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

[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. 😄

[snowbimmer]

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. 😄

Good grief. Bunch of wankers.

Haven't tested out my dealership since the end of October. No fee at that time.

[Zig613]

This appears to be a new trend where the credit card fees are passed directly onto the specific costumer vs being buried into the cost of service. I recently purchased a new sofa and recliner. The store provided a 2.5% discount if I chose to not to pay by credit card. Locally I have seen the discount method to curb use of credit cards more often lately. So far, the BMW dealer I use buries the cost of the credit card fees into their service prices - no discount or additional fees.

[BavarianPretzel]

Just to be fair, some of the companies that I use also require convenience fee if paying the bills using a credit card:

Local electric company

Local water company

County property tax (house and cars)

Fiber internet

Kebab restaurant

Waste management

The list is long, so I guess the BMW dealer is just doing what other local companies have been doing for years.

[BenFenner]

Originally Posted by Zig613

This appears to be a new trend where the credit card fees are passed directly onto the specific costumer vs being buried into the cost of service.

It's because the agreements the credit card companies used to make the retailers sign (where they agreed to not pass on the cost of the credit card transaction to the customer) were ruled illegal ~6 years ago.

This is a good thing™.

People should know what they are paying for, and be able to make informed decisions.

People paying cash should not have to subsidize those using a card.

Etc.

[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.

[OC40]

Mine has a fee for transactions over $1,000. I couldn’t use my cc for a large down payment. I wanted the points. 😭

[OC40]

Originally Posted by BenFenner

It's because the agreements the credit card companies used to make the retailers sign (where they agreed to not pass on the cost of the credit card transaction to the customer) were ruled illegal ~6 years ago.

This is a good thing™.

People should know what they are paying for, and be able to make informed decisions.

People paying cash should not have to subsidize those using a card.

Etc.

I don’t understand this comment in this context:

People should know what they are paying for, and be able to make informed decisions.

For a down payment, I could use my card without a fee. Now, I have to pay a fee.

I knew what I was paying for in both scenarios. What am I missing here?

[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

[pbonsalb]

The fee add on has long been the case in many other countries. It seems to be a new and increasing thing in the USA. I would expect it to become more common. Probably started in part due to this administration’s sweeping imposition of tariffs, which in most cases are paid by the consumer through higher prices.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by BenFenner

It's because the agreements the credit card companies used to make the retailers sign (where they agreed to not pass on the cost of the credit card transaction to the customer) were ruled illegal ~6 years ago.

This is a good thing™.

People should know what they are paying for, and be able to make informed decisions.

People paying cash should not have to subsidize those using a card.

Etc.

We live in 2025 not 1960s. If anything you're the one costing society/being subsidized for using cash exclusively. Stores need to do more work (like count the money AFAIK) VS electronic payments via debit or credit.

And now we take the brunt of them paying for convenience lol. It's their cost of doing business.

[pz619]

My favorite was a place that had a 3% credit fee, but also had a cash policy that all change would be rounded down to the nearest dollar (no coins).

Can't fucking win.

[zx10guy]

What gets me is that the changes many businesses are doing are not disclosed upfront on their web pages at the very least.

I'm not a person that carries around thousands of dollars in cash. I had work done at two shops a few months ago. Both have this policy. One of them I only found out when I arrived at the shop. The other disclosed it upfront on the phone. The one that I found out in person only accepted cash and no personal checks. I get why they wouldn't want to risk dealing with personal checks, but come on.

[BavarianPretzel]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

What gets me is that the changes many businesses are doing are not disclosed upfront on their web pages at the very least.

I'm not a person that carries around thousands of dollars in cash. I had work done at two shops a few months ago. Both have this policy. One of them I only found out when I arrived at the shop. The other disclosed it upfront on the phone. The one that I found out in person only accepted cash and no personal checks. I get why they wouldn't want to risk dealing with personal checks, but come on.

I thought plans were being worked on to eliminate paper personal checks from this country? I have not written a check in over 10 years…

[OC40]

Originally Posted by BavarianPretzel

I thought plans were being worked on to eliminate paper personal checks from this country? I have not written a check in over 10 years…

My bank had to print off a sheet of three personal checks for me. I haven’t kept checks around for like a decade. Lol

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by BavarianPretzel

I thought plans were being worked on to eliminate paper personal checks from this country? I have not written a check in over 10 years…

Nope. I still write checks. I pay my home property tax with the county with a paper check because they do the 3% surcharge thing for using a credit card. The management company/HOA of my vacation home also charges a 3% surcharge which makes me write a check over doing an electronic payment.

The only place that's reasonable with a fee with using an electronic payment is the city my vacation home is in to pay my water bill. I do an electronic check payment when a bill is due and they only charge a 50 cent fee which covers the stamp I would have had to use to mail in a payment.

[jzeiler4]

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

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by OC40

I knew what I was paying for in both scenarios. What am I missing here?

I think they're saying people should be informed about how their payment choice may screw other people, and be ready to be asked to not screw them as much any more.

These fees have been around forever but I do think they're becoming more common. I don't like it but it makes sense. The business we're paying lose a couple percent of the sale to pay the credit card companies. Obviously it's not free to use the credit card services, some fee makes sense of course, and it is definitely convenient for us and them as well. But using cash or checks appears free, because the banks don't charge for the use of checks (yet) and businesses don't tend to think in terms of the time their employees spend taking care of the cash transactions.

