I think it's been quite a while that Amex has been known to be at the high end of merchant fees. It's why its acceptance is so limited outside of traditional core travel vendors. You can be sure it's accepted by most airlines, hotels, car rental companies, etc., but otherwise, not so much.

Terrible.

Many vendors have refused to take Amex over the years; I understood it was because Amex charged vendors a higher fee. I've recently seen more vendors accepting Amex -- maybe not those selling high ticket items? (Is the profit margin lower for a car dealer than at Tiffany's? LOL)

I don't think we ever bought a car using a CC. Did your dealer accept a different CC?

I tried using Amex at a car dealer in another state. I had called ahead and OK 'ed with Amex. The dealer flat out refused because it was out of state. I did not offer another form of payment. Walked out.

When we tried to pay for DS's entire downpayment using our VISA (DS paid us back, so no comments about coddling Millennials, please), the dealer set an upper limit on what amount could be charged. Annoying, but oh well...their rules.

We stopped using the AmEx card we had years ago. Highest interest rate and it was a PIA to deal with them.

My experience as an MC/V customer actually mirrors yours with AE, Anglo: disputes from my end are immediately charged back (granted, there haven't been many), and MC/V are very good about catching fraud, contacting me, and overnight FE'ing a replacement card. Could just be a matter of which CSR is at the helm at any given moment.

Interesting. I just used my Capital One card to put a $7000 down payment on a car. No problem on either end.

We had a disappointing experience with Amex. It was charged with the purchase of a very expensive large TV from an internet store in Italy! The card is rarely used and had not been used for a year or so when the charge was allowed through. It should have been flagged immediately and blocked but it was not. It appeared on our bill. We notified them immediately and requested it be removed immediately. And why exactly did it happen in the first place. They did not agree to remove it immediately. They had to do an investigation! A purchase for a TV in Italy delivered to a place in Italy! That made no sense at all. It took a month or so to finally get them to remove it. I mean the TV had to be delivered somewhere! Follow the TV!

It really soured us to Amex. Their employee agreed it should have never made it to our account.

They would only let me use up to $4,000 for a down payment. But not to purchase the car outright. I actually didn’t use it or put a penny down.

We use a visa and MC. Delta keeps trying to entice us with offers of up to 100,000 miles but it's an American Express card. No thanks, can't use it many places we travel to. I've never had a problem with customer service for either of those cards. In fact, I found 15 months of a fraudulent WWE charge for 9.99 from 2015/2016 last week. Called the company, told them about it, got my charges reversed. That was on my visa. And, you can only use a visa at Costco.

My granddaughter and I both use American Express quite heavily. Neither of us has ever had a problem.

"AmEx has caught innumerable attempts to falsely use my card and stopped it immediately and sent me a new card. I'm a fan!"

They do that for their own benefit, not for yours. If those false uses weren't caught in advance, AmEx would incur the loss and you wouldn't be out of pocket one cent. Then they would cancel your old number and send you a new card. It's the same thing from your perspective either way. .

Many merchants refuse AMEX for big ticket items due the high fee they are charged. Out of concern about fraud, many auto dealers will not accept an out-of-state credit card for big ticket items and may only accept cards from local clients.

If the buyer is driving the car off the lot before full payment settlement, auto dealers will have the customer sign a financing statement that gives them a lien on the car. When full payment has been received and all elements have cleared - whether a check, loan proceeds from a lender, credit card, combination, etc, the financing arrangement is satisfied and the lien is released. If some puzzle piece fails to get them paid and the customer is unresponsive, they can repossess the car.

The risk they take is small and it allows them to permit the customer to drive away with their purchase.

I bought a car in February for cash. When the dealer's finance guy said I could use a Visa credit card for about 30%, I did it, figuring no reason to not take the opportunity to get more bonus points.

I can see the dealer's point of view here. I had out of state ID and chose an Escalade fully loaded. Lots of red lights there. I was just so frustrated, I didn't even buy a car for months afterward. Locally. :-)

Hi JeCrigler,

If you plan to finance a portion of the cost, have you checked your bank or credit union?

Often they may offer a lower rate of interest than either the dealer or the card provider.

Terms may be more negotiable, too: with credit cards, usually it's their deal or nothing.

ole joyful

Actually, ole joyful, dealer financing can be a much better deal. Car sales are slowing and with low inflation there are a number of zero interest loans available. Ford and Toyota were running ads a month ago for certain models at 0% interest for 60 - 72 months.

We financed in May thru Ford - a local credit union was 2.9% but couldn't match Ford Finance's 0% rate. We were going to pay cash but we were all for paying back the loan with depreciated $$$, LOL.