Purchase Car with 0% Credit Card

LibbyEJ13

Hi all, we planned to purchase a car on 0% credit card, as no interest, and will have the money sitting in our savings account until due to pay after 2 years (paying credit card monthly minimum payments until then). But I have contacted 6 dealerships and none will accept credit card and trying to get me to take finance (no benefit to us financially-  eg spend 12K on 0% credit card and 1.5K savings interest gained over 2 years) or their offer of 12K finance with 2K interest extra to pay over 3 year payment plan) 

So I am asking, has anyone recently purchased a car on credit card anywhere? Or is it a lost cause, I am happy to keep contacting places if maybe a small percentage accept them.

Rather have the money/savings sitting with us than pay for car finance. We have worked out we can save the 12K within 12months to clear credit card before due interest free period stops.

Thank you!

MrFrugalFever

Most will only accept up to £1k or £2k at best on Credit card. This is likely to do with the bank interchange fee's (much higher than debit card).

You could try a 0% money transfer card (watch out for the fee's to do it though), that way you could pay on debit card the remaining balance that can't be paid via CC.

Virgin Money, MBNA and a few others are currently offering reasonable money transfer deals.

Or.....you could save up and buy it when you have the money and not borrow (the true MSE way).

CliveOfIndia

The vast majority of dealers will refuse to accept a credit card for the full price, simply due to the fees they have to pay to the credit card company (which is a percentage of the transaction value).  In the olden days, most dealers would accept a card but pass the credit card fees on to you - they're not allowed to do this any more.

Most will accept a small deposit by card, which is worth doing so that you get S75 protection (although it's not a magic silver bullet that will protect you against every eventuality, you may as well take advantage of it if you can).

It may be worth investigating the terms of the dealership finance packages - since they get a commission for selling finance, you may be able to negotiate a contribution from then, then pay the finance off after a couple of months.  But you need to do the sums to see if it's financially advantageous to you (taking into account any early settlement penalties that may be imposed).

If you do happen to find a dealer willing to accept full payment by card, the cynical part of me would question whether they're over-pricing the car in the first place to cover the fees they'd have to pay.

cajef

Recently purchased a brand new car from a main dealer, they would only accept £500 deposit by credit card, the remainder by either bank transfer, debit card or cheque once it had cleared.

molerat

CliveOfIndia said:

The vast majority of dealers will refuse to accept a credit card for the full price, simply due to the fees they have to pay to the credit card company (which is a percentage of the transaction value).  In the olden days, most dealers would accept a card but pass the credit card fees on to you - they're not allowed to do this any more.

Some still will according to a few posts on here.

fergie_

I believe Arnold Clark will let you pay most, if not all by card.

born_again

LibbyEJ13 said:

Hi all, we planned to purchase a car on 0% credit card, as no interest, and will have the money sitting in our savings account until due to pay after 2 years (paying credit card monthly minimum payments until then). But I have contacted 6 dealerships and none will accept credit card and trying to get me to take finance (no benefit to us financially-  eg spend 12K on 0% credit card and 1.5K savings interest gained over 2 years) or their offer of 12K finance with 2K interest extra to pay over 3 year payment plan) 

So I am asking, has anyone recently purchased a car on credit card anywhere? Or is it a lost cause, I am happy to keep contacting places if maybe a small percentage accept them.

Rather have the money/savings sitting with us than pay for car finance. We have worked out we can save the 12K within 12months to clear credit card before due interest free period stops.

Thank you!

That is seriously limiting the cars you can purchase.

Far better to look for a car you want/like & take it from there.

End of the day a Money transfer card would allow you to put cash in your bank account & pay that way.

prettyandfluffy

I bought a Honda in July and managed to pay £5K on a 0% card.  I tried 3 dealerships and the others would only accept £1.5K by credit card.

SacredStephan

Cinch accept multiple credit and debit cards per transaction.

molerat

fergie_ said:

I believe Arnold Clark will let you pay most, if not all by card.

Debit card yes but not with a credit card.

PinstripePhantom

I've bought 3 cars in the last 4 years all on credit card. Granted they were all used cars from independent used car dealerships and slightly cheaper than what you're looking to buy. Wanted to use credit to take advantage of 0% on purchases or to transfer to 0% balance transfer cards so was looking out for where they said "all cards accepted" on autotrader

£1500 - Dodgy dealership... when I asked after test driving the car if I can pay by credit card (because they stated "all cards accepted") they said no so then I told them I'm not buying it, they quickly agreed to take credit card payment.

Since this first purchase I've decided I won't ask if credit card payment is okay if I buy a car in future.

£6000 - no issues with taking credit card payment, I didn't mention that I'm paying by CC, just popped my card in the reader and entered my pin.

£5750 - same as above