It's been this way for a while but maybe more prevalent because it's become more socially acceptable or something. It's dumb for a gas station transaction but make a $5,000 down payment with a card instead of a check, so one can get points or "cash back", is certainly a great move to make if you can get away with it but shouldn't be met with very much disappointment when it no longer can be.

We still have checks in our household. I'd say once a month or so we have to write one. We don't like them but they're necessary. Just today I wrote one to a father & son tree trimming company that isn't big enough to take a card.

[OC40]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

I think they're saying people should be informed about how their payment choice may screw other people, and be ready to be asked to not screw them as much any more.

These fees have been around forever but I do think they're becoming more common. I don't like it but it makes sense. The business we're paying lose a couple percent of the sale to pay the credit card companies. Obviously it's not free to use the credit card services, some fee makes sense of course, and it is definitely convenient for us and them as well. But using cash or checks appears free, because the banks don't charge for the use of checks (yet) and businesses don't tend to think in terms of the time their employees spend taking care of the cash transactions.

It's been this way for a while but maybe more prevalent because it's become more socially acceptable or something. It's dumb for a gas station transaction but make a $5,000 down payment with a card instead of a check, so one can get points or "cash back", is certainly a great move to make if you can get away with it but shouldn't be met with very much disappointment when it no longer can be.

We still have checks in our household. I'd say once a month or so we have to write one. We don't like them but they're necessary. Just today I wrote one to a father & son tree trimming company that isn't big enough to take a card.

Time and safety are key here. Someone has to take cash to a bank (and checks if the business doesn’t have remote check deposit).

All of the smaller businesses that I have dealt with use Zelle (plumber, painter, contractor, heating/cooling, electrician). As someone that works/worked at two large banks for the past 25+ years (can’t believe I just typed that!), I’m a big fan of Zelle over checks.

[Pathy01]

Originally Posted by BenFenner

It's because the agreements the credit card companies used to make the retailers sign (where they agreed to not pass on the cost of the credit card transaction to the customer) were ruled illegal ~6 years ago.

This is a good thing™.

People should know what they are paying for, and be able to make informed decisions.

People paying cash should not have to subsidize those using a card.

Etc.

No, it's not a good thing when in most cases the pricing was already set to include the cost of card processing. I guarantee businesses did not lower the price to reflect that when they decided to charge the convenience fee. It's just a way to disguise the raising of prices, and many are setting the fee at a higher rate than their avg. transactional cost for card processing (this varies in most cases based on merchant services agreement, specific cards used, etc.).

As already mentioned, the handling of cash is not free and has a cost associated, which is likely similar if not higher than card acceptance.

I appreciate businesses that at least offer debit (much lower processing fees) without a fee, since carrying and dealing with cash is an inconvenience for all parties and transacting large amounts (honestly) in cash makes no sense.

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

I think they're saying people should be informed about how their payment choice may screw other people, and be ready to be asked to not screw them as much any more.

These fees have been around forever but I do think they're becoming more common. I don't like it but it makes sense. The business we're paying lose a couple percent of the sale to pay the credit card companies. Obviously it's not free to use the credit card services, some fee makes sense of course, and it is definitely convenient for us and them as well. But using cash or checks appears free, because the banks don't charge for the use of checks (yet) and businesses don't tend to think in terms of the time their employees spend taking care of the cash transactions.

It's been this way for a while but maybe more prevalent because it's become more socially acceptable or something. It's dumb for a gas station transaction but make a $5,000 down payment with a card instead of a check, so one can get points or "cash back", is certainly a great move to make if you can get away with it but shouldn't be met with very much disappointment when it no longer can be.

We still have checks in our household. I'd say once a month or so we have to write one. We don't like them but they're necessary. Just today I wrote one to a father & son tree trimming company that isn't big enough to take a card.

But that's the thing: it doesn't make sense. The fee is the cost of doing business for the convenience and advantages of taking credit cards. One of those major advantages is getting customers – if I'm potentially making a purchase, I always have a credit card but rarely have cash. If your business doesn't take credit cards, guess what? You're not getting my business that day because I'm not going to go find an ATM just to eat lunch at your restaurant, buy a soda, etc. No business is taking credit cards for the fun of it – they find it advantageous in various ways, otherwise they wouldn't do it. But now they've decided that I should be paying for something that benefits them. Just like tipping everyone in the world so that employers can underpay their employees.

Again, if a business doesn't want to pay that fee, the answer is simple: don't accept credit cards. Easy. But be willing to accept the consequences. There's a couple of restaurants I occasionally go to that are cash-only – it's a choice they've made, but they're so good that it's worth the extra trouble. But most businesses aren't worth the extra trouble, so they accept credit cards because it's advantageous to them. If that's the case, they need to pay for that benefit. Not me.

I've gotten to the point where if Business A charges me that fee and Business B doesn't, I'll go to Business B exclusively. Hopefully more people will do this.

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by OC40

Time and safety are key here. Someone has to take cash to a bank (and checks if the business doesn’t have remote check deposit).

Yeah, A few times I took money from a restaurant to a late night drop-off bin at the bank. It's a thing for sure, what I tried saying (maybe it was clear) was that a lot of businesses don't seem to consider the time people put into these things and the cost of that time. I know mine doesn't always consider it LOL.

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

But that's the thing: it doesn't make sense. The fee is the cost of doing business for the convenience and advantages of taking credit cards.

It was buried, but I do largely agree. My gas station example. I'm just not surprised however for the bigger things, a dealer not taking a $5,000 deposit with a card and losing $150 or something in the process.