Can I buy a brand new car from a dealership with a credit card.
I have a 30K limit and want to buy a car so I can get the reward points, but the sales guy said no and was only allowed to pay 10% on the credit card.
is there a hard and fast rule about this.
usually.. with dealerships - no. except for the initial holding deposit.
10% is actually a good deal - my toyota dealership when I bought new said $500, rest on bank chq
I think you can, depending on the merchant, but it is likely that they will ask you for a 1%-2% surcharge to cover their costs.
Having said that, I think it's usually better to pay the actual amount with bank cheque than to fork out the additional % for points. $30,000 @ 1% = $300?
Agree. 1% of the purchase amount is about as good a return as you'll get in terms of points, and if the merchant is charging you a 1 or 2% fee, you're better off paying cash or cheque.
No such thing as a free lunch. Margins and very tight for car dealers and they just can't wear the CC fee without passing it on to you which will probably be greater than the value of the points.
Seems like the first 5k is the norm, at least that's what I've done with BMW/Merc/VW in the past. Anything beyond that is negotiable (could be negotiated as part of the deal…didn't make sense though when they want 2% for Amex)
I would've been delighted if they allow me to do up to 10% fee free.
What about ING Pay Pass? 300x$99 transactions
The dealer will charge you labour to process 300 transactions.
Sometimes dealers want you to volunteer to pay a higher deposit, so will allow you to increase that on the cc with no surcharge. That's what happened with my recent car purchase anyway ;) Unfortunately they didn't accept American Express…
When I bought my new car I wanted to pay by CC (to get the points of course!!) but the dealer said, up to $2k you get charged nothing (they cover fees) but over $2k they will charge me an additional 2.5% (I think it was)
So, I paid $500 deposit CC
Then on the day of collecting my car I paid another $1500 from CC
The rest, bank chq ($10 fee from CommonWealth)
I bought a new car last year across 3 cc. I negotiated the price by ringing 3 dealers and after getting the best price from them all I said I would be paying on cc and wanted fees included - 2x AMEX and a M/Card. They all baulked, but I said I am talking to 2 others within driving distance, and I WILL go there if you can't include no fee cc transactions. Finally, they all agreed and I went w' the local people and got a lot of points out of it. You just gotta be very serious about not giving up, friendly but very firm. The price I got was very good.
I payed $500 cash deposit on a motorbike and when it was delivered the remaining $16k was payed successfully with a CUA visa debit card. That was from the bike barn, Elizabeth st Melbourne.
I payed $500 cash deposit on a motorbike and when it was delivered the remaining $16k was payed successfully with a CUA visa debit card.
That's different though, visa debit card means you already have the cash on hand. A credit card means the customer will "pay you later", and if they run off, the car dealer is screwed.
Visa Debit is quite similar to bank cheque in the way it means money is definitely available and will be secured.
so it's not impossible but rather clever negotiations to negate paying the fees.
will try and let you guys know how I go … Mazda here I come.
I paid $8800 for a second hand car on my Amex card. Dealer was pretty happy to take the card and I got lots of points. Looking at this now I guess I got lucky……
Probably because the car was worth $3000
Hyundai would accept $2000 deposit with CC. So I negotiated (again) and paid cash deposit for a further 2% discount(-$40) Win - Win! Better than CC points!!
It is important to negotiate the price to rock bottom including floor mats and whatever else you want thrown in and then say CC will be part of the deal.
I was able to do exactly that when I bought my Mazda from a Mazda dealership. It took lots of bargaining power, and haggling, but eventually went through as a trade off for some negative comments directed towards me by the salesman. The dealer principal asked me what it would take to get my business, aside from an apology and to deal with a different sales person……. I gave him my shopping list so ended up with with a couple of free services, dash and floor mats, another year extended warranty ! and the full amount paid on the credit card with no merchant fees. So I guess it is very possible, depends on how hard they want your business and if you are prepared to play the game and walk away if you cant get exactly what you want, dont be pressured into the best deal for them. The bottom line is if they cant do it, they just wont. I will be having another go with payment by credit card, when its time. Good luck with it !
Which dealership was that? Nothing like a loose cannon for a sales rep to negotiate with the director? May try to find this guy and rev him up.
I was able to buy mine by credit card. Used car though. For 19K. They would be able to wavier the card fee BUT you have to start the conversation with…can i use my credit card to purchase.
Did it ever occur to you that they would have just factored the extra 1-3% CC surcharge into the negotiation?
Confirm it over the telephone first that they actually do this but not revealing your actual name. I bought it with Alto car dealership.
Am I missing something? Let's say you put the $30k on credit card. What happens after the 44 - 55 days interest free period? Do you pay 22% interest or , do you balance transfer to citibank at 0% for 2 years…… Just pay the 3% balance transfer fee?
Some credit cards have a much lower interest rate than others.
At the same time, there may be a way to get a personal loan for a car - and then you pay by credit card and transfer the funds from the loan straight away into the card account.
Another interesting thing is - if you buy a car for $10k using savings - you can get a loan out for the value of that car. Which means that, once you own the car - you can approach a bank to give you a loan with the car's value as security.
I think those who do this already have the cash in the bank from which they settle the card bill when it is due (44-55) days. Paying by the card gets rewards points.
30k on a CC is pretty normal, we buy kenworth trucks on CC all the time, nothing like going in and spending 1.4 million on 4 T909's on a black amex card.
Except a 3-4% discount is probably much better value. :P
We don't get charged CC fees, and pricing for our specced trucks comes from Melbourne at a set price. It's not like a car dealership where you can wheel and deal.
Pretty normal if youre a business or corporate however, if your not a business or corporate I assume a one million plus purchase is not the norm.
It is important to drop the cc deal in only AFTER - you negotiate hard and only when you have done all the research on comparative dealers (a bit hard on a 2nd hand car). Once you know who has the best price and you get the floor mats and whatever, then you say that cc is part of the deal or I walk to your competitor in Newcastle/ Canberra etc if you are say in SYD).
Yes, of course this all assumes you pay it off on the due date. If you cannot do that, don't buy the item in the first place.
Copie, you must have some very nice F flights on those pints :)
I put $10,000 on my CC for used car at a Holden dealership the lady said we don't normally do it but then she put it through anyway
I've bought a few cars at auction using my credit card.
However have you thought about doing a balance transfer to another credit card which is linked to a bank account? That way you may be able to transfer across and negotiate firmer with my own finance option? And you may get a benefit of 6-24 months interest free.
My sister brought a new ford yesterday after a trade in it came to $17k (this after bargaining down a bit) then I said we will only take it if we can put most of it on an Amex (as I wanted the points) we ended up with $7k on Amex and rest to be paid by bank chq… Still a good deal.
Guess it's up to the dealer but generally when you have locked a deal down that's when the cc conversation should take place! That way they know you're definetly in to buy!
Good luck!
Recently bought a car and to avoid the cc fee the finance person offered me an option to pay maximum of 1k for the next five days (AMEX points!). The remaining amount was on a bank cheque.
It's up to the merchant.