Does your BMW add 3.75% for paying for service/part using a credit card?

[allinon72]

We're in the late stages of an economic gridlock, the source of which is complicated but can be boiled down to the destruction of our dollar, and thus purchasing power, and wages that have not even come close to keeping up with inflation. Companies like credit card processors have been allowed to run their grift with little to no accountability, and it seems a lot of companies view it as no choice but to pass on to the consumer.

But we, as the consumer, have gotten complacent, lazy, and ignorant to the fact that we have a choice, but we pretend that we don't. How many people do you know complain about Walmart, but shop there 3 times a week?

In this particular situation, if you're going to charge me a processing fee for a credit card, I'm going to write you a check and you can have fun processing that. More than likely it's going to cost you more than that CC processing fee but more importantly, you're going to piss me off. And if that happens often enough, I'm going to stop patronizing the business.

It's really that simple. Don't play ball.

[johnnyg238]

Mine let me put 10K down with the credit card without paying a fee. Didn't even know i was going to do it until the very end so all the numbers were already run and printed. I had brought a check but the finance manager said I could get the miles if i wanted them. It was also my 4th BMW from this dealership. They are absolutely awesome in every aspect!

[smokinjoe64]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

Interesting to see BMW doing this when I would consider most to be a high-tier dealership experience.

My Ford dealer does not charge anything to use a credit card in the service/parts department, but would have for the down payment of the truck. I, too, wanted the points...debit swipe it was

Yup...it's 'stealerships' choice not manufacturers [BMW, Ford et al]

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by BavarianPretzel

So I went to pick up my car this morning after they finally finished “unbricking” it after the most recent OTA update. No charge because it’s still under warranty. However, I still had to pick up the paperwork and key fob from the cashier’s window.

While I waited for my paperwork to be retrieved, I noticed that they got a cool new credit card machine. It looked so high tech as if it belonged on a futuristic space ship.

However, what really caught my eye was a decal on the machine that said credit card transactions incur a 3.75% “convenience fee”

Never saw that before at this dealer. When I bought my car a couple of years ago, there was no extra convenience fee when I used my United Airlines credit card to pay for the $5000 down payment.

The cashier saw me looking at that and said “yeah, we have to charge that now because the price of everything is going up” I asked if that fee still applies if I get one of those BMW credit cards and she said “all credit cards”

Do other dealers do this now? Or more importantly, the other two BMW dealers around me… need to find out soon. 😄

A Sonic owned dealership in my area is doing this

[Joe from NY]

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

This absolutely drives me bonkers. Credit card processing is a cost of doing business, period. Of course, what those businesses won't tell you is how credit cards are actually better for them – no cash to handle, no cashier mistakes, less shrinkage, no bank runs, etc. Why do you think grocery stores started doing cash back way back when? They want to have as little of it as possible. But now they've found a way to get all of the benefits and pass on the cost to me. Yay.

If a business doesn't like paying the processing fees, just stop taking credit cards. Easy. But say bye-bye to a good portion of your sales – guess those fees are paying for something useful after all, huh?

This is not a good thing™. It's just yet another way to pass on costs to me, the consumer.

Absolutely correct. Taking credit cards opens up their potential customer base to a whole other subset of the population, those who don’t have enough cash on them at that moment to pay in cash. Why should I pay extra to open up your customer base to a whole other group?

And besides, It’s like a restaurant charging only folks who ask for ketchup. Or straws, rather than building that into the price. I go to a diner, I don’t drink coffee. Why should I subsidize the cost of their sweet n low ?

See? Where would it end?

[Joe from NY]

Originally Posted by jzeiler4

My dealer on the last service charged 3% on a credit card and no fee on a debit card.

It’s against federal law to charge a fee for using a debit card. It’s prohibited in every state.

[Joe from NY]

Originally Posted by DanG

My BMW dealer doesn’t charge a fee but my wife’s Mazda dealer does. Mazda dealer has no fee if you use a debit card.

Debit card fees are illegal in the United Ststes.

[Joe from NY]

Originally Posted by B58-M340iX

I can't stand this. The line, "it's going to ask you a question," and flipping the tablet or whatever around, adding another 10-25% on top of what you've already paid for. The other thing is how tipping goes up based on what you buy. Buy a $75 porterhouse? That'll be $15 if you're not a "cheap ass." But - buy a cheeseburger for $15, and the tip will be $3. Did someone do 5x the work? No.

I always said this about real estate agents also. Why should the ones selling high priced homes get paid more than ones selling cheaper homes? And why should they get paid sometimes 30x what the lawyers make in the same transaction, who have expensive student loans to pay and who are really important to the transaction to make sure their guy doesn’t get screwed?

[Joe from NY]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Yes. Many restaurants were putting an extra surcharge on the bill during the beer bug due to all the challenges they were facing to operate and stay open. But we're past that now. Some restaurants kept the surcharge in place after all the restrictions where lifted but I think gradually most if not all have eliminated. But I have certainly noticed the price increases. So they're still getting the additional fees but in a more stealthy way.






Just like the grimy greedy airlines with their “fuel surcharge” that started years ago during a spike in fuel prices. Last time I checked they were still charging it and gas is lower than it’s been in years.

[Joe from NY]

Originally Posted by BenFenner

No. According to the brainiacs in this thread, cash is worse to deal with than credit. Did you not get the memo?

My early life I bought my cars used. I always brought enough cash to cover whatever I was going negotiate down to. I even did that when buying jewelry. Cash was king. Money talked, etc…

Fast forward to about 20 years ago when I went to Chrysler to buy a new 300C. When I asked how much is their cash price, to be paid that day in cash, they seemed confused and shocked. It got worse when I pulled out the cash in the office to pay. They seemed annoyed, and had to call like five different staff in to discuss and approve it. I saw times had changed.

[Joe from NY]

In New York, you can only charge a credit card fee if you list two separate prices on the menu or service list for each item, one for cash, and one for credit. Like on a gas pump. To be in compliance , Every menu has to have two columns of prices after each item.

The only way around this is to offer a true cash discount. That means that the menu with only one column of prices has to list the credit card prices, not cash prices. That way the price you see is the highest price you will ever have to pay.

You can download a complaint form from the attorney general and they go harass the store until they are in compliance.

NY State

[Joe from NY]

This guy is great.

[Joe from NY]

For those brothers in New York State, see this video: