American Express Membership Rewards - Can I pay for a BMW Lease on my card?

Hey guys...

Finally did it - closed on a three-year lease on the new BMW 645Ci. Very happy. Everyone thinks I'm an idiot because I live in NYC and don't need a car, but I'm getting off topic...

Question - For those BMW owners - I see a place online where I can "manage my lease payments." - But because I don't have the car yet, I can't set up payments.

Will I find myself in the lucky position to be able to pay for the lease every month on the card?

Anyone know? Like an automatic-charge type thing?

Hoping, (and thanks for any knowledge...)

-Peter

PS: Should have the car by Mid-Dec. I HATE waiting.

Hey guys...

Finally did it - closed on a three-year lease on the new BMW 645Ci. Very happy. Everyone thinks I'm an idiot because I live in NYC and don't need a car, but I'm getting off topic...

Question - For those BMW owners - I see a place online where I can "manage my lease payments." - But because I don't have the car yet, I can't set up payments.

Will I find myself in the lucky position to be able to pay for the lease every month on the card?

Anyone know? Like an automatic-charge type thing?

Hoping, (and thanks for any knowledge...)

-Peter

PS: Should have the car by Mid-Dec. I HATE waiting.

No chance ( or I would have racked up mucho miles so far :) )
BMW Financial allows to only make payments ( one time or on recurring basis) from your checking or savings account.

mike

Ditto. I wish I could put any of my car payments on a card. Or insurance! How about we jsut flood BMWFS with these requests?

Chris

Sorry about the BMW payments :(

A bit of good news though: Were buying a Navigator this week on the AMEX :D When making the deal it was take the AMEX or we walk. They are taking it ^

Sorry about the BMW payments :(

A bit of good news though: Were buying a Navigator this week on the AMEX :D When making the deal it was take the AMEX or we walk. They are taking it ^

I wonder, what does the dealer pay to accept amex? Reason I ask is look at this calculation.

Lets say the Navigator costs $50,000 (I really dont know what they cost)

Assume the dealer pays 2% (a very modest/conservative rate imo), means $1,000 will be due to Amex.

You as the buyer will earn 50,000 points, having an assumed value of $0.02 each, means you have $1,000 value of points.

If I were you I would have said, look just sell me the car at $49,000 & no use of Amex, because I think a $1,000 or more saving & no miles is more valuable then points, again this is my opinion.

Ric

Technically you can! You can try the old PayPal trick by sending yourself a payment matching the amount of your monthly lease to your bank account and then have that payment pay off your lease. While the money you were going to use for your lease in your bank account will be used to pay off the amex transaction. Hey Presto!

Minus 3%! And it is against PayPal policy, so they might freeze your account, and hold the funds for 6 months!

Minus 3%! And it is against PayPal policy, so they might freeze your account, and hold the funds for 6 months!
not when you sell things for yourself on ebay for that much! e.g. sell a paperclip on ebay for $2500, buy it and send the payment to yourself (the seller) in the uk they don't limit the amount you spend as long as you get authorisation from amex/paypal. what they do limit you on is sending non merchandise payments uing amex.

not when you sell things for yourself on ebay for that much! e.g. sell a paperclip on ebay for $2500, buy it and send the payment to yourself (the seller) in the uk they don't limit the amount you spend as long as you get authorisation from amex/paypal. what they do limit you on is sending non merchandise payments uing amex.

:td:

Can not do this for many reasons!

Sorry about the BMW payments :(

A bit of good news though: Were buying a Navigator this week on the AMEX :D When making the deal it was take the AMEX or we walk. They are taking it ^If a dealer takes a credit card for the entire purchase price of a car then you can be SURE that you didn't get anywhere near as good a deal as you could have had you been a better negotiator.

Ditto. I wish I could put any of my car payments on a card. Or insurance!...

You can have some of it:

-I paid the "initial down payment" with credit card! :cool:
-I pay my insurance with credit card. :cool:
-I pay my yearly registration with credit card. :cool:
However, you can not pay the monthly leasing rates with credit card. :mad:

If a dealer takes a credit card for the entire purchase price of a car then you can be SURE that you didn't get anywhere near as good a deal as you could have had you been a better negotiator.

No, we made the deal, no mention of AMEX, then once is was in ink, we told them we would like it on the card. ;)

Finally did it - closed on a three-year lease on the new BMW 645Ci. Very happy. Everyone thinks I'm an idiot because I live in NYC and don't need a car, but I'm getting off topic...

Congratulations. Did you get the coupe or convertible?

:td:

Can not do this for many reasons!


Care to elaborate why not? It does sound too easy to be true..

Hey guys...

Finally did it - closed on a three-year lease on the new BMW 645Ci. Very happy. Everyone thinks I'm an idiot because I live in NYC and don't need a car, but I'm getting off topic...

Question - For those BMW owners - I see a place online where I can "manage my lease payments." - But because I don't have the car yet, I can't set up payments.

Will I find myself in the lucky position to be able to pay for the lease every month on the card?

Anyone know? Like an automatic-charge type thing?

Hoping, (and thanks for any knowledge...)

