Forgot to pay the deposit on new car with a credit card

Ocean Breeze · 14 Oct 2019 at 17:38

I paid the deposit on a used car at a dealership with my debit card but I want the added protection of paying with credit card.

When I go to pay the full amount can I ask to pay a small amount like £500 using a credit card and then all the rest from the debit card?

Do you think they will be funny about it?

It's an actual dealership/car manufacturer not an independent.

Thanks

Vince · 14 Oct 2019 at 17:49

Ocean Breeze said:
I paid the deposit on a used car at a dealership with my debit card but I want the added protection of paying with credit card.

When I go to pay the full amount can I ask to pay a small amount like £500 using a credit card and then all the rest from the debit card?

Do you think they will be funny about it?

It's an actual dealership/car manufacturer not an independent.

Thanks

You could walk in there with a load of stamps and they would accept it if they were to make a sale. It's a very common practise and one ive done a few times. You will be fine.

Rroff · 14 Oct 2019 at 17:51

There was a thread on this recently - dealers seem to be a bit reticent these days to take credit card payments but if you persist probably will do - they may or may not be funny about it depending on dealer.

On Holiday · 15 Oct 2019 at 16:23

sunshinewelly · 15 Oct 2019 at 16:38

WoodyUK said:
When I ordered mine from a Honda main dealer they wouldn't take anything on credit card at all.

Audi and BWM are the same as well. They will not accept Credit cards

bainbridge · 16 Oct 2019 at 00:06

I wonder what Honda / BMW UK would have to say about that. Sounds like something that shouldn't be standard retail practice for such huge companies.

Hotwired · 16 Oct 2019 at 01:37

Can see their point.

They lose hundreds of £ on the sale when someone uses a credit card.

All that happens in practice is that the credit card company gets paid, the customer can get a cut of the processing fee through various deals and it all came from the dealers pocket who is ordered by law to suck it up... or not take credit cards...

tom_e · 16 Oct 2019 at 08:31

I bought mine from a Hyundai dealer a couple of weeks back and it was no more than £1k on cards, £3k in cash and anything above that BT.
I'm surprised anywhere would blanket refuse credit cards as most people will want to pay at least the £100 for S75 cover.

wozzizname · 16 Oct 2019 at 08:43

At a BMW dealer yesterday, they wouldn't take more than £1k on a credit card, debit cards were fine though.

nam · 16 Oct 2019 at 17:12

Credit Card for deposit's ended around 3 years ago, it is either Bank transfer or Debit now, standard practice for all

BinnsY · 16 Oct 2019 at 20:51

nam said:
Credit Card for deposit's ended around 3 years ago, it is either Bank transfer or Debit now, standard practice for all

I would suggest it's not quite as clear cut as you make out as I put a £500 deposit, and then £11,500 payment on credit card at a Ford main dealer only 7 months ago. The rest of the purchase was made up of a combination of part exchange, and debit card. In fact the only reason I couldn't put the entire balance on credit was simply because my limit wasn't high enough to cover it and had I wanted to put the entirety on credit there would have been no issue as I queried this at the time.

DarrenM343 · 16 Oct 2019 at 21:12

I paid £1k deposit recently by Credit Card for a new Mazda. They also joked I could split the full payment across multiple CC's if I wanted to. I only have two credit cards and the limits are not that high & never needed them to be raised.

AiiR · 16 Oct 2019 at 21:22

Devils advocate, is it perhaps a potential sign that the buyer can't afford the deposit?

BinnsY · 16 Oct 2019 at 21:56

AiiR said:
Devils advocate, is it perhaps a potential sign that the buyer can't afford the deposit?

Not sure why the car dealer would care? They have their money at this point and it would be the credit card companies problem if the person it belonged to wasn't making the payments.

Drumroll · 16 Oct 2019 at 23:02

Never had problem paying deposit using credit card. But was always 1k or less.
Mazda, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, Peugeot, Seat, DS, Kia... Never had problems.

HangTime · 17 Oct 2019 at 00:39

AiiR said:
Devils advocate, is it perhaps a potential sign that the buyer can't afford the deposit?

I don't think so, people buy loads of things on credit card for convenience, protection and reward points; affordability doesn't come into it. My current account balance is a lot higher than my credit card limit and I still pay for things costing over £100 (up to the limit) on credit card.

tom_e · 17 Oct 2019 at 07:40

nam said:
Credit Card for deposit's ended around 3 years ago, it is either Bank transfer or Debit now, standard practice for all

Except it's not as proven by me walking into a dealer and using my credit card 3 weeks ago.

Richie · 17 Oct 2019 at 08:15

It's up to the individual dealers if they accept or not.

Although credit and debit card charges for consumers were stopped, the businesses still need to pay a percentage of the transaction to the card companies.

Given consumers and the industry has driven the cost and profitability of car buying down as low as possible, dealers are reluctant to lose any more of the small margin left to processing fees.

iamdjdz · 17 Oct 2019 at 09:01

Did a BMW PCP earlier this year took £500 of the deposit on credit card no problem.

Drumroll · 17 Oct 2019 at 09:48

Richie said:
It's up to the individual dealers if they accept or not.

Although credit and debit card charges for consumers were stopped, the businesses still need to pay a percentage of the transaction to the card companies.

Given consumers and the industry has driven the cost and profitability of car buying down as low as possible, dealers are reluctant to lose any more of the small margin left to processing fees.

This. Most won't refuse credit card, but will try to avoid it.
Not sure about the dealer profits, but the sales person gets more comission from things like Gap insurance, paint/wheel/tyre protection plans than the car they're selling.
Also comission from the arranged finance.
Yesterday was on the news about dealers pushing higher interest loans as those would return better commission.