Can you buy a car with a Credit Card!?

I have heard that it was possible to buy a car in Malaysia with a credit card. 4 years ago when I purchased my Bezza, I was told that I am allowed to use my card but will have to pay a surcharge of 1.5%! I of course decided against it.

A month ago, I purchased another new Perodua car, this time a Myvi as I felt that Bezza is a little noisy on the highway and the mileage is not so low after nearly 4 years of highway driving (for work purposes).

I asked around and was told that Perodua Sentral does accept FULL payment of the car using Credit card. I quickly went down to the branch and viola, yes they do! And the better news is they also accept AMEX card, this means that I can swipe my Maybank 2 Card AMEX with them.

https://www.maybank2u.com.my/maybank2u/malaysia/en/personal/cards/credit/maybank_2_platinum_card.page?

I have owned a Maybank 2 AMEX Platinum card since the first few months it was launched. I vividly remember that I applied for the card at 1Utama on one of the weekend and have been using the card for weekend 5% rebates ever since. Now, what is the trick in optimizing the benefits of the card?

I happened to have a credit limit of RM60k so swiping the card once for the card is sufficient. If you have a lower credit limit, you might want to split into 2 or 3 different cards - I understand that Perodua will happily assist you in this. I looked into the detail T&Cs and realized that now on weekend spends, you'll be given 5% rebate up to RM50/month with no treatpoints. So if I swipe my card for the purchase of the car on weekends, my cash incentive/rebate is RM50 only! What if I swiped the card on weekdays? I calculated that I will be getting ~250,000 treatpoints (5x points x RM50,000). And how much I get out of it in $$? If I redeem the points via merchant like SenHeng, it's 500 points to RM1. Which means that it's about RM500 of value!

SenQ/SenHeng credit card points redemption at store

1 week before I got my car, I went and swipe the full amount. After few days, the points came in and I went to SenHeng and bought myself a few things using part of the points. It went through flawlessly and I literally paid nothing for them! So, if you're one of the car buyers who like to buy cars with cash like me, do consider using Credit card to pay in full or at least check with the showroom on what is the maximum allowed without any charges! It's definitely more worth it than paying it with solid cash. But make sure you don't forget to redeem them as points get devalued often and it has gone down the drain over the years that I owned all types of credit card.

The amount charged to my card

My 1st Month Review after owning Myvi 1.5H 2020

 I am one of the Malaysian who took advantage of the SST holiday and upgrade my car from a Bezza (which clocked in 70,000+km in less than 4 years) to Myvi 1.5H. The new Myvi came with ASA 2.0 and a whole lot of safety features like hill start assist, traction control etc. 

The SST rebate was ~RM1800 and Perodua gave a RM1000 further discounts for Oct 2020 registered Myvi 1.5H car. Coupled with the salesman discount and 55% NCD rebate I paid <RM50k for the car to run on the road.

How was the fuel consumption?

Since I was driving a Bezza 1.3X before, it's a very important question to answer after owning the car for about a month. During the first 1,000km break-in period, fuel consumption was horribly poor and the average I am getting is about 15 - 16km/l on my usual of 18-20km/l on my Bezza. Suprisingly, after the break-in period, fuel consumption improved significantly and I am doing 18-20km/l now. Yes it cannot be compared to Bezza but it's doing pretty alright in fact, in view that it's a 1.5l engine vs 1.3l on the Bezza.

What I like?
1. Solid door closure, relatively well insulated upper body for reduced noise in the car
2. Good styling on the outside - it looked very stylish, in fact too stylish as I am no longer a young grad wanting to show off a 'hippie' car to a group of 'hippie' friends
3. Stable even up to 150km/hr. Yes you read it right, I heard from a colleague that Myvi do 150km/hr well and I tried it for a very short duration. It was very stable, a little bit of escalation in noise but the car pick up speed very fast.
4. Powerful engine with good fuel economy. It makes the drive more fun and easy going. 
5. Good sound system especially if you like spotify and you can connect your app and play the songs over bluetooth. The quality is good I must say.
6. ASA 2.0 - although it costs RM2000, but it's the only 1 in 2 models sub RM60k having this feature. It does beep a few times when I am too close to the car in front or navigating tight corners and at a faster speed. Not flawless but it's a very much welcomed safety feature.

I managed to do a 20km/l fuel consumption on a 90+km driving distance with light foot on the pedal.

What I don't like?
1. Undercarriage sound is a little bit more significant. You can feel when going through uneven or not so well tarred roads - in Malaysian context, sound from the tyres are very noisy!
2. The suspension is a little harder than most cars. It's not bothering me a lot but I do have to slow down a little when going over a hump. 
3. Unable to deactivate Eco-Idle permanently. To disable this feature you will have to do it manually each time you start and drive the car.

I would say that Myvi is a worth buy and I would recommend it over getting a Axia or Bezza (especially considering Bezza is slight few thousand cheaper but with a boot). If you're looking for a car and don't need a lot of boot space like me, Myvi is a very good choice. I am a traveller who drives 20,000km a year to work and carry with me a small light bag for clothing only since I work out of town. In conclusion, there are just so many pluses vs negative so I must say I am happy with my purchase. :-)