000 cash. Well, they made a good choice, and someone comes along in 2011 and offers them $60,000 cash. A paper trail in that case is not desirable to the seller, although it should be to the buyer (for future settlement, either estate or taxes).

But, regardless, the deal goes down. Now the seller has $60,000 cash that he's not sure what to do with, so he goes to Hershey with some of it stuffed in his sock (apologies to a friend who does just that, although not that amount!).

So, cash can be walking around......

I do agree that bank transfer is the easiest and safest, as long as the banks are open (which precludes a Saturday or late afternoon sale), and as long as both parties don't mind a nice, big, fat, waitforthecallfromtheirs, paper trail of the monies........

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Guest billybird
A bank Letter of Credit is another way to handle it. You prearrange with a bank to hold an agreed upon amount of money against which you can write a check which is guaranteed by the bank since they already hold your money.

I bought a car this way at the Charlotte Auto Fair one time. My banker also gave me his buisiness card so the seller could talk to him personally. A little different method I used one time was the bank made out a certified check to me for a set amount that I would just sign over to the seller; again with the buisiness card and phone number. As I expected, both sellers were skeptical but I ended up getting both cars like this. With all the computer hacking and "electronic crooks" it's probably easier to get ripped off now more than ever though.

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10 or so years ago a neighbor of mine in the flea market found a car that he wanted. He had about 1/2 of the $20K+ he needed with him. In talking around to other neighbors that we have known for years (once a year at Hershey) about the car and he found the rest he needed from people that would take his personal check for some of the cash they brought with them. He ended up putting a large downpayment and picking up the car a couple of weeks later with the remainder of the money since he would have had to arrange a trailer and the seller was a couple of hours closer to him than Hershey. But was amazing to see how much cash you could raise from "Hershey Friends" if you needed to.

It is truly amazing how much cash is at Hershey.

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