Your posts above do not seem consistent to me. I would be surprised if any dealer EVER said to MC or VISA "Go ahead and pull my right to take credit cards, it's really no huge deal to me. I am not going to sell this guy a car if he wants to put it all on a card." Nobody who has ever posted on this board has ever had the experience of a dealer who let their agreement be pulled so far as I can tell. That would prevent him from accepting cards for down payments on future car sales as well as for parts and service if they are the same entity, as you seem to concede in your later post. Likewise a dealer is contractually obligated not to charge you the 2% or 3% MC or VISA fee.

As we have said many times, you may not want to make an issue of it and eat into his profit margin. But by signing up for the card and risking interest, annual fees and late fees, you are contractually entitled to certain benefits and if you negotiate your best price, contact VISA or MC if the dealer then refuses, VISA or MC will go to bat for you and get you the car at the agreed upon price and the miles.

Post 14 clearly says the dealer may or may not accept credit cards, but if he does he must accept the card as payment in full. That's all we have been saying for years.

Even if the parts & service dept's are separate from sales, I don't think a sales dept. would risk losing the ability to take credit cards (MC/Visa). In these credit obsessed times too many people use them for down payments, deposits, partial payments etc. (like if they don't have enough cash for the down on their already jacked up dealer financing). They wouldn't be able to do business.

So few car buyers try to put an entire car on their CC. If many did, dealerships would either a) stop accepting credit card payments, b) start building the CC fee into the price or c) manufacturers would start offering a "CC fee holdback" into the invoice price. If they don't do "b" or "c", dealerships won't wait for customers to have the CC merchant agreement pulled...they'll do "a" themselves. However, since so few customers do try to put the entire purchase on their CC, the decision to accept such payment is much more weighted by accepting a sale for a loss and making it up with quota/CSR bonuses rather than the fear of having their merchant agreement pulled. Since so few buyers cut into their profit margins with a complete CC purchase, they'll almost always go along and take the sale. This is why you never hear of a dealer getting their merchant agreement pulled.

If a finance manager gives you the runaround with CC limits and you don't want to play kevinsac's game of leaving the dealership and having them sweat a lost sale, don't break out the "I'll threaten to have your merchant agreement pulled" card. Instead, break out the "I'll nail you on the CSR if we don't close this today" card. Or break out both, but the latter one will get the deal closed much faster than the former.

Regards,
Chris

I have a close friend that worked as a finance manager for a handful of dealerships for well over a decade. He said that accepting partial payments on CCs wasn't about placating the credit-obsessed society, but rather to ensure a sale by someone who forgot their checkbook for the down payment. So many deals go bad when a customer is allowed to leave the dealership to go home and get their checkbook.

Also, if a customer has to put a partial payment on a credit card and is extended for credit, they'll likely need dealer financing from the finance manager. A poor credit report more often than not will show and the finance manger may not be able to offer an affordable loan which means no sale anyway.

Taking CC payments helps the sales department close in certain situations, but is not critical.

Regards,
Chris

It's not a game :rolleyes: and it's proven to work. Further, I make sure they do not sweat a lost sale....I make it very clear to them that the sale will be finalized the next day, once the owner or legal counsel call to invite me back in again.

I usually get 30-50,000 points per sale. But best deal was about 3 yrs ago, when United and Jeep partnered. I bought the Cherokee....and then got 70,000 bonus points on top of it! At that time, 100,000 was still an award in F most anywhere on *A! ^

I didn't mean "game" in a derisive manner. Just a blanket term to the entire car buying process, like how haggling (a legit part of the car buying process) is part of the car-buying game. Your tactic is part of the game.

Regards,
Chris

I bought a new car about 10 days ago and put just over $3K on my miles card. They didn't blink an eye. The rest was financed, but since they gave me a 0% APR I didn't have much incentive to put a larger down payment on the card (other than the miles). We just bought our first home three days ago, so we wanted more cash on hand for home related expenses.

perhaps makes sense to call ones CC company ahead and ask whether dealer's sales department accepts CC (or better yet get it in written, fax/letter)?

If proven they have CC contract and sign car purchase agreement, I do not see any way out for them...

On other hand, if one signs an agreement with dealership and late finds it doesn't accept CC (even if its separately structured service department does), then I don't see way out from such contract for a customer as well...

But donut and Red Bull sales will boom.

About that 2% --

1) Why so high? Didn't Costco offer a merchant agreement that's 1.57% + $.30/transaction? I'm sure that's changed, but don't high-volume merchants like auto dealers get a better rate?

2) If it came down to it, paying 2% to the dealer might work out fine if you have a good rebate, possibly including a promo, AND -- if timed right -- up to 50 days free interest. You could also negotiate this -- start by offering nothing, threaten to off the deal and complain to CC issuer, finally offering, say 1%. Reluctantly ("I shouldn't have to do this, you're not allowed to charge ANY CC fee . . . ")

Getting Miles for a Car Purchase
 

I just bought a new car, and attempted to use a miles earning credit card for the purchase. I think a thread could contain a great amount of information if we stick to the following format.

1. In the Title Line, simply list the City and State where the Dealership or Dealerships that you negotiated with are located. It may be best to use a Metropolitan Area Listing rather than a particular city name in many cases. For example, I spoke with dealers in both West Allis and Waukesha, WI, but since both are in the Milwaukee metropolitan area, I will simply use Milwaukee WI as the location on the title line.

