Has anyone successfully charged a new car to a credit card for the rewards points?

[Ametista]

Clearly we'd pay it off immediately, so no interest involved. I've been doing much research on this online, and it looks like it IS possible as Visa and Mastercard do not allow their merchants to limit transactions per their merchant agreements. Once I have the deal hammered out on my new car, how do I insist that they allow me to charge it? Do I just get up and walk out or what? I'm not emotionally invested in the new car...there is always another deal. The icing on the cake would be the rewards points for the purchase tho. Thanks!

I don't know. I just bought my Subaru with my Visa for that reason, I hope they don't limit my points!!!!

 

[dsneprincess]

I know my friend paid for her new car with her Visa for the miles offered. Dealership let her put $28k through & she got miles. Another friend charged inground pool for miles & got upwards of $150k when all was said & done.

 

[Brer Shay]

The limit vary by dealer and by what company they use as a credit card processor. You can negotiate all you want, but if their contract with their processor limits them to 3K per transaction per day, they don't have the option to do something differently.

 

[scard192]

1) Every dealership is different.
2) There is a simple reason.
3) It costs the dealership money.
4) The dealer PAYS to use the credit card.
. . . VISA/MasterCard = 2.1%-2.5%
. . . Amer Express = $4.4%-6.5%
5) They have to make it up somehow
. . . reduce the profit
. . . reduce the salesman commission
. . . increase the car price
. . . reduce the trade-in allowance

The very reason I was surprised that they let me us my credit card. I had an appointment at the dealer to finalize the pricing and I assumed I would come back a few days later with my checkbook to pay the downpayment. Instead, 2-3 hours later I drove off with my new car having only paid 1/2 of the down payment and not turning over the title to my trade in (it was at home).

 

[kiki02]

WE did. the dealer let us pay for most of it (not all) with a cc.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

My DH just did this for an $8k motorcycle. They charged him 2% more but he still came out ahead with the airline points.

 

[Darcy03231]

When we bought my car the dealership only let us charge $5,000 of it.

 

[cvjw]

Bought a new SUV 2 months ago, and the dealership only let us charge $3500 on our credit card. I guess it just varies by dealership.

 

[hops&dreams]

My parents did when I was in high school. The put the whole thing on a CC just for the points, and used the points from that to pay toward my dad's car that they also purchased at the same dealership within a couple of months. This was right before GM limited the amount of points you can use toward the purchase of a vehicle. (they really used it to their advantage and put EVERYTHING through that GM card - private school tuition for me and my sister and college tuitions... they used points to get my sister's whole car when she graduated college!)

Also, keep in mind that if you pay cash, they may give you a "cash discount", but if you pay with a credit card, they may not be as willing to deal, as they will have to pay the credit card transaction fees, so they won't see as much profit as they would if you were to write them a check outright.

 

[Pooh2]

Eight years ago, we charged the full $25,000. Same dealer three years ago had a limit of $2,000 on credit cards.

 

[AnnaS]

We have bought a few cars over the years - ours and my two sons. Different dealers of course - they have only allowed us to charge a few thousand. I thought maybe they were trying to cover themselves so people don't leave and change their minds about the purchase

 

[sharonmickey]

When DD bought her first car 18 months ago we charged 6,000 to my Disney Visa. She and her husband bought a car again in November, this time they went to a different dealership. This dealership refused to take a credit card.

 

[3boymthr]

Did that get you rewards points though? I did consider using "special offer" checks if the dealership wouldn't take the credit card directly. Don't know if you get rewards points on those tho??

This was a while ago so I have to say I honestly don't remember. I'd say read the terms on the checks and also call the CC company to ask them. It's certainly worth a shot.

I do remember that the dealership tried to talk us out of it and to take a loan. We told them take the check or no deal as we weren't paying 8.5% when we could pay 0%.

 

[davedmaine]

Clearly we'd pay it off immediately, so no interest involved. I've been doing much research on this online, and it looks like it IS possible as Visa and Mastercard do not allow their merchants to limit transactions per their merchant agreements. Once I have the deal hammered out on my new car, how do I insist that they allow me to charge it? Do I just get up and walk out or what? I'm not emotionally invested in the new car...there is always another deal. The icing on the cake would be the rewards points for the purchase tho. Thanks!

The dealership doesn't want to do it because they'd get hit with a huge merchant services bill for the transaction

 

[SamSam]

The dealership doesn't want to do it because they'd get hit with a huge merchant services bill for the transaction

This is it. When a credit card is used, the merchant pays a fee for that. It varies depending on what company they run their car charges through but it can be a pretty good hit to them.

 

[taaren]

As others have said, most dealerships have non-negotiable limits on what they will accept for CC. When we bought DH's car it was $5k. The dealership I bought mine from only allowed us to charge $2k, but they made a deal with me where they gave me the car I wanted for about $800 less than any deal another dealership offered me (it was pretty darn close to invoice/destination fee/tax/licensing, not much profit for them other than the factory kick back).

 

[windycitymom]

We just bought a VW Passat and the dealer said $2000 was the limit we could put on a cc. Looking back maybe I should have negotiated to put more on a cc. Instead, I wrote a $8000 check.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Don't forget to ask your insurance agent if you can charge your premiums to your CC. Allstate does!.

 

[mrspaha]

We bought a car last year, and were only able to put $2,000 on our credit card. My daughter also bought a car last year, and they wouldn't let her put any of her down payment on a credit card.

 

[zurgswife]

Another person with only 2K allowed here.