Paying for Prius with a credit card

The dealer I purchased mine at wouldn't accept full payment. The salesperson told me I could put $3,500 on AmEx, finance guy told me the normal limit was $2,000 and let me put on $2,500.

Would have loved to get 26K AmEx points

Cheers,
Jeff

 

Be careful with those checks. Some carry a fee of 3% of the amount you write it for...

 

Credit card companies charge a fee from the seller for each purchase.

I think it's only about 2% so on a $26000 purchase, the dealer would be charged $520.

Now, if they were making a good profit on a car, and the buyer refused to pay any other way, the dealer might go along and consider the $500 as the cost of doing business.

But on the Prius, why would they do that? They can say no to you and just turn around & sell it to someone else tomorrow.

And some cards have fees that are higher than that. Discover card has a higher fee, and this is why less places take that card.

And for those special checks that go with a credit card, read the fine print. Often there is no grace period, and fees at the outset apart from the interest rate.

 

I was also told $1K as a max - they used that as my deposit to hold the car when it was already on the truck on its way. Then, when I tried to pay the balance on a card(s) - they said "the lein holder can not be a credit card" - which may be true I guess, who knows... but yeah I am sure they do not want to have to pay the service fees to the credit card companies.

 

I bought my black Prius three weeks ago in El Monte, Ca. at Longo Toyota, one of the largest Toyota dealers around. They would only accept $500 charge to credit card for purchase. Too bad they wouldn't accept more....

 

My dealer would let me put a max of $3K on a credit card.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mark_hamrick\";p=\"110537)</div>

No AmEx check, would've paid off when the bill showed up. It was a cash deal.

Cheers,
Jeff

 

Rockingham Toyota in Salem, NH, let me put up to $2K on my credit card

 

Paying your loan depends entirely on whether your lender allows that. Mine would not, and would also charge for direct debit from my bank account (that always seems stupid to me since it ought to be cheaper for them to process it electronically).

 

With the MSRP markup and extras, I ended up over budget. So, I paid $3000 with credit card checks (I used two, split the total between the two). No questions asked. I put the pre-paid maintenance and extended warranty on a credit card, no problem.

 

As<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(maggieddd\";p=\"110681)</div>

As long as you transfer the entire balance (including the cash advance) over to the new card. Since the cash advance is the last item to go on your card, it's the last to be paid.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(maggieddd\";p=\"110691)</div>

I would say so - as long as your other card has a credit line large enough to cover your other card's balance.

And watch out if you are late on a couple of payments, they'll wack your card up to the max rate.

Speaking of max rates, credit card companies can increase your finance charge rate at any time - even if you make your payments on time! They can raise your rates based upon whether they THINK you might be a poor credit risk or MIGHT miss a payment. They can check your utility payments, phone, - pretty much anything which gives you a payment history.

I could see a scenario of maxing out a credit card to buy a car only to have the company max out your rate at 20+%. That would really suck if you didn't have a backup plan. If you didn't, you'd have one expensive Prius.

 

It sounds like a good way to save on the finance charges. If any credit card company monkey business ever does happen, it sounds like you can fall back on your credit union at a pretty decent rate.

Good luck!

 

You can definitely pay a loan with your credit card if you know what you're doing. I have a number of credit cards with a zero balance. They always have balance transfer offers. All you have to do is use those offers to pay the bank where the loan originates from. Those balance transfers only last a year or less. At the end of the 0% interest period, merely rotate the balance to another credit card company that is offering 0%. I do this ALL the time and my home equity line of credit is lower because of it. Right now I am rotating 20,000 in interest free money on my home improvement.