The Best Car Finance Blog In The World

Statistics really get on my wick! Speaking to fleet owners and various lenders it is clear that there is less money to lend and businesses as well as consumers are finding it more difficult to finance vehicles. My own association, the NACFB has said that current lending by members is around £7 billion compared to £20 billion in the mid 2000’s. And yet banks and the lender’s association, the FLA say that they are lending more and that, according to FLA statistics their members are lending 16% more to Read more »

Graham Hill’s new book, Graham Hill’s Simple Guide To Car Finance, get’s released through Press Box. Follow the link below:

http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/Financial/INAPPROPRIATE_CAR_FINANCE_IS_COSTING_MILLIONS_EVERY_YEAR_547708.html

It’s turned out to be a pretty busy week following the launch of my new book, Graham Hill’s Simple Guide To Car Finance which I hope will get everyone driving a great car. Preparing for finance is vitally important at the moment as there is little money about to lend. So that tempting low APR or monthly lease rate, that gets you sending off your finance application, may lead to a decline if you are not totally Read more »

Another amazing piece of news is that my blog is number one! When I was much younger I had aspirations to become a singer and maybe top the charts, make a fortune and have lots of screaming teenagers throwing themselves at me whilst I disappeared off down the road in my E Type Jag. OK, with a voice like mine it was never going to happen and I’ve dated a few nice ladies over the years and of course driven some Read more »

One of the last meetings I attended at which we discussed the state of the motor finance industry, we were told by one of the leading accountancy practices in the UK along with a couple of large leasing operations that the biggest problem faced by the industry was lack of liquidity or in other words lack of money to lend to you and me. This has been confirmed by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Read more »

According to Experian, the credit reference agency, automotive fraud increased by 35% during the first half of 2010. 34 in every 10,000 applications were considered potentially criminal. The majority were recorded in the second quarter showing an upward trend. First party fraud overtook third party identity fraud during April to June as the most common type of attempted fraud. First party fraud is typically where individuals attempt to hide adverse credit history or misrepresent their employment status to try and secure credit and other Read more »

On the 14^th September I attended a meeting of the good and great in the vehicle finance industry at the London offices of Grant Thornton. The purpose was to debate the challenges of the industry which would be reported in the journal of the industry, Motor Finance. There were many conflicting views but the bottom line is that we are still in for a tough time. Clearly there is a lack of liquidity in the vehicle finance Read more »

In the course of one week I’ve had what could be best described as a lively debate with two customers, over the contract profile that they took their cars on. One had his car on a 3+23 profile and the other 3+35. I have explained the way the profile works to the point of tedium, reported it on the blog and given examples but people are still confused and I really can’t see why? I think we all accept that a car Read more »

If you are about to finance a car in your own name as opposed to through a business, you will need to allow a little extra time between ordering, signing the finance agreement and collection/delivery of the new car. According to the new EU Consumer Credit Directive all agreements that fall within the terms of our own Consumer Credit Act must be given a 14 day cooling off period. In the past, if you signed the agreement on trade premises, for example at a dealership or the premises of a broker Read more »

According to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) around half of vans on UK roads fail spot safety checks suggesting that van fleets are wilfully disregarding mechanical defects and ignoring the need for regular maintenance checks. Their findings show that van fleet offences now exceed those of HGV’s and PSV’s. More than half of the 21,000 vans checked last year uncovered mechanical defects compared Read more »