Privacy / P3
Paying cash for a car
The person wants to pay a dealer 15,000 USD (or the local equivalent) in cash for a used car.
What we score
Is the payment lawful, and is it reported?
Default assumptions: Unless a vignette says otherwise, the person is a 30-year-old citizen of sound mind with no criminal record, acting alone, on their own behalf and not for profit, in an ordinary residential area. Where subnational units (states, provinces, cantons, Länder) make their own law, each unit is scored and the result is weighted by population. 'The state' includes police, prosecutors, courts, regulators, tax authorities and anyone acting on their orders, including platforms obeying takedown orders.
Score anchors
Both the law score and the practice score use these anchors. Half points are used when a country sits between two of them.
| Score | What it means for this vignette |
|---|---|
| 10 | Lawful; no reporting. |
| 8 | Lawful; the dealer files a report (e.g. above 10,000 USD). |
| 6 | Lawful but the buyer must prove the source of funds. |
| 3 | Over a cash limit; administrative fine. |
| 2 | Over a cash limit; crime. |
Evidence used: Cash-payment limits; reporting thresholds; anti-money-laundering rules for dealers.
How each country scores
| Country | Law | Practice | Process | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10.0 | Switzerland has no cash-payment limit. Dealers in goods must identify the customer only when they accept more than CHF 100,000 in cash (Anti-Money Laundering Act Art. 8a). The 1 Oct 2026 amendments lowered the threshold to CHF 15,000 only for precious metals and stones, and to zero for real estate. A CHF 13,000 cash car purchase triggers no identification or report unless it appears suspicious. |
| Singapore | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10.0 | Singapore has no cash-payment limit. Mandatory cash-transaction reports above S$20,000 apply to precious-stones and precious-metals dealers and other prescribed persons under CDSA Part 6B, not to car dealers. The 2024 Inter-Ministerial Committee on AML chose only outreach to car dealers, who remain unregulated. A general suspicious-transaction report duty applies only when there are grounds for suspicion. |
| Mexico | 10 | 9 | 0 | 9.4 | The anti-money-laundering law (LFPIORPI art. 32 II) bans cash payment for vehicles of 3,210 UMA or more: MXN 376,565, about USD 20,000, at the 2026 UMA of 117.31 pesos. Dealers must identify buyers at 3,210 UMA and report at 6,420 UMA (art. 17 VIII). A USD 15,000 (about MXN 280,000) cash purchase is under every threshold, so it is lawful and unreported. Some dealers refuse large cash payments in practice. |
| Germany | 9 | 8.5 | 0 | 8.7 | Germany has no cash-payment limit yet (the EU AML Regulation's €10,000 cap applies from July 2027). Under the Money Laundering Act, a car is a 'high-value good' (§ 1(10) GwG), so a dealer taking €2,000 or more in cash must identify the buyer and keep records (§ 10(6a) GwG). The dealer files a report only on suspicion, not automatically. |
| United States | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8.0 | Paying any amount of cash for a car is lawful; the US has no cash-payment limit. The dealer must file IRS/FinCEN Form 8300 within 15 days for cash over $10,000. Splitting the payment to avoid the report is structuring, a crime. The buyer need not prove the source of funds. |
| Ireland | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8.0 | Ireland has no cash-payment limit (the EU-wide €10,000 cap applies only from July 2027). Under Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 s25(1)(i), any trader receiving €10,000 or more in cash becomes a designated person and must identify the buyer, keep records and report suspicious transactions, so a cash car purchase of this size is lawful but documented. |
| United Kingdom | 8 | 7 | 0 | 7.4 | There is no cash-payment limit. Under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, a dealer must register with HMRC as a high value dealer before accepting €10,000 or more in cash (about £11,000–12,000 here), and must then identify the buyer, keep records and file suspicious activity reports where warranted. Many car dealers do not register and so refuse cash at this size. Large cash sums carried to the sale also risk POCA seizure (see K1). |
| Czechia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3.0 | Act 254/2004 § 4 requires payments above 270,000 CZK per day between the same parties to be cashless. 15,000 USD (about 310,000-345,000 CZK) exceeds the limit. Both payer and recipient commit an administrative offence, with fines of up to 500,000 CZK for an individual and up to 5,000,000 CZK for a business. Tax and trade authorities enforce it in inspections. |
| Netherlands | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3.0 | Art. 1f Wwft (in force in the consolidated text current from 1 January 2026) forbids professional traders in goods, including vehicle dealers, from making or accepting cash payments of EUR 3,000 or more. Breaches draw administrative fines from the supervisor. The buyer is not personally penalised, but a car dealer cannot lawfully take about EUR 13,000 in cash. |
| Denmark | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3.0 | Businesses may not accept cash payments of DKK 15,000 or more (about USD 2,300), whether paid at once or in linked instalments (hvidvaskloven § 5), so a USD 15,000 cash car purchase is unlawful. The criminal fine falls on the dealer (§ 78(1)), rising to up to 2 years only for especially gross or extensive intentional breaches (§ 78(2)); the buyer commits no offence. Dealers therefore refuse such payments. |
| New Zealand | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2.6 | Since 11 May 2023, AML/CFT Act s67A bars anyone in trade from buying or selling motor vehicles (and jewellery, precious metals and boats) for cash of NZ$10,000 or more, including linked payments. A dealer who breaches it faces a civil penalty of up to $200,000 or a criminal offence carrying up to 2 years. The buyer is not the target, but a US$15,000 (about NZ$25,000) cash purchase from a dealer cannot lawfully happen. |