Hacker News Reader

Comment by shorttime | Hacker News Reader

I always carry cash. I'm surprised when people don't. Came in handy when the hurricane hit, gas stations only took cash. Cash is also good for negotiation.

View on HN

Avoiding payment fees, negotiating a discount by having cash ready to fork over, etc. Its always good to have $100 or so in your pocket, quick way to smooth over small fender benders/paint nicks if you accidentally damage someone else's car in a minor way.

I say this as someone who lives in part of the US where shops and medical practices are starting to go card only. Having cash is still really handy, though many people here can get by without touching cash for months.

"quick way to smooth over small fender benders/paint nicks if you accidentally damage someone else's car in a minor way"

Anytime I've had a body shop repair dents or paint nicks it has cost so much more than $100 that I would literally laugh in the face of anyone that tried that with me.

If your driving a car 5+ years old that was $30k or less, a small nick such as the one I mentioned isn't apt to be repaired. All one is trying to do is satiate the party that had their car damaged, and that is generally possible for a fairly reasonable cost.

Agreed, but I'm not giving over any significant amount of cash to an individual without getting a signed release. $50 and hope I never hear from them again? Sure.

$100 and we don't exchange info/I made sure no pictures were taken or license plates studied is generally baseline IMO. Even if they're at fault, if it's minor I do not want my insurance to know about the accident. It will boost the premiums much moreso than paying off those involved.

You can still negotiate a final amount to be paid via non-cash payment though. Sometimes the rounding off of numbers might even make paying by cash more expensive. Don't think that's a particularly strong point.

>Cash is also good for negotiation.

Not long ago I walked in to a store with $150 of cash and asked for a thing I needed that would be within the amount I had with me and they gave me the $165 item for $150 because thats all I had with me.

I never need cash except when a hurricane is coming. But hurricanes are like being stalked by a turtle. I just go and grab the cash once I get notified there might be one :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com