Have you used the AMEX Car Buying Program?
Jul 23, 2011, 1:11 pm
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
We purchased our car in Feb using AMEX purchase program.
We actually submitted the request and got 3 dealership names and their subsequent emails /phone calls.
The closest and most convenient dealership actually had the best price.
They initially stuck to the price quoted thru AMEX but we told them they could do better else we walked. The "internet" sales manager did not do much dance but let us sit for over an hour by ourselves. However the dealership has very comfortable waiting area equipped with fancy coffee machines, a reasonably-priced restaurant food counter (actually cooked to order foods but not a restaurant) and 2 internet terminals, plus magazines/newspapers. So the wait was OK as we were occupied in comfortable environment.
The manager eventually came out and we showed him a local map marked with other dealerships who had newspaper ads in the past 2 weeks, told him if he did not agree with our price we would walk.
He then wrote a "take it or leave it" out the door price which was a few hundreds BETTER than what we asked on our scrap paper but refused to write it on his biz card (for fear we took it elsewhere). Since the price was better than we hoped for by a couple hundreds so we accepted it.
However at the "finance office" the woman preparing the sales contract produced a contract that the final total was several hundreds higher and I caught it. She made a internal phone call and then told us the manager "forgot" to mention not to add a certain line item but now it was all taken care of and it was indeed the price we were told by him, not the price she had it on the contract...
All in all, it was a time-consuming event because 90 minutes were wasted in waiting but there was no hard negotiation that one usually had to go through when buying a car.
We were able to put $5K on the SPG card as that was the maximum the dealer was willing to take. The rest was paid by cash.
There was another customer also bought his car using AMEX program on the same day and paid $5K on his AMEX card. The finance lady almost got our receipts mixed up!
We actually submitted the request and got 3 dealership names and their subsequent emails /phone calls.
The closest and most convenient dealership actually had the best price.
They initially stuck to the price quoted thru AMEX but we told them they could do better else we walked. The "internet" sales manager did not do much dance but let us sit for over an hour by ourselves. However the dealership has very comfortable waiting area equipped with fancy coffee machines, a reasonably-priced restaurant food counter (actually cooked to order foods but not a restaurant) and 2 internet terminals, plus magazines/newspapers. So the wait was OK as we were occupied in comfortable environment.
The manager eventually came out and we showed him a local map marked with other dealerships who had newspaper ads in the past 2 weeks, told him if he did not agree with our price we would walk.
He then wrote a "take it or leave it" out the door price which was a few hundreds BETTER than what we asked on our scrap paper but refused to write it on his biz card (for fear we took it elsewhere). Since the price was better than we hoped for by a couple hundreds so we accepted it.
However at the "finance office" the woman preparing the sales contract produced a contract that the final total was several hundreds higher and I caught it. She made a internal phone call and then told us the manager "forgot" to mention not to add a certain line item but now it was all taken care of and it was indeed the price we were told by him, not the price she had it on the contract...
All in all, it was a time-consuming event because 90 minutes were wasted in waiting but there was no hard negotiation that one usually had to go through when buying a car.
We were able to put $5K on the SPG card as that was the maximum the dealer was willing to take. The rest was paid by cash.
There was another customer also bought his car using AMEX program on the same day and paid $5K on his AMEX card. The finance lady almost got our receipts mixed up!
Jul 23, 2011, 4:59 pm
#17
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Programs: Hyatt Diamond, Fairmont Platinum, Aeroplan Diamond, HHonors Gold, SPG Gold
Posts: 18,686
Quick question.. any Canadians take advantage of this program.. or is it strictly a US based program?
Last edited by mia; Jul 23, 2011 at 7:58 pm Reason: Please do not quote the entire text of multi-paragraph posts.
Jul 23, 2011, 8:15 pm
#18
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
if you review the early posts you will see that this program is not operated ny American Express. I suggest you look at zag.com to see if there is a Canadian version.
Jul 23, 2011, 8:34 pm
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
zag operates the same program for AAA in US. The sole reason we went for AMEX instead of AAA is AMEX program guarantees an amount be put on an AMEX card - it is up to the down payment or the maximum amount allowed by the car dealership versus in the past it was up to 100% of the purchase price. AAA program does not have this guarantee. Dealership may have resistance on using credit card as part of the payment if not using a program that guarantees such "benefits". In fact everyone at the dealership kept saying that how great their 1.9% financing was, why we would use our credit card... blah blah blah... despite we repeatedly told them we could pay 100% in cash but the card earned us points...
Zag may offer this service to CAA members. I would suggest OP check with CAA.
Zag may offer this service to CAA members. I would suggest OP check with CAA.
