topic Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat in Credit Cards

Buying a car with AMEX plat

elixerin — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 05:04:07 GMT

can anyone share any experience with going about this? i recently opened the AMEX plat a couple days ago and ran about 33-34k thru it before they asked for a payment so i sent 32k and am now thinking about getting (maybe financing) a car for 15-20k a while before first statement cuts(Feb 5)... dont really know how to go about the whole process, or if its even an option with most dealers.

all thoughts appreciated c:

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 05:06:15 GMT

It can be done, but most dealers won't allow it. Typical max they'll allow is about $3-4k. They don't want to pay the fees.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

mikesonthemend — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 05:36:16 GMT

@elixerin wrote:
can anyone share any experience with going about this? i recently opened the AMEX plat a couple days ago and ran about 33-34k thru it before they asked for a payment so i sent 32k and am now thinking about getting (maybe financing) a car for 15-20k a while before first statement cuts(Feb 5)... dont really know how to go about the whole process, or if its even an option with most dealers.

all thoughts appreciated c:

If they are sticking it to you, they will allow it.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 05:44:35 GMT

Amex have a car buying program that will let you charge up to $2k or the whole car purchase depending on the dealership. If they are charging you the fee, it is not worth it. You are only getting 1 point per dollar on your Platinum card.

https://amexnetwork.truecar.com/

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

RCFL — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 05:49:11 GMT

not sure about other dealerships but Honda allowed me to put 5k on my card...

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

kerplunk — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 06:22:33 GMT

I was able to put $5,000 on my credit card for both a BMW and a Porsche purchase in the past.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 11:26:37 GMT

ironically i just put the down payment on my platinum yesterday. 5k, no fees, no issues

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

jbestman007 — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 12:06:23 GMT

I know it can be done. My buddy paid for his Tesla Model S outright using his AMEX Platinum. Final cost was over 60k. Of course, he then turned around and paid AMEX immediately. Said he did it for the points.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 12:57:02 GMT

@jbestman007 wrote:
I know it can be done. My buddy paid for his Tesla Model S outright using his AMEX Platinum. Final cost was over 60k. Of course, he then turned around and paid AMEX immediately. Said he did it for the points.

I wonder if he got the best deal. Usually when you do, they won't give you anything else regarding discounts, including eating credit card fees, which is at least a discount to you equal to the point percentage you are getting. The other part of the "discount" in fees goes to the card companies.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 13:34:42 GMT

I used my Amex for a $10,000 down payment at a chevy dealer.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 14:26:26 GMT

Wow, Amex let you spend 34k in a couple days from account opening is amazing. Paying back 32k right away is a good sign just becareful with that kind of usage off the bat, definetly puts you on their radar.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 14:32:38 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Wow, Amex let you spend 34k in a couple days from account opening is amazing. Paying back 32k right away is a good sign just becareful with that kind of usage off the bat, definetly puts you on their radar.

Probably got a call or 2 regarding the charges. I've done only about 3K in 2 days on a new card and 7K within 10 days, resulted in 2 calls. Obviously they want to be sure the card isn't compromised. 32K had to have gotten interaction with the cardholder.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

TSlop — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 14:49:51 GMT

@elixerin wrote:
can anyone share any experience with going about this? i recently opened the AMEX plat a couple days ago and ran about 33-34k thru it before they asked for a payment so i sent 32k and am now thinking about getting (maybe financing) a car for 15-20k a while before first statement cuts(Feb 5)... dont really know how to go about the whole process, or if its even an option with most dealers.

all thoughts appreciated c:

As others have said, it may or may not work; depends on the dealer. I had $14,500 to put down on my Subaru years ago and I wanted to use a credit card to get points and pay it off with my cash but the dealer wouldn't let me. It looks like other posters had it work, even if it was only up to $5k.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 15:21:15 GMT

As others have said, when you are allowed to do it, it's usually an indication that you haven't got the very best deal. But it might still be worthwhile, if the points are valuable enough to you (i.e. the dealer has to eat the fees, so the price is inflated to account for that, but the rewards may be worth more than the inflation to you)

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

kerplunk — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 15:45:26 GMT

Moral of the story is that when buying a new car, always ask whether you can use a credit card to find out if you need to continue negotiating.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

elixerin — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 15:47:30 GMT

thanks for the replies all,

so make sure not to get ripped off and make sure the value is there before doing it, all after finding out the dealer is cool with it (:

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 15:58:17 GMT

@kerplunk wrote:
Moral of the story is that when buying a new car, always ask whether you can use a credit card to find out if you need to continue negotiating.

