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Hi Guys,

I went to my local New Jersey Kawasaki Dealership this past Saturday to purchase my ninja 250.

I wanted to pay with my American Express for the bike and then just pay off the bill when the end of the month came. The dealer told me I couldn't do that because it costs them money to use the credit card?

Then he talked me into financing, now, I didn't really care if I financed because it had a 45 day grace period which I'd just pay off before I got charged any interest anyway but I got turned down by the finance department do to an error on my credit report *sigh* which is going to take 21 days to resolve. (FYI just because you have a high credit score doesn't mean there aren't show stoppers on your credit report somewhere)

If worse comes to worse I will just pay cash for the bike and get the money out of the bank.

At any rate the main question here is can they tell me they WON'T accept my American Express card to pay for the motorcycle? Or was he just trying to flim flam me into financing?

I mean I can put a $3,000 computer on my credit card, why not a bike?

they do have to pay money for a cc. Often between 3-5%. If you don't mind covering that I can't see why they'd mind.

In the case of the computer, it's often assumed nowadays that people pay in cc so it's built into the price.

My guess is that if you'd used a VISA or MasterCard, they wouldn't have flinched.

I seem to recall that American Express charges the highest rates to vendors. Something to do with AE's reputation for making sure they get their money.

P

Thanks for the info guys

Well I don't know if it's a universal thing, but I had the same issue and ended up paying cash. The guy at the shop told me after, that they never accept payment with a credit card (a deposit yes, but not the balance) because it's too easy to dispute the charge and they are left with having to reclaim a bike.

I had the same issue. I wanted to pay with a credit card, but they wouldn't accept any of them. It all seemed very backwards to me. I know they have to pay a fee to the credit card company, but I can't think of another big business that won't accept it. Even when someone I know bought a car, they allowed him to cover part of it with a credit card without increasing the price(ie: telling him to cover the 3ish% fee).

I ended up paying with a certified check(sort of the same as cash) which wasn't too bad in this case because it was a ninja 250, but I still didn't like carrying around a piece of paper that if I lost would mean I'm out a whole bunch of money. Unless no dealer at all takes credit cards, I probably won't purchase a more expensive bike from them (this isn't the only issue I had/have though, so even if they did, I might not unless I got a really good deal).

I deal with electronic transactions periodically in some of my work and the above posters are correct. AmEx has the highest rates and any big ticket merchant is going to prefer any other means of payment besides CCs. They are under no obligation to accept credit, and if I were them, I wouldn't accept credit for the same reason. There is no advantage to it since people come to dealerships prepared to make a single, large purchase and they will usually go to the bank to do that without too much complaint. Credit is great for convenience (i.e. you will sell more by accepting credit than you would by not) but when that isn't the case, the merchant eats anywhere from 1 to 4 percent.

If the place has an AmEx sticker showing somewhere, and they don't let you pay up front with your AmEx card, whip out your cell phone and call AmEx customer service right there in front of them.

Chances are that they'll give in before you even talk to anyone on the other end. If they don't, AmEx will make sure that they will be accepting the AmEx card for payment. Guaranteed.

Septimus wrote:They are under no obligation to accept credit

On the Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express merchant agreements I've seen (which are no doubt quite standard), the merchant is required to accept the card for any transaction for which they would accept cash. No minimum or maximum amounts for card acceptance. No ifs and or buts. If the merchant displays the sticker, they must accept the card for all transactions. Combine this with American Express' reputation for being a hard-assed company that gets its way and I'm sure any merchant will be taking the card after a simple phone call.

Yes, if they *take* credit cards, they are obligated to accept them, but a lot of places just won't take them. You only sign the merchant agreement if you want to accept them in the first place, and there is little advantage to the dealer to do so.