2. In the body of the posting, list the name of the dealership and your luck in getting them to accept payment (either partial or full) on a credit card for a new (or used) car purchase.

My initial posting will follow shortly. Over time, we could hopefully build up a data base of dealerships who will accept greater amounts of credit card payment towards auto purchases to help make the process of purchasing a car easier for those of us who try to maximize the amount of miles generated by such purchases. Some dealerships might even be tempted to post their policies here. Then, by simply using the search mode on this thread for your city and state, you could locate dealerships in your area that are more agreeable to accepting larger amounts on credit cards towards aitomotive purchases. (Mods, if you think this should be made into a sticky or appear in a different forum such as SPAM, feel free to move it there.)

Milwaukee WI
 

1. Arrow Hyundai - West Allis, WI - Initial negotiation indicated that they would accept up to $2000.00 on a credit card against the purchase of an auto. However, as part of the negotiations for the purchase, we were able to get the dealership to agree to accept $4000.00 as a credit card payment. We dealt with Dan Clikeman, Internet Sales Manager, Arrow Hyundai, 414-329-3100, www.arrowhyundai.com who initially agreed to the $2000.00 limit. We also spoke with his father, David Clikeman, General Manager of the Dealership who approved the increase to the $4000.00 limit.

2. Boucher Hyundai - Waukesha, WI - The Internet Sales Manager for the Dealership indicated their policy is that they will not accept credit card payment for any portion of a new auto purchase.

Northern Virginia (Washington, DC metro)
 

Fairfax Honda - Fairfax, VA - initially would only allow $2500 on a credit card, but allowed us to do $3000 since we were adding about $500 in accessories to the vehicle. We asked to do $5500 but finance manager mentioned 3% fees, etc. So we put the remainder ($2500) on a debit card but he still ran it as credit. Leads me to believe he could have gone higher on the AMEX.. oh well.

This dealer also participated in the American Express auto buying program (highly recommend, btw) which specifically states the dealer will accept AMEX for payment - interestingly the site FAQ states they will accept a minimum of $2000 but to contact the dealer to determine the max amount accepted - I thought they couldn't set a max?

I was able to put 7500 down at a Mercedes dealership in February. Dont know if I couldve put the entire amount on their bkz I financed the rest, but it was the salepersons idea to use my cc, he said this was I could get FFP. Maybe he was a FTer?

Buying car.. Tips on getting the most miles/points
 

Looking to buy a car worth about $40k, I'm looking to put about $15k down on it at least.

Sign up bonus with American Express, then charge the car. Or the same on Chase.

See also:

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

Northern Virginia (DC Area)
 

Pohanka Lexus in Chantilly, VA

Up to 5k on a major credit card.

Dealer accepted $9000 on CC
 

There's an easy way out - they simply refuse to take the credit card! The merchant agreement is between the merchant and Visa (or Mastercard, etc) - the consumer does not have standing to challenge or enforce that agreement. If Visa wants to allow a merchant to violate the agreement (and in my experience they have explicitly told me this), they are free to do so.

So, yes, merchant agreements generally allow NO minimum or maximum purchase limits to be required by the merchant (try enforcing that next time you're at a Mom & Pop liquor store with a "$5 minimum on Credit Card"!). But, NO, you can't make them stick to that.

That being said, I ordered a new Porsche last month and the dealer said, "I'll need 10% down - will that be cash, check, or credit card?" And I put $9K on my credit card without them batting an eye. So, it depends on the dealer.

Sure they can. And there's nothing you can do about it. What are you going to do - sue? It would be thrown out because you are not a party to the merchant agreement. If Visa wants to let them violate the agreement, they can do so.

I'm glad you talked them into accepting your card, but they certainly didn't have to. The most you could've done is write a strongly worded letter to Visa, which they would have ignored.

I bought a car online - they took a 1k CC deposit. They didn't want to take more but I didn't really press them too hard - used a cashiers check for the rest of the DP and pre-approved financing for the rest. I did get outside financing for ~20 months rather than pay cash so I have the flexibility to pay utilizing manufactured spending techniques (VR, etc) to make the monthly payments or simply pay from my bank account. Works well since I'm able to hit spending minimums on new cards and not simply load up an existing card and further bolster my credit with an installment loan. No reason not to IMO with interest rates so low (and other investment opportunities)

Every dealer I have been to will take a deposit and up to 5k on a CC. that's it. and I pay the rest off with a check
Regardless if you are planning to pay it off at once, they still would not take it. They actually prefer if you finance.

$5000
 

We bought a new Lexus in May, and the dealer allowed $5000 on credit card and another $5000 on debit card. Worked great for us as we have the Suntrust Delta card.

For the balance due, I took out a loan and am paying it off in large lumps over about 6 months via Bluebird.

Got a used Tucson a few months back and paid 3k on CC then financed the rest so I can pay off with Bluebird. This has been very helpful in meetin multiple min spend requirements. In my mind, I'm getting more than the cost of the car in airline tickets and hotels.....does that count as a free car?!

Definitely a sweet deal if the car is reliable and the insurance cost isn't excessive.