[MARFONG]

Does anyone know if dealers are required to accept credit cards for full payment of a new vehicle purchase? Are they obligated to accept credit card for the full purchase price if the consumer chooses to use it or is it up to the dealer?

I would like to use my credit cards because of the rebates of 1 to 1.5% available on my cards. ( I am able to pay off the total balance each month). Most dealers limit the amount that can be charged on credit cards to $3-5K. Are they allowed to set limits?

I feel that I'm paying full price(MSRP) for the MDX and extra for added accessories without any discounts for anything...so why can't I choose the method of payment as long as the dealer gets his money?

 

[GCK]

It costs the dealerships 2% to accept the credit cards. I do not believe that the deaerships have specific rules for specific cars. The limit on credit card transactions is probably the same with the purchase of any car. When I bought mine, I was able to put $6000 on my CC ($5000+$1000 deposit).

Good Luck. Which N.Cal dealer are you working with?

 

[Guest]

My dealer in Northern Virginia was willing to take the full purchase price of the vehicle (about $38,000) on a credit card. I was thinking about negotiating for a loan at the time but then I decided to pay cash and used a certified bank check instead. I guess its up to the dealer what form of payment they will take. Why don't you ask your dealer and find out? Anything is possible if both parties agree to it. I'm sure it's not mandatory that a dealer accept a credit card at all. Just a convenient way to help customers pay for a vehicle at a dealer's discretion.

 

[baxter]

I don't know what the situation is concerning whether or not dealers have to accept credit cards, but we used credit cards to purchase our 'X by simply calling the card's 800 number and getting cash. This is not a cash advance, but rather more like a balance transfer, and the APR's that we got were much better than any loan we could have gotten from a bank or conventional loan. Since then, we have taken advantage of all the offers we get for low rates from the different credit cards we own to do balance transfers for low or no interest. When the introductory period is over, we simply move the money to another card. My wife taught me this trick. I would not have believed it was possible. It is also very scary to think that she can put that much money on a credit card, but there you go.

 

[MDXMom]

My dealer had a set limit for CC purchase, as well - $3-4K. As stated before, it cost them money. My dealer took a personal check instead - didn't even have to be guaranteed... I guess they figured they knew where to find me...

 

[rosewil]

I bought MDX '02 in Illinois(Chicago area). Maximum CC payment was $2000 only.

 

[ghost]

I went in with a bank check made out to the dealership, strategically under MSRP (I was young and foolish). I planned to pick up the difference on my card, but ended up maxing that out and had to go dig out a personal check.

By the time I was done, I was looking around for loose change in my pockets, but finally managed to scrape it all together...

No hassles on the card, put about 3K on it.

 

[RedMdxMemphis]

Take advantage of the Credit Card loan

Credit card companines charge merchants such as the car dealers fees for accepting credit card. However, the percentage, which is called discount rate, range from 2 to 4 percents. American Express is the highest one I know.

Why would your dealer pay such a rate say 2.5% of the whole amount so that you can get your cash rebate? The answer is they won't. They won't do it with the full amount. They will do it *if* you pay the discount rate for them to run through this transaction. You are not gonna win on this.

Dealers do take a small portion such as a few thousands of dollars maximum if that is what it takes to do the deal. If they do that, they probably would find a way to charge you $$ for their effort.

I did take advantage of a credit card's special money transfer, zero transaction fee, zero interest for six months special promotion to get a portion of car money. That beats the bank's car financing for the short term. If I haven't paid it off by then, I can always go with a new car financing on my balance.

Check out this type of deals with your credit cards. However, make sure you can pull out (pay off) before they hit you with a 12%+ credit card loan. You can win if you can make up with your own deal. Otherwise, be safe with a regular car financing.

 

[gman06897]

Just got my "X". The dealer suggested this site. I wish I would have known about it sooner.
Anyways, my dealer allowed 10k on a cc.