Jul 23, 2011, 9:59 pm
#20
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Programs: Hyatt Diamond, Fairmont Platinum, Aeroplan Diamond, HHonors Gold, SPG Gold
Posts: 18,686
zag operates the same program for AAA in US. The sole reason we went for AMEX instead of AAA is AMEX program guarantees an amount be put on an AMEX card - it is up to the down payment or the maximum amount allowed by the car dealership versus in the past it was up to 100% of the purchase price. AAA program does not have this guarantee. Dealership may have resistance on using credit card as part of the payment if not using a program that guarantees such "benefits". In fact everyone at the dealership kept saying that how great their 1.9% financing was, why we would use our credit card... blah blah blah... despite we repeatedly told them we could pay 100% in cash but the card earned us points...
Zag may offer this service to CAA members. I would suggest OP check with CAA.
Zag may offer this service to CAA members. I would suggest OP check with CAA.
I'm more interested in running an entire vehicle purchase on cc..
Anybody know any Toyota Dealerships that may be willing to do that.. I can negotiate pretty good otherwise..
Jul 24, 2011, 9:20 pm
#21
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
You can negotiate pretty good to get the final price but good luck to get the delership sell at this price by charging your CC. At the end you may be politely asked to leave, or simply be told to leave as you are no longer welcome to do business with them...
There is no free lunch in the business world as they say. It is plain common sense - you cannot have it all to your benefit, the dealership needs to make a profit as well...
Of course if we slip into a 2nd recession like the one during 2008-2009, you would have a shot at it then.
Jul 26, 2011, 11:27 pm
#22
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Programs: Hyatt Diamond, Fairmont Platinum, Aeroplan Diamond, HHonors Gold, SPG Gold
Posts: 18,686
I believe your chance is very slim to put 100% on your CC unless you are willing to "pay" for that privilege.
You can negotiate pretty good to get the final price but good luck to get the delership sell at this price by charging your CC. At the end you may be politely asked to leave, or simply be told to leave as you are no longer welcome to do business with them...
There is no free lunch in the business world as they say. It is plain common sense - you cannot have it all to your benefit, the dealership needs to make a profit as well...
Of course if we slip into a 2nd recession like the one during 2008-2009, you would have a shot at it then.
You can negotiate pretty good to get the final price but good luck to get the delership sell at this price by charging your CC. At the end you may be politely asked to leave, or simply be told to leave as you are no longer welcome to do business with them...
There is no free lunch in the business world as they say. It is plain common sense - you cannot have it all to your benefit, the dealership needs to make a profit as well...
Of course if we slip into a 2nd recession like the one during 2008-2009, you would have a shot at it then.
For landscaping I purchased 300 tonnes of rundle boulders, step stones, finishing rundle for my landscaping for the tune of $100K+.. all on cc direct from the quarry.. retail amount of boulders and rock was $250K.. if I was to buy from Burnco..
My window coverings were $67K.. I grinded the national coordinator of Direct Buy for window coverings down to $32K tax in.. and at the last moment I said run it on my cc.. he refused.. and finally relented.. purchased the whole shot of Hunter Douglas 4" Silhouette Alustra Bronze for 50+ windows on cc.. btw ask any Direct Buy member and they will tell you its very rare to run anything through credit card when dealing with them..
so a $30K Toyota minivan.. even though I was in the car business for 8 years.. knowing all of the used vehicle managers, and many new car managers.. when I operated Motor World, Calgary's Exclusive Dealer Magazine.. before selling the company.. I'm holding out some hope somebody wants to make a sale..
Apr 24, 2019, 5:22 am
#25
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: YYZ / FRA
Programs: IHG RA; Avis First
Posts: 1,444
Apr 24, 2019, 5:33 am
#26
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: FLL ✈ ZRH ✈ MSP ✈✈✈✈
Programs: AMEX DL Reserve ✈ DL Diamond Medallion ✈ Marriott ✈ NWA
Posts: 156
I was at Honda and Audi the past 2 days and they said the most they could do is $5,000. I asked if I could do $5,000 increments and they both said no.
I'll just keep looking till I find someone who does. I read it can be done.
I'll just keep looking till I find someone who does. I read it can be done.
Apr 24, 2019, 1:53 pm
#27
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: PHX
Posts: 623
Apr 24, 2019, 2:32 pm
#28
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Arizona
Posts: 5,688
I have bought multiple Mercedes, Lexus, Hyunda, Honda, etc in full on credit card at a discount from MSRP price. The car dealers are not just concerned with the merchant fee they pay and until you wrap your head around what the issues are you will have a difficult time.
Apr 25, 2019, 11:10 am
#30
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 998
I'm wondering if there is also a difference between a high volume lot (someone that has like a hundred sales people and a thousand cars on the lot or something) vs a smaller guy that might only have 10 or 15 sales people. The big guys that are moving tens of cars or more a day might not care near as much missing $1,000 by making a $35,000 car sale.