On Thu, Feb 16, 2006 at 10:52:53PM +1100, Leon Altoff wrote: > > Someone I know had a different experience. > > He was driving along and though he might like to buy a convertible (he > does this). He stopped at a Honda dealership and asked to test drive > their convertible. He was dressed very casually at the time - shorts, > polo shirt, $2000 watch - and the salesman replied with "You can drive > it when you've bought it". > > He just shook his head and went away. On his way home he passed a Mazda > dealership and saw a limited edition MX5 on display. They said that the > limited edition wasn't for test driving, but he could take the standard > model which drives the same so he could get a feel for it. he came back > from the test drive and pointed at the limited edition and said, "I'll > have one of those". > > The salesman asked him to come inside to fill in the finance forms and > he just handed him his credit card and said "Just put it on this". > > The salesman looked a bit shocked when he went in but was smiling when > he came out and said that the car would be ready on Wednesday.
I don't think you're allowed to do that over here. Or, at least, not with a true credit card - I don't know if you can charge a car to American Express, but I doubt it. Not because of credit limits - the credit line on my Visa is high enough to buy a Porsche 911, never mind a Honda or Mazda - but there's some other reaon that prevents most car dealerships from taking credit for anything except a place-holder deposit. You're not supposed to make the down payment with a credit card, either, but that's because most finance agreements explicitly prohibit you from using credit for the deposit - not an issue if you're not financing. He's missing something if he took the MX5 over the Honda 2000, though. The Honda is a much nicer car. As it should be, considering the fact that it's priced at least 50% higher than the MX5.