 

[whealy]

CC %

Actually I’ve always heard that the percentage that the retailer (dealer in this case) has to pay is 5% on a Visa or Master Card and 7% on a Discover. They don’t want to loose this money so they limit the amount of the transaction from a credit card perspective. So while you can make the 1 – 1.5%, the dealer is loosing more than that. Also, the larger Discover percentage is the reason why some stores still do not accept Discover.

 

[BorisSWort]

I would caution anyone using the method Baxter uses of getting new credit cards with low interest rate introductory periods. Although this method can work, it will hurt your FICO score which can hurt you if intend to take out another loan, especially a mortgage. A low FICO score will make it harder to get a decent mortgage rate, and can also raise your car insurance rates.

 

[baxter]

ummmmmm. I am sure you know more about this than I do, but we just refinanced one of our two homes since doing this, and I have been of the opinion that our insurance rates are very good. They seem to be lower with the X and our second car than it was before. But we appreciate your thoughts and certainly don't want to advise anyone to do anything that would be harmful.

 

[rosewil]

If the dealers do not want cc they should give us 50% of the cc charge they are supposed to pay to the cc co. There should be some negotiation.

I think it is our right to use the payment method, (cc/financing/check). I paid (only $2000/limit cc) for my mdx.

They should accept our cc or negotiate.

Any other thougts?

 

[Foxbat]

Re: Take advantage of the Credit Card loan

I did take advantage of a credit card's special money transfer, zero transaction fee, zero interest for six months special promotion to get a portion of car money. That beats the bank's car financing for the short term. If I haven't paid it off by then, I can always go with a new car financing on my balance.

From what I heard, if you didn't get a car loan at the time you buy the car or within certain days of purchase, you can't get the a 'new' car financing any more. You can only get a 'used' car financing for it. I've no idea what's the difference with new and used car financing.

I did the opposite in the past twice, i.e. use my credit card to pay off the car loan with zero interest and zero transaction fee. And then paid off the credit card after like 6-month of introductary period.

Foxbat

 

[Fireblade6]

Credit Card purchase.

I had an introductory offer of 2.9 percent on my platinum Visa. I did not have the money saved up to pay for the MDX in cash so what I did was I charged the entire amount on my card. Paid the interest accrued on the purchase each month to the card and them the minimum balance required by the card. By year end....I just wrote one check and paid off the card with the money saved up so that I will not pay for the high interest rates of 13 % where the card was going to be after a year.

It worked out excellent. Better than Dealer finance or Honda Motor Corp Finance.

 

[Markedoc]

>>From what I heard, if you didn't get a car loan at the time you buy the car or within certain days of purchase, you can't get the a 'new' car financing any more. You can only get a 'used' car financing for it. I've no idea what's the difference with new and used car financing. <<

You can use some sources, like AAA, for car loans - they categorize their rates by model year. For example, finance a 2001 or 2002 auto from 36 - 60 months for 4.99%. Doesn't matter if the car is new or used - I used them to purchase a used BMW a few years ago.

 

[MARFONG]

credit card

fireblade6

Did the dealer permit you to charge the total amount of the MDX on your credit card or was it part of the total? (hard to believe a dealer would let you charge over $40k on a credit card).

BTW, how's the wait time for a MDX in the San Diego area? and are some of them still charging over MSRP? I'm in No. Cal.

 

[RedMdxMemphis]

.. But we appreciate your thoughts and certainly don't want to advise anyone to do anything that would be harmful.

It is not harmful if you can manage credit and pay off the money before the big interest rate hit you. That is where the credit card companies make money. THEY ARE BETTING ON YOU NOT ABLE TO PAY OFF THE BALANCE. If you can prove them wrong, take advantage of the system.

The number 1 advice in family finance is to avoid high interet. If you are paying, say, 15% interest, while trying to gain something like 10% from investment or pittyful 2% from bank interest, you would be in a no-win situation.