Surcharge Policy

This page is general information about how the DealerPayments surcharge program operates. It is not legal advice.

What this policy covers

This policy explains how the DealerPayments surcharge program operates at dealerships that run it. It is written for two audiences: dealers evaluating the program, and their customers who want to understand a charge on a receipt or a statement. It covers what the surcharge is, which cards it applies to, how it is disclosed, and how it is handled when a payment is refunded.

It is a description of the program as it runs today. It does not cover pricing for dealerships, which lives on the pricing page, and it does not cover how the program connects to CDK Drive, which lives on the CDK integration page.

Credit cards only

The surcharge applies to credit card transactions only. Debit and prepaid cards are never surcharged, including a debit card run as credit. The terminal identifies the card type automatically before the transaction completes, so the rule is enforced by the system rather than left to staff judgment at the counter.

This is not a setting a dealership can turn on or off per transaction. The card type drives the outcome every time, on every terminal in the store.

The 3% surcharge

Credit card transactions carry a 3% surcharge, applied at the point of payment and shown as its own line item, separate from the price of the goods or services purchased. A customer who pays by debit, cash, or check pays no surcharge at all.

The surcharge is calculated on the transaction total and added at the moment of payment. It is not folded into the listed price of a repair order, a part, or a vehicle, and it never appears as a surprise addition after the sale has already closed.

Disclosure

Customers see the surcharge before they pay. It is disclosed with signage at the point of entry and again at the point of sale, and it appears as its own line item on the receipt. There is no surcharge added after the fact.

A customer who pays by credit card sees the surcharge amount on the terminal screen before the charge goes through, and accepts it as part of completing the transaction. A customer who chooses debit, cash, or check never sees a surcharge line at all, because none applies.

Refunds

When a credit card payment is refunded, the surcharge is refunded automatically and proportionally. A full refund returns the full surcharge along with the original amount. A partial refund returns a proportional share of the surcharge, matched to the share of the transaction being refunded.

This runs automatically as part of processing the refund. There is no separate request to make and nothing for a cashier or a controller to calculate by hand.

Phone, text, and online payments

Payments taken by phone, text to pay, or an online payment link run through the same program. The 3% surcharge and the required disclosure apply on those channels the same as they do at the terminal, and debit still carries no surcharge on any of them.

Where the program operates

The program operates at participating dealerships where surcharging is permitted by applicable state law, and every transaction follows the card brand rules on surcharging. For the full mechanics of how the surcharge runs at the point of sale, see the surcharge program page. Common questions on debit, refunds, and disclosure are answered on the FAQ page.

Questions

Questions about how the surcharge applies to a specific transaction or dealership should go to our team, who can answer for that dealership's setup.