When I bought my Jeep I was allowed to put $2.5K on my HH Amex and $2.5K on my Cit AA Debit MC with no surcharge. They were not happy about it but I made it clear it was a deal breaker and that I was sure another dealership would allow it if they did not.

Peace!

I bought my Accord, using a credit union negotiated pricing scheme, and was able to put 10% on the CC without much debate (this was before I found FT), plus they also let me do the 1% deposit (it was the 1st year of the model and an unusual configuration, so it had to be ordered and imported from Japan).

Steve

Just bought a Hyundai SUV. They let me charge up to $5k on my cc and the rest by personal check. They did say that I could pay the whole amount with the cc checks but this is the same as a cash advance with the high fee and interest. I just charged the $5k.

Top up your CC
 

The first new car I bought ythey only let me put $5k on my cc. I put my entire second new car onto my cc. My limit was high but not high enough so I loaded my cc with cash a couple of days before the intended purchase. It worked. Now in dealing with the dealership I phoned them and told them what I wanted to do. They said probably, come in and talk about it. I said no, decide now, I'm not coming in unless you say yes to the cc thing. I called back 15 minutes later and they said they would do it.

Mucho points!

Cheers,
Shane

Will American Express double the warranty period on a vehicle if I put the purchase price on my card?

IIRC, all creditcards exclude auto warranty coverage when using creditcard as payments (or have a cap on it). You can double check the terms that comes with the card.

I always put as large a deposit as the dealership will allow on my card, typically $2000. Since I like their service department and use them for routine maintenance, I don't push the issue. More impto me is the ability to negotiate a really god deal upfront without regard to method of payment.

Volvo dealership wewent to in Feb would only allow about $2500+ on a card so I put that on 3 dif cards and got miles on 3 dif places. I used this for the downpayment and then later paid them off with cash.

:)MM

I was allowed to only put 5k down on my last car.

Next time I'll try for more.

With this, you have to understand that this is a cost for the dealer. If they are willing to accept a CC payment for the whole car, that is another 1.5-3% they are going to lose on the sale.

The way the new car market is right now, a good negotiator would be dealing with 3-4% over true dealer cost anyways so that doesnt leave much to play with.

On the other hand, if you walk in and pay close to MSRP, then it shouldnt be a problem ;).

My folks just bought a new car and were told they could only put $3K for free - any more than that and they would add 3%.
Is that legal? Do the CC "rules" say anything about that?

If you are in a postion to negotiate, then NEGOTIATE HARD. By position I mean the following:

Great credit score
Big downpayment
not upside down on your trade in

I just bought a 2008 VW Touareg2 and they refused to negotiate the MSRP, but I did not pay sales tax and they paid my last 3 payments on my SAAB lease (approx $1450). So not a bad deal. But I have a credit score of over 750 and was ready to sign if they did the numbers right. I got approx $4500 off on a brand new model year car.

But be perpared to walk away if they do not agree...

The rules, specifically the merchant agreement the dealer signed in order to be able to take the credit card, forbid it. The dealers know that (a) most people aren't aware of that; (b) some of those who are aware of it don't want to risk souring their dealer relationship; and (c) they can probably come up with a way to call off the deal, or get the customer to call it off, if someone insists on their right to use one and that turns the deal into a losing proposition overall.

Dealing with the dealers
 

I knew that when I had pushed them to take the cc for the whole car and they asked where I would have it serviced before agreeing to take cc for the whole purchase, I had pushed as hard as I could. They were estenitally selling car for the servicing and the increase in volume.

..... Shane

If a dealer won't allow me to purchase the car with the CC and without paying the extra 3% it won't be long before I have my CC issuer investigating them. If they decide to accept credit cards in the sales department they MUST accept it for the FULL payment of the car...NO excuses.

I hate to read that some of you have been taken advantage of when trying to purchase a car. I've been told by some dealerships that they didn't accept any CC payment and that's fine, but those who told me they would accept a certain amount and no more were prompty educated as to what their merchant agreement says.

My most recent vehicle purchases came to a total of $112,346.53 and every penny of that was charged to my card.

Don't be fooled by the salespeople...they rarely know what they're talking about when it comes to the car...nevermind their merchant agreement.