Buying a new car by credit card

VfM4meplse

This is just a musing - I was looking at the limit on one of my credit cards, and thinking that it would easily cover the cost of nice new car from a showroom.

I've bought 3 brand new cars outright in the past, (1995, 1998 and 2001), and recall that none of the dealerships would accept credit card for either the deposit or balance, and all insisted on bankers drafts / secure e-transfer in the case of the last one.

Has this changed? I use my ccs for everything else - I only ever buy what I can afford as I am loathe to pay interest on any transaction - apart from keeping my savings in my account for longer, the cc protection offered is a real incentive to use a card. I did see on another thread that it was recommended that a small deposit was made by cc, which would offer protection, but I am wondering whether dealerships will generally accept full payment by credit cards these days?

TIA

luci

It will depend on the dealership, but most charge a % for using a credit card, 3% was the last rate I heard.

Premier_2

Hmmm... as above poster says it will depend on the garage.

But most main dealers would happily take payment by credit card (often for a small fee nowadays)

I bought a brand new car in 1994 and used my credit card to pay for it and that dealer didn't charge a fee at the time (and no it wasn't hidden in the agreed price as the price was agreed before we agreed terms of payment). Didn't pay any deposit back then either.
Oh, happy days

Edit: You can usually avoid the fees by paying with a debit card rather than a credit card.
If you are buying a brand new car, there's not much that can go wrong ... apart from in the very rare instance of a dealership going bust between you paying a deposit and actually receiving the car, so be careful who you pay a deposit to and how much you pay as a deposit.