Potential miles when purchasing a vehicle?
 

I am soon to be trading in my car and purchasing either a certified pre-owned or brand new vehicle from the toyota family. Are there any routes to acquire miles during this process? I am a mileageplus member.

Thanks,
staycomfy

Try this master thread in MilesBuzz Forum first:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...d-threads.html

If the dealer accepts your charge card or credit card, but won't accept it for the entire purchase, you might still be able to use the card for the deposit and items such as dealer installed options, extended warranty protection, etc.

When I purchased a Honda a few years ago, the dealer accepted my Mileage Plus Visa card for various items for various items (e.g. remote control door lock and [I think] sales tax and registration fees).

When I bought my son's Escape 3 years ago the Ford dealer let me put the whole 29k on a Visa card (I really wanted it on my Delta card, but they said "no" to AMEX).

I purchased a Lexus a couple of years ago where I was able to charge the amount due net of trade to my Amex Plat. Amount was around $37K. I called to get pre-approval, the transaction processed smoothly and I paid off the balance a couple of days later. OTOH, my local BMW dealer won't allow more than $3K to be charged, damn him! Doesn't hurt to ask or to even look around for dealers who are willing to feed mileage junkies like most of us FT'ers.

All depends what the dealer will accept. Call around to the dealers in your area and ask what their policy is. Most won't allow credit cards for more than a few thousand dollars of the purchase price. You might get lucky and find one that allows the whole thing.

It's been a while since I bought a car...but I used to always buy my cars on credit cards.

The bigger question to this thread is not "What will dealerships allow?" but "What do the new regulations require them to do?"

In the past, even if they whined, any merchant that accepted a credit card for any transaction had to accept the card for all transactions. They could not set a minimum (as many small mom-and-pop restaurants do) and they could not set a maximum (as, in this case, car dealers tried to do). Lastly, they could not raise the sales prices commensurate to the fee nor could they charge the fee to the consumer. When presented with this info, every dealer capitulated and allowed me to use my card.

But a few years ago, when Congress (damn them) enacted some "enhancements you will like" there also was language that supposedly changed the conditions I set forth in the previous paragraph. But, since I am not currently in the market for a new car, I have not looked into it anymore.

Does anyone know "for real" what is required and what is exempted? Only then will we know what's going on ... and only then do we know what might be a bargaining chip.

It's not so much what the regulations require as what they allow. Previously, minimums weren't permitted by the CC companies. The regulations now allow, but don't require, merchants to set a minimum as long as it doesn't exceed $10.

CC companies have long prohibited credit card surcharges but permitted cash discounts. An essentially meaningless distinction as merchants just said "that's the discounted cash price, the undiscounted credit price is 3% higher".

So the bottom line is it really still varies by merchant.

But if there is a difference in cash price and credit card price, that must be posted.

Also this thread should be of help as well:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...edit-card.html

Even after we reached a deal, at pick-up time six months ago the dealer let me put an extra $5,000 on a card, on top of another $5,000 which was their limit by "policy." Never hurts to ask and I met minimum spend on two cards that way.