Don't car dealer's accept credit card/cheque?

almahadeus

My husband is in the process of buying a car from Toyota. The local dealer rang today to ask how we would be paying the £9000. My husband told him by credit card in full (because we want to get 1% cashback, and we can afford to pay off the credit card balance before interest is charged). He complained that they get charged 2% for that.

So my husband (kindly in my opinion) offered him cheque to which he complained it would take 10 days to clear and we couldn't take the car away until then even though we paid the £1000 deposit already.

Then my husband offered to transfer the money direct to the dealer bank account and he complained about that too (can't understand the excuse for that one)!

Then my husband offered to pay by debit card on the day we pick up the car, and he complained that in his experience sometimes people tried to do that but didn't have the funds ready in the account and they couldn't collect the car because this failed. In the end he seemed to reluntantly accept this method but I am annoyed because I want to pay by credit card to get the cashback!

Is it normal for a major dealer like Toyota to be so difficult with payment? Do most of them not accept credit card?

wazza

From my experience garages prefer direct debit and cash because this way the transaction is legit. By accepting a cheque they have to wait for it to clear and will not release the car therefore taking up space in the lot. credit card they have no way of knowing if its stolen. if it is stolen credit card then i think they have to bear the loss. with bankers draft they sometimes wait for it to clear to release the car straight away.

fatboyonadiet

I've tried credit card in the past and they don't like it, because of the charge they get. They don't have a problem with debit card though, or bankers draft. Maybe it's too short notice now, but maybe it could have been worth getting the Halifax cashback current account (don't know the full details). HTH.

joe13

Earlier this year I purchased a car from Honda, they let me pay 15% by credit card I had asked to pay full amount by CC. The balance was with a debit card.

If they let you pay the deposit by CC they may not be willing to let you pay any more on the card because as you stated they will be charged 2%

Paul_the_Painter

There should be no problem with a debit card, for **ds sake I bought my house with a debit card, well 30% of it, also bought a 10k smart forfour on one last year, just ring your bank beforhand to let them know that a transaction for x thousand will be going through and the dealer won't even have to ring up for an authorisation

almahadeus

Thanks everyone, I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to play the cashback credit card game with this one, debit card it is then.

Bossyboots

When I bought my car earlier this year the dealer let me pay the deposit by credit card without charge but said if I wanted to pay the balance that way I would also have to pay an additional 2% as that is what it would cost them.

He was quite happy for me to pay by debit card but in the end, as we have bought several cars from this dealer over the years, they said they would deliver it free and I could pay by cheque.

Altarf

almahadeus wrote:

My husband told him by credit card in full (because we want to get 1% cashback, and we can afford to pay off the credit card balance before interest is charged). He complained that they get charged 2% for that.

If you paid the 2% I am sure that they would have taken it.

almahadeus wrote:

So my husband (kindly in my opinion) offered him cheque to which he complained it would take 10 days to clear and we couldn't take the car away until then even though we paid the £1000 deposit already.

So you wanted to take the car away before the cheque cleared? I can't see that happening

almahadeus wrote:

Then my husband offered to transfer the money direct to the dealer bank account and he complained about that too (can't understand the excuse for that one)!

Probably the difficulty of matching the money received to the payment due, and people not understanding that funds still take 3 days to clear unless sent by CHAPS.

almahadeus wrote:

Then my husband offered to pay by debit card on the day we pick up the car, and he complained that in his experience sometimes people tried to do that but didn't have the funds ready in the account and they couldn't collect the car because this failed.

Obviously something that the dealer has experienced in the past and probably led to arguments.

creditcardking_2

I purchased a car from a dealer and the CC fee was just 1%, they allowed me to pay by credit card and they absorbed the fee. If they didn't then I would have found a dealer that would have.

researcher

If you are going to use your debit card ring up your bank in advance and let them know, otherwise they are likely to refuse payment if it is an unusual transaction on your account.

Most garages only accept credit cards if you pay the 2% - if they do accept then you haven't beaten them down enough on the car price!

One method acceptable by some garages is the credit card cheque - but you need to negotiate in advance with the credit card company for a free or maximum £50 fee.

I've used each of these methods purchasing my last 3 cars.

Wig

Altarf wrote:

Obviously something that the dealer has experienced in the past and probably led to arguments.

But never the less the dealer should have made it clear, "you are welcome to pay by that method as long as you know you will not get the car if the payment doesn't clear, We have found this usually to be because people don't make sure the money is in the account and available." Maybe he did.

OP you don't have a right to pay by CC Everything we buy is artificially price hiked (with the exception of things like cars where the price is negotiated) because so many people do pay by CC, but the ones who pay in cash, are not allowed a discount!!!