-Peter

PS: Should have the car by Mid-Dec. I HATE waiting.

I have a BMW X5 and make payments online, using the "Owners Circle". There is no provision for credit card payments as yet. I haven't called BMW Financial Services, but I doubt they'll be willing to pay 2% to AMEX per month, given I'm paying off my car at an APR of 1.9% ^

Good luck with the Bimmer. It's one car that you can't go wrong with..! And if you're able to get BMW FS to agree to payments by card, please post here, so that I can do the same.

Good luck with the Bimmer. It's one car that you can't go wrong with..!

I don't want to diverge too far off-topic, but I HAVE to disagree with this! My M Roadster was in the shop so much that I very clearly DID go wrong with it. It's too early to tell about 6-series reliability, but given all the recent problems (I-Drive, M3 engines, styling disasters, etc.) I don't think you can say anymore that you can't go wrong with a Bimmer. :(

I don't want to diverge too far off-topic, but I HAVE to disagree with this! My M Roadster was in the shop so much that I very clearly DID go wrong with it. It's too early to tell about 6-series reliability, but given all the recent problems (I-Drive, M3 engines, styling disasters, etc.) I don't think you can say anymore that you can't go wrong with a Bimmer. :(

You know, I dreaded the I-Drive for a while, but, after using it for a while, I kind of got used to it and then liked it some. Styling and M3 engines? I think I have to agree with you there...Like you, don't want to go off-topic, but my $0.02

Care to elaborate why not? It does sound too easy to be true..

For one, ebay is very strict about two things. 1st, people bidding on there own auctions. 2nd, It will send up a red flag if you bid $2000 on a paper clip (they do browse the site).

And also there are all kinds of paypal rules about this type of thing.

Read the T&C and rules (ebay & paypal), there are a half dozen reasons why you can't do this.

for those that didnt know, paypal is owned by ebay.

Care to elaborate why not? It does sound too easy to be true..

Ebay charges fees to list an auction. After all related ebay fees are charged to the seller, the total cost for selling the paperclip to yourself would be $55.42. That's not something I would want to do every month.

Ebay charges fees to list an auction. After all related ebay fees are charged to the seller, the total cost for selling the paperclip to yourself would be $55.42. That's not something I would want to do every month.

Okay, that explains why it doesn't make sense to do it, rather than the other explanation why you shouldn't do it...

Congratulations. Did you get the coupe or convertible?

Got the coupe. It's a fun machine. :)

-Peter

Got the coupe. It's a fun machine. :)

-Peter

Did you win in the lottery? :D 645Ci is 80K$ more or less (80,000$ = 80,000 Miles + 20,000 Miles Bonus for new CC = 100,000 miles = Business Class Flight to Munich to pick up the car!) :cool:

Did you win in the lottery? :D 645Ci is 80K$ more or less (80,000$ = 80,000 Miles + 20,000 Miles Bonus for new CC = 100,000 miles = Business Class Flight to Munich to pick up the car!) :cool:

in most cases if you do a Euro delivery you can save 10% on the price of the car. If you buy a Benz, they have a hotel on site where you can stay for free, up to a week I beleive.

If you buy a porsche, they will take you out on the track & show you how to drive it! I beleive porsche charges a premium for this service.

I had a friend that did this on a 330ic bmw, so long you drive it like 15 miles (something like that) do a euro delivery your car is exported as a USED car, apperantly taxes/tariffs are less & makes for a new car to cost less. he said incorporating the the cost of the trip to germany yada yada he still saved like $1,800...lotta $$

RCC:

You are correct, you can safe even money. However, a European delivery needs a little planning.
My point was: Pay the whole sales price with credit card .. and you (almost) have a free flight in business class to pick up the car. I know, that my dealer would accept a credit card ... bad news, the dealer has no BMW, only Porsche, Aston Martin and Jaguar :rolleyes:

Regarding lottery: Florida has $60,000,000 in the Jack Pot ... go and get it. :cool:

RCC:

You are correct, you can safe even money. However, a European delivery needs a little planning.
My point was: Pay the whole sales price with credit card .. and you (almost) have a free flight in business class to pick up the car. I know, that my dealer would accept a credit card ... bad news, the dealer has no BMW, only \:

And thus, we go back to the original query - It's a lease, not a buy... Otherwise, yeah, I would have put it all on the card.

Oh well...

My lease is just about to end on my BMW. Can I buy out the lease upon its expiry using my Amex then, seeing as I have the first right of refusal? Does it count as a purchase of a car? Or could they refuse credit card for payment? Anyone had any luck/experiene with this?

My lease is just about to end on my BMW. Can I buy out the lease upon its expiry using my Amex then, seeing as I have the first right of refusal? Does it count as a purchase of a car? Or could they refuse credit card for payment? Anyone had any luck/experiene with this?

Depends on the terms and conditions of the lease. My hunch is no, since at the end of most leases you're buying the car directly from the financing company rather than from the dealer. If BMW Financial Services doesn't accept credit cards then you'll just have to pay cash for the balance, turn the vehicle in, or refinance it.