FlyerGoldII

A couple of years ago, we purchased a new car for my wife - the car dealer indicated that he would only accept credit card for the down payment (max:10%).

I am planning to buy a car for myself soon - I wonder if any car dealers in Canada allow the whole purchase price of the car to be charged to a credit (or charge) card. I am asking the question because I do want to add a fair number of Aeroplan miles, to my Aeroplan account.

Singlepoint

Bought a Honda CRV last year and the dealership was pretty jittery about the credit card issue. In the end, they only allowed me to put down approx. 10% on cc. I'm wondering if there is any difference between import vs. domestic (I know, one can get into a myriad of arguments over what exactly is meant by those terms) ? My assumption is that because some import brands (ie: Toyota, Honda) tend to be more "coveted," they may not be as willing to extend their payment parameters as much. Does anyone have any experience to validate or quash this assertion ? It could be good to know the next time one goes shopping for a new vehicle.

Cheers,

Singlepoint

FlyerGoldII

Yes, the car we bought was an import - an Accura.

taupo

I paid $20,000 towards my wife's Honda Pilot on my CIBC Visa. I paid the 1.7% CC fee. Next time around I would pay the whole thing on my Visa, and pay the 1.7% if need be. Cheap points IMO

HateToFly

The last 4 cars we have bought in the family, I could manage no more than $3,000 on any credit card. They especially didn't like AE, because it apparently has higher merchant fees than the others (I don't know if that's true; it's just what I was told). I didn't feel like paying merchant fees on top of PST, GST, documentation fee, ....

taupo

IIRC, AE does not charge a higher fee to the merchant. Visa, M/C, Amex etc all carry different charges, but they are the same within the brand. eg CIBC Visa and RBC Visa carry the same fee. The negotiations are done with Visa, M/C etc, not with the individual FIs'.
I think Visa's typical fee is 1.7%.
Their is little mark up in most new cars.

Globe Man

My local Ford dealership will allow you to pay for your vehicle in full -- providing you re-imburse them the 2% credit card commission that they would otherwise be charged.

Braindrain

When I bought my Acura, all they allowed was 5K.

I think if you push it, they MUST be able to accept the entire car pymt in full on the CC. It's part of the CC-merchant agreement.

I just haven't tried pushing it that far.

davethewave

I agree with the gentle but quite firm insisting approach. My HONDA CRV had a $5000 Aerogold downpayment
on it, despite a BIG sign in the showroom saying $2000 was the limit.
Business manager said they cannot legally refuse cc payments.

Yukonprince

A few years ago I too paid 2 percent on $15,000 when buying a new car. I had the dealer put on the invoice $300 for using Visa.

I wrote to Visa on the legality of charging to use Visa enclosing my invoice. Received a cheque for $300 very fast - I thnk within 10 days.

Minicooperman

Here in Australia, merchants can legally charge extra if you pay by credit card. Not just for cars either.

Every time you purchase a plane ticket both Qantas and Virgin charge an extra 1% if you put the ticket on plastic. I personally have a BIG problem with this policy as it is very difficult to pay any other way.

MCM.

jakpot

Micmac Motors or Norcan?


1D

The Winger

Good idea!

I bought a new car at a GM dealership earlier this year and the most they would allow was $2000.

pdjcrawford

Here it isn't so much a matter of "legality", but whether or not the application of a credit card surcharge violates the merchant agreements between the business and the CC companies. And there are limited cases where they can, in fact, do this.

There are businesses that advertise their prices as "cash discounted" and apply a CC surcharge should you opt to use the plastic. I ran into this sort of practice recently and took it up with the CC company of my choice after declining to use the particular merchant who attempted to pull this stunt. After a bit of research at the CC end, I was told that merchants were free to do this (with respect to merchant agreements) but that they could not favour one card over another by applying different fees based on the card being used. In my instance, the retailer wanted to charge me 3% for using AMEX rather than the 2% charged to VISA/MC users. Their website even noted said practice and AMEX decided to "straighten them out" with some form of communication.

Bringing this back to the original topic, I'd be very surprised if the application of a surcharge at some arbitrary amount (ie. okay to use the card without fee up to $3000, must pay the fee after that) doesn't also violate the merchant agreements with any CC issuer. It would certainly be an interesting conversation to have with the CC companies to see where they fall on this form of the practice.