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Why won't car dealers allow the use of debit or credit cards for car purchases?
A Lexus dealer has refused to accept my debit or credit card in payment for one of their used cars, a £26,000 balance after part exchange. This was confirmed by Lexus UK when enquiring; you cannot used a debit card to pay more than £10,000 and a credit card for over £1000. They insist on bank transfer for ‘money laundering’ reasons. They ban multiples of payments on the same card too. I bought my BMW from a dealer in 2015 and used a debit card in the dealership for £35,000, which the bank confirmed with me by phone before processing it. Using a debit or credit card gives additional consumer protections. Do you know why Lexus are preventing this and is it true that all motor dealers are not accepting payment outside of bank transfer?
Asked on 25 August 2018 by RCharles
Answered by
Honest John
The reason is the reason you have been told. But if you part-pay even a small amount with a credit card you get additional consumer protection. You don't if you pay with a debit card. But, anyway, the modern means of making payments like this is online banking.
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