Low