Mini dealer not taking large card payments

James_Blonde

I'm finding something very odd with this, but it could be that the rules have changed since I last bought a car with cash, so thought I'd run it past here....

We put a deposit on a used Mini at the weekend (credit card), with the intention of paying the majority in cash (~8K), 1.5K as trade in, and the rest on a 0% credit card, which we have successfully applied for.

At the time, the dealer mentioned that they needed the money for the car 2 days up front, and that the best option was to do a bank transfer. Hmm.... ok..... I've done this in the past using a card, but OK....

We called them today to see if we could get the delivery date for the car put back whilst we wait for the card to be delivered. The salesman told us at that point that they no longer take payments over £2000 on cards of any kind - credit or debit.

As I said, this is a main Mini dealer

Why am I feeling uneasy about this? Should I be? It all seems very odd... I mean cash buying a car can't be so unusual, surely? Or is this down to changes in anti-money laundering regulations or something? (but then why would a bank transfer be any different?)

AndyMc.....

Bank transfer means no fees for the dealer.

A_Nice_Englishman

Last year I bought a new car at a main dealer, paying a £250 (I think) deposit by credit card and the balance of the price by debit card when I took delivery a few weeks later. The salesman suggested this as the preferred way to do it.

I can see that paying £10,000 + on a credit card might not be popular with the dealer as the %age charge would be in the hundreds of pounds but debit cards are normally a fixed fee.

daveyjp

Considering how over priced Minis are for what they offer its petty a dealer won't stand a few quid fees for paying by card.

I've used debit card for my last 4-5 purchases and no issue, even with a 5 figure balance to pay debit card was readily accepted.

Paradigm

I bought my latest car on a 0% credit card, the dealer charged me a 2% fee to cover his costs.

EdGasketTheSecond

Perhaps they are fed up with charge-backs when things go wrong. With cash or bank transfer you won't get your money back so easily.

James_Blonde

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

Perhaps they are fed up with charge-backs when things go wrong. With cash or bank transfer you won't get your money back so easily.

That's one thing I was concerned about, but they took a credit card deposit and will take £2K from the credit card, which is more than enough for Section 75, which we've used to claim back a faulty car purchase in past. So it must purely be to avoid credit or debit charges, but seems churlish, and more than a little odd, to not accept them at all for anything over £2K!

missile

I am surprised they will take £2K on a credit card. Pretty much all dealers will take CC payment for deposit but want a Bank Transfer for the balance.

Car_54

missile wrote: »

Pretty much all dealers ... want a Bank Transfer for the balance.

Is that a new thing in the past six months?

I've paid for my last five cars by debit card.

missile

OP wanted to pay by credit card.

If you pay by BACS transfer it is safer, cheaper, easier and more convenient for the dealer.

motorguy

daveyjp wrote: »

Considering how over priced Minis are for what they offer its petty a dealer won't stand a few quid fees for paying by card.

I've used debit card for my last 4-5 purchases and no issue, even with a 5 figure balance to pay debit card was readily accepted.

A say, £10K balance on credit card would envoke a charge of £200ish for the dealer.