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There is plenty of margin in new cars. There are all sorts of kick-backs manufacturers give to dealers (volume, time on lot, specific model discounts, etc etc etc). They do quite well.
This isn't' to say dealers aren't doing well (which wasn't my point). But the margin is much less than most think. Which makes sense why an extra ~2% cost to sell a car via CC isn't going to happen very often.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dkf747
If a dealer is desperate for a sale, won't they bend on their policy if you threaten to go elsewhere?
No. Here they have a written posted policy limiting credit cards to service or up to $3,000 of the down payment, even at the luxury dealerships. That 3-4% it costs them could be close to their profit on the
sale. You could get a cash advance, and use that but then some card providers will not give you the miles on that. Better yet use the debit card if you have the funds, they only pay a few cents per transaction regardless of the amount. On the other hand, it's kind of fun to write a check for the total amount and
watch them call the bank to verify the funds.
When I bought my last used car the max I could put on a credit card was 6k. I know most dealers don't allow for full amounts on credit cards because of merchant fees and they lose profit. I had to finance some of it which if you can avoid financing then do!
No. Here they have a written posted policy limiting credit cards to service or up to $3,000 of the down payment, even at the luxury dealerships. That 3-4% it costs them could be close to their profit on the
sale.
Then the dealership down the street makes the sale, and the dealer that refused gets nothing. Nothing is better than something, I guess.
not always. many times certain models that are popular are on an allocation basis. a dealer has to maximize every one of them sold. if he lets one go to cheap he loses the potential profit on the sale to another customer.
not always. many times certain models that are popular are on an allocation basis. a dealer has to maximize every one of them sold. if he lets one go to cheap he loses the potential profit on the sale to another customer.
I agree with that that it is not always like that. I was thinking of a dealer desperate for a sale, not one that is doing fine as is.
A few years ago we bought an older Toyota Tacoma truck off a local Chevy dealers lot. It was a trade in. We looked at it and test drove it but then decided to wait. This was in the dead of winter as the economy was sinking around here. It was there a month later, and priced a lot lower, so we looked at it again. We found the prev owners name in the glove box (tires receipt) and called him. Nice guy. He got $6000 trade in on it. Dealer told us they would sell for $6400, and they would fix the heater that didn't work. So $7200 out the door (tax).
I wanted to pay with my Visa ($15k+ credit limit) but I didn't tell the dealer that. I called my Visa and preauthorized such a charge. Then went to the bank and got a cashiers check for the OTD price, made out to pay to myself. Went to pay at the dealer and I pulled out my Visa to pay. He hesitated for a moment, but then ran the sale. On the way home we stopped at the bank and payed the check onto my Visa. If he didn't take the Visa I would have endorsed the check and made it payable to the dealer.
They didn't make much money off that sale, after cc fees. I got some decent Visa rewards off that charge.
Last year a friend of mine bought a used Subaru in ND and they would only let her pay a few thousand with the credit card.
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