Buying a Car on Credit Card?

bery_451

Hi,

My Credit Card has £5000 limit with 0% Interest on it for 12 months I think.

If a find a used car for £5k, I know its gonna be tough to find for £5k because used car prices have nearly doubled in price after covid & inflation however Inflation will make my £5k debt cheaper over time.

Does the 12 months 0% card offer starts when you activate your card or the 12 months 0% start from the date you bought the car?

How do I find private sellers that accept credit cards? Through Paypal? Through Paypal do you get Section 75 card protection? Private sellers are cheaper than trade sellers. With Paypal there's no card transaction fees correct? Can I pay with Paypal on ebay using my credit card?

If I do find a car from trade sellers then will trade sellers oversee the credit card transaction fee to prevent losing a sale to me?

I can afford the car if I make the minimum monthly payments to my credit card. However to avoid paying any interest I have to clear the full balance before the 12 months 0% offer is finished?

born_again

12 months is from when the account is active.

Just be aware that not all garages will take a credit card for the full amount, given the fee's they are charged on the transaction.
It is illegal for them to pass the fee on to you.

Private seller will be highly unlikely to take a CC. (can you?) if they do then I would be worried that they are actually be a trader trying to offload the not so good stuff...

You will be lucky to find a private seller that would take that amount via PayPal. Far too many hacked accounts.

eskbanker

bery_451 said:

Hi,

My Credit Card has £5000 limit with 0% Interest on it for 12 months I think.
Assume 0% on purchases, rather than balance transfers?

If a find a used car for £5k, I know its gonna be tough to find for £5k because used car prices have nearly doubled in price after covid & inflation however Inflation will make my £5k debt cheaper over time.

Does the 12 months 0% card offer starts when you activate your card or the 12 months 0% start from the date you bought the car?
Probably the former, but check the terms of the offer.

How do I find private sellers that accept credit cards?
You won't!

Through Paypal? Through Paypal do you get Section 75 card protection?
No.

Private sellers are cheaper than trade sellers. With Paypal there's no card transaction fees correct? Can I pay with Paypal on ebay using my credit card?
Not sure, you'd need to check the PayPal terms.

If I do find a car from trade sellers then will trade sellers oversee the credit card transaction fee to prevent losing a sale to me?
Not sure what you mean by 'oversee' here, but they're not allowed by law to pass on such fees.  As a rsult, many dealers won't accept full payment by credit card....

I can afford the car if I make the minimum monthly payments to my credit card. However to avoid paying any interest I have to clear the full balance before the 12 months 0% offer is finished?
Yes.

Answers inline above....

bery_451

eskbanker said:

bery_451 said:

Hi,

My Credit Card has £5000 limit with 0% Interest on it for 12 months I think.
Assume 0% on purchases, rather than balance transfers?

If a find a used car for £5k, I know its gonna be tough to find for £5k because used car prices have nearly doubled in price after covid & inflation however Inflation will make my £5k debt cheaper over time.

Does the 12 months 0% card offer starts when you activate your card or the 12 months 0% start from the date you bought the car?
Probably the former, but check the terms of the offer.

How do I find private sellers that accept credit cards?
You won't!

Through Paypal? Through Paypal do you get Section 75 card protection?
No.

Private sellers are cheaper than trade sellers. With Paypal there's no card transaction fees correct? Can I pay with Paypal on ebay using my credit card?
Not sure, you'd need to check the PayPal terms.

If I do find a car from trade sellers then will trade sellers oversee the credit card transaction fee to prevent losing a sale to me?
Not sure what you mean by 'oversee' here, but they're not allowed by law to pass on such fees.  As a rsult, many dealers won't accept full payment by credit card....

I can afford the car if I make the minimum monthly payments to my credit card. However to avoid paying any interest I have to clear the full balance before the 12 months 0% offer is finished?
Yes.

Answers inline above....

Hi yes its on Purchases.

bery_451

born_again said:

12 months is from when the account is active.

Just be aware that not all garages will take a credit card for the full amount, given the fee's they are charged on the transaction.
It is illegal for them to pass the fee on to you.