Lol. Yep.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 19:36:30 GMT

Yeah, the question isn't really "can I" but "should I" charge a car to my CC. Plenty of people have done it sure, but everyone should keep in mind whether it's fiscally beneficial to do so. $5-10K down payment can easily be justified somehow, between points earned and the Dealer eating the fees since you likely didn't get the best deal on the car. I charged $7K to my Bonvoy on my most recent car, and I only did that because they didn't give me quite the deal i wanted concerning my trade. Plus I waited there all freaking day!

The bigger problems come when a person want to charge the full amount of said vehicle, as the swipe fee on $30-60K is going to be considerable. One the Dealer isn't going to want to eat, nor is one likely to break even on the points. Let alone come out ahead.

If I had $60K laying around just to buy a car, I certainly wouldn't charge it to my CC first then pay it off. I'd just pay them Cash, and get the very best deal. Because cash talks, alwasy. However, one could also argue that that $60K could net them better returns in some account.

Since Auto APR are generally pretty low.

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

elixerin — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 21:06:35 GMT

thanks for the input guys you're right in that cash is king indeed, i was thinking more along the lines of a 15k-ish MR point boost even at 1-2 cents per point sounds nice(given im not being ripped), OR going for a loan of 15-20k on a car valued as such and paying down to 8.9% for the installment credit mix points i have yet to get

i've went from being addicted to cash back now to points LOL, to do something nice for the new year i booked a first class round trip from Orlando to Dubai for my dad for 18k directly with Emirates so about 92k points from that and the 80k bonus for 3 or 5k? spend i think.. rest was 1x category it was odd when i paid 32k it didn't stop me although my posted charges were about 21k and 12-13k was still in pending but i did get an email yesterday on some charges that didn't go through and the request for immediate payment xD

on a bigger note.. i can't find info anywhere on if theres a "cap" to the amount points you can hold? also when i might receive the bonus welcome points and have it visible in portal

Re: Buying a car with AMEX plat

I_Love_Cards — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 20:59:41 GMT

@elixerin wrote:
thanks for the input guys you're right in that cash is king indeed, i was thinking more along the lines of a 15k-ish MR point boost even at 1-2 cents per point sounds nice(given im not being ripped), OR going for a loan of 15-20k on a car valued as such and paying down to 8.9% for the installment credit mix points i have yet to get lol

i've went from being addicted to cash back now to points LOL, to do something nice for the new year i booked a first class round trip from Orlando to Dubai for my dad for 18k directly with Emirates so about 92k points there and the 80k bonus for 3 or 5k? spend i think.. rest was 1x category it was odd when i paid 32k it didn't stop me although my posted charges were about 21k and 12-13k was still in pending but i did get an email yesterday on some charges that didn't go through and the request for immediate payment xD

on a bigger note.. i can't find info anywhere on if theres a "cap" to the amount points you can hold? also when i might receive the bonus welcome points and have it visible in portal

If this is your first MR card (which it sounds like it isn't-if those bookings were with MR points), then you won't see any MR points (SUB or regular spending) until after your first statement.

If this is a second (or beyond) MR card and you have a points balance showing already (meaning your first MR card isn't also brand new and waiting for a statement to cut), the SUB points will post within a few days after spend is met.

Other points (regular spending) typically post after the statement cuts.

I have no idea on a cap. I try to use mine so if there's a massive change to the program or something, I didn't lose out.