Originally Posted by
thewill
Credit card companies take 2%. Dealers are willing to pass along the fee if you want to charge the entire car. The $2-3K limit is to make it easy for a customer to make a down payment.
Good posting.
A $20K car will cost the dealer $400 at 2% paid to the CC company. That bites significantly into their profit margin. Thus the dealers put limits on what they'll allow to be charged.
The merchant agreement for MC and VISA states that car dealers are not supposed to put limits on how much the buyers can charge. However, pressing the issue won't get you very far because the sales division can live without taking CC payments, unlike restaurants and retail stores whose business increases by taking such payments. If you manage to get MC or VISA to pull their agreement with the sales division because you could't charge the full amount, it's really no huge deal to them. So instead of getting some miles for a smaller charge, you'll get no miles.
Regards,
Chris