Why can I only pay £500 off a £16,000 car brought at the car shop

mandy_67

Why can I not pay a bigger lump sum on my credit card to a car shop

jay1804

Because of the fees that the dealer has to pay

Neil49

Because the credit card company charges them a percentage of the amount put through. If they take 2% on £16000 then that is over £300

JGB1955

Because of the processing fees they will have to pay.

The average credit card processing cost for a retail business where cards are swiped is roughly 1.95% – 2%.  They may be willing to absorb the £10 on your £500 deposit but the £320 on the £16K is a step too far.

Hasbeen

Perhaps when you push the trolley with your car in it to the till. The shop has a maximum limit you can spend on a card.  

Why not ask the "car shop" about processing fees that they have to pay?

D3xt3r5L4b

mandy_67 said:

Why can I not pay a bigger lump sum on my credit card to a car shop

What did the car shop say?

mandy_67

Thankyou everyone

kaMelo

Maybe I'm being thick but I thought credit card fees were capped at 0.3%?
Certainly the last two cars we've bought were paid in full on credit cards with no issues. They generated a decent chunk of cashback too.

unforeseen

Since they are no longer allowed to have a different price for a CC purchase they can decide an upper limit to control their card company costs. 

MallyGirl

kaMelo said:

Maybe I'm being thick but I thought credit card fees were capped at 0.3%?
Certainly the last two cars we've bought were paid in full on credit cards with no issues. They generated a decent chunk of cashback too.

Total card fees are not capped at 0.3% - interchange fees are, but that is just a part of overall merchant service charges. Fees are based on a contractual deal related to volume and value of transactions expected - Sainsburys would pay less than a local cornershop for the same value transaction because of the amount of business they are putting through. Fees can be per item, ad valorem or a combination of the 2 and some are much higher than 0.3%.

dr_adidas01

kaMelo said:

Maybe I'm being thick but I thought credit card fees were capped at 0.3%?
Certainly the last two cars we've bought were paid in full on credit cards with no issues. They generated a decent chunk of cashback too.

It depends on the dealer some will let you pay the whole amount via credit card without issue others won't especially if they are a small dealership and will be charged hefty fees by the card processor.  Some dealers or places won't accept Amex because of the higher fees they have to pay for Amex card processing.