Which Card?! 30k spend

[tommorgan754]

Hi All

I currently have BA Premium Plus card so aware of the benefits.

My father is about to purchase a car from a dealership for 30k cash. He had the thought of putting this on a credit card for some travel/flight bonuses (can be separate transactions if needs be, doesn’t have to all be the same day.. e.g 10k x 3 over a few weeks). He would be paying the balances off straight away.

The question is, what card should be go for and are there any new customer deals at the moment?

I’ve recommended Platinum and BA premium plus. Obviously with Platinum he wouldn’t get a Companion Voucher, however, more flexibility with other airlines.. platinum of course has a lot of other benefits. He’s recently retired so don’t think he will be using too many benefits but ultimately if he can get one nice holiday/ couple of flights out of spending 30k then that would be a nice bonus.

Hopefully the above makes sense, really appreciate any advice / arguments for going one way or the other. Of course happy to look at Gold Card, Barclays etc etc. thanks in advance

[NorthernLass]

First question, does the dealership accept Amex, and if they do, can he pay the full amount?

Second question, is your dad totally confident of being accepted for one of the cards? It’s been a bit hit and miss recently with applications.

Sadly I think he’s just missed the 70k avios SUB on the BAPP recently, which would have been awesome.

[tommorgan754]

NorthernLass wrote:

First question, does the dealership accept Amex, and if they do, can he pay the full amount?

Second question, is your dad totally confident of being accepted for one of the cards? It’s been a bit hit and miss recently with applications.

Sadly I think he’s just missed the 70k avios SUB on the BAPP recently, which would have been awesome.

Three very good points. I would certainly need him to check if they accept Amex (it’s an Audi Garage so would he confident but you never know)

And I guess could not guarantee if he’d be accepted.. retired with a small job now so only a small income. But large pension pot and mortgage free etc, however, not sure if that’d come into it!

Thank you for the response anyway, all good points!

[Richard Peters]

The other thing to bear in mind is the likely credit limit which may prohibit even three bite size chunks of £10K. Not sure if platinum personal is still a charge card in which case no credit limite and would enable either 30K in one hit. Have you also checked his credit score to make sure squeeky clean.

[jj]

The local Porsche dealership only takes Amex for servicing and sundry sales. Car purchase and deposits are Mastercard/Visa only. If your dealership is the same, Barclays Avios card would be best, or Virgin Atlantic – although the latter card restricts earning within a month to your credit limit.

Policies will vary by delaership, of course.

[Amy C]

The Land Rover dealership I purchased from in 2020 would not accept Amex. When I wanted to use my Virgin instead they wouldn’t put more than 5k on it. Eventually I talked them up to 7.5k but took some persuasion. Said they don’t ever let customers put too much onto credit cards due to customers doing charge backs or something.

[NorthernLass]

I am in a similar position with a modest pension and even smaller part-time income but healthy bank balances – unfortunately savings etc aren’t something you can include on an Amex application so it’s difficult to give a full picture of your financial circumstances. They seem to prefer you to declare that you have an actual job, even if the income is smaller than your pension, which is what I found on my last application.

Some finance companies accept payment by credit card so that might be another option if the Audi dealership won’t accept full payment. I paid £30k for one of our cars over 3 years using different points-earning MCs.

[NorthernLass]

Keep us updated though, if the dealership does accept Amex it might find itself with a queue of HFP readers wanting to buy cars!

[tommorgan754]

Quite eye opening stuff here! Appreciate the comments all.

[JDB]

jj wrote:

The local Porsche dealership only takes Amex for servicing and sundry sales. Car purchase and deposits are Mastercard/Visa only. If your dealership is the same, Barclays Avios card would be best, or Virgin Atlantic – although the latter card restricts earning within a month to your credit limit.

Policies will vary by delaership, of course.

That’s the trouble with a Porsche; they expect you to come and pay cash straight from the trading floor! Buy a Ssangyong and pay with Amex.

[jj]

@JDB, cash is not king in the car world. They expect you to take out finance if you want to achieve the unachievable and get a discount from the list price…together with a handshaken promise not to settle the finance within the 6 month commission clawback period.

[JDB]

jj wrote:

@JDB, cash is not king in the car world. They expect you to take out finance if you want to achieve the unachievable and get a discount from the list price…together with a handshaken promise not to settle the finance within the 6 month commission clawback period.

Apologies @jj I was being a little facetious as it amused me that posh Porsche doesn’t take Amex whereas slum Ssangyong (of which we have two) does…

Anyway, as to your wider point I think things seem to have changed a bit. I went with my wife to buy her a new car last Sunday. Only four months or so delivery for fully personalised car and almost 10% off list price either for cash or 0% finance.

[Andrew.]

I suspect you’ll find it’s £5K deposit on credit card and the rest settled by Debit card or Faster Payment.

Just had my Audi from April 2021 valued. It’s done 20,000 miles, and valued at £1000 less than what I paid for it.

[JDB]

Andrew. wrote:

I suspect you’ll find it’s £5K deposit on credit card and the rest settled by Debit card or Faster Payment.

Just had my Audi from April 2021 valued. It’s done 20,000 miles, and valued at £1000 less than what I paid for it.

And, to misquote the ad, for everything else there’s Curve.

[MattB]

Motorpoint were happy to let me put a £17k car purchase on a credit card, just not Amex. Think I split it across 3 cards.