mtofell

I'm shopping for a used car and was surprised to see on Autotrader you can pay up to 25K on a credit card. The option only comes up with a private party rather than a dealer. I have to think they stick it to the seller pretty good with the fees if/when a buyer uses this option. Has anyone actually pulled this off? The screenshot below is from the site and only comes up once you're under the info of a particular car.

steveholt

Some dealerships allow you to purchase some or all of a car with a credit card. Others will allow you to negotiate. I bought a used car from a dealership that allowed you to pay $1.5K on CC without a fee and anything else with an additional 5% fee. I wasn't interested in that, but I did talk them into letting me pay $5K without a fee and paid the rest with cash.

mtofell

Yeah, IIRC I was once able to put 1K down on a car at a dealer and I can understand that.. Dealer will pay $50... whatever. But 25K? I just don't see how any seller wants to pay the 3-5% "commission."

In a somewhat related situation, years ago I had some real estate agents approach my home inspection company with a deal where people would earn/use miles to buy their house and pay for related services (like my home inspection). The idea flew in the face of numerous industry rules/regs and ultimately fell flat. I just don't understand why any merchant selling larger dollar items (like cars) would ever agree to pay the huge fees. My average charge for a home inspection (often with some related services) is around $600 and it KILLS me to pay the 3% but I do it for the convenience. A 25K car? Hell no! And before anyone tries to tell me how to run my business, 90% of my customers use a credit card so I build in/assume the 3% as opposed to tacking it on as a fee. Basically, when I get a check or cash it's a bonus for me.

SPN Lifer

In June 1998 I bought a new 1998 pickup truck for a $20K check (pre-approved loan) from my credit union and $3.5K on my credit card.

mia

This is a recurring topic, though the most recent discussion was in 2015: Buy a car with a credit card?

angflyer

I had a dealership let me put 5k on a new car purchase. It's exceedingly rare for a dealership to allow you to put the entire purchase on a credit card. If AutoTrader lets you do it, then that's pretty cool, though anecdotally, buying cars from private sellers is a huge gamble and only really worth it if you or someone you know can do a proper inspection or if you personally know the person selling the car.

mtofell

Yeah, buying any used car is a gamble. I'd personally put a private seller willing to invite me to their home above some sleazy wholesale auto lot in terms of honesty. Used cars at branded lots (Toyota, Ford, etc.) are generally a safer bet as opposed to the no-brand used lots in crappy parts of town. Branded dealers really want no part of the problems that arise from selling bad cars and usually just auction them (and they end up at the no-brand/wholesale lots). I've got some friends in the car sales and autobody industry and am pretty comfortable minimizing my risk (not eliminating, of course). Although, I haven't bought anything but new cars for 20+ years so this is going to be interesting.

aahch

Not USA, but I bought two cars in the UK with a cc from two different dealers in the last 13 months, one was pre-owned at £14k, the other brand new at £99k … load of miles collected in the process too.