Private seller will be highly unlikely to take a CC. (can you?) if they do then I would be worried that they are actually be a trader trying to offload the not so good stuff...

You will be lucky to find a private seller that would take that amount via PayPal. Far too many hacked accounts.

Okay possible for me to negotiate on the sales price to try to lower it from lets say £5k to £4750 with the salesman then use the £250 remaining to pay for the credit card transaction fee?

Usually have much in % are credit card transactions fees that the trade merchant has to pay anyway?

cymruchris

And in addition to the above - many used car prices are not as high as they were, they've fallen on many vehicle types, but there are still sellers selling at Covid prices. So do your research in detail before committing to purchasing a car. Prices are a bit all over the place in many respects.

eskbanker

bery_451 said:
Okay possible for me to negotiate on the sales price to try to lower it from lets say £5k to £4750 with the salesman then use the £250 remaining to pay for the credit card transaction fee?

Usually have much in % are credit card transactions fees that the trade merchant has to pay anyway?

You can always try negotiating, but just to be clear, you shouldn't ever be asked to pay a credit card fee as it's unlawful for them to pass this on - fees paid will vary widely, but would probably be in 1-2% territory.

CliveOfIndia

Just to add to the previous comments, the cynic in me would say that if you do manage to find a dealer who'll accept the full amount on credit card, they're probably over-pricing the car in the first place in order to cover the fees they'll be charged.

They are not allowed to pass their fees on to you, nor are they allowed to offer you a cheaper price for "cash".  Of course you can negotiate on the price itself, but they can't offer you a different price based only on the payment method you choose.

If you want to get S75 protection (which actually is not a magic panacea that will cover everything, though it is a handy extra level of protection) then most dealers will accept a small deposit on credit card with the balance being paid in cash (usually a bank transfer).

Brie

You may well be able to find a cheap second hand car if you know what you want and are prepared to approach a dealer.  They often get older cars that they normally wouldn't sell on themselves but would put to auction or sell at a reduced amount to a nearby second hand car shop.  They might be willing to sell directly to you for something like the trade in price they've given the customer buying a new vehicle.  

Have a look too at the card's offers in case there's a 0% money transfer available.  Many places will be happy to take a deposit by card (maybe £100 or more.) but want the rest by bank transfer.  If there's a 0% money transfer available on the card you could do the deposit by card, pay the rest by bank transfer and then do a money transfer to the bank account for whatever amount is required - but only up to (possibly) 95% of your credit balance.  

Don't forget that whatever method you end up using you have to have a way to clear the balance off the card by the end of the 12 months or you'll be paying a very high interest rate.  

born_again

bery_451 said:

Okay possible for me to negotiate on the sales price to try to lower it from lets say £5k to £4750 with the salesman then use the £250 remaining to pay for the credit card transaction fee?

Usually have much in % are credit card transactions fees that the trade merchant has to pay anyway?

Seller is still £250 down 🤷‍♀️

Fee's can vary.

bery_451

cymruchris said:

And in addition to the above - many used car prices are not as high as they were, they've fallen on many vehicle types, but there are still sellers selling at Covid prices. So do your research in detail before committing to purchasing a car. Prices are a bit all over the place in many respects.

Believe me a sibling of mine bought a car back in 2017 and I see the similar car with similar mileage going on autotrader trade price now for the same price that he paid back in 2017. Inflation has made used car prices at least doubled like it did with food groceries. Yeah blame it on Russia and say Putin took control of Autotrader hence the higher used car prices lol.

I remember pre-covid bangers use to go for like £250-£500 for a banger. Now they going at least £1000 for a banger. Hence why I said at the beginning its gonna be tough to find a good used car for £5k nowadays. If we were in a Recession then used car prices would come down but the Bank of England saying were not in a recession, were in a soft landing which makes it more confusing lol.

Only the Electric EV car market has crashed because car dealers are not accepting EV's for trade-in for numerous reasons!

Okay where can I find used cars at pre-covid prices excluding car auctions?