Tough to buy car with credit card

Dear Terry,
If you have the money in the bank, is it useful to buy a car with a cash-back credit card to save money on the total purchase price?
-- Stephen

Dear Stephen,
If I understand you correctly, you want to put the car on your credit card, reap the card's cash-back benefits, then pay off the card with cash. It's a nice idea, but I doubt many dealers would let you do this.

The dealer pays the credit card company as much as 2 percent of the transaction, so that's another 2 percent out of the dealer's pocket. Most dealers will let you put part of the car's price -- usually capped at $5,000 or less -- on a credit card and then pay the remainder in cash or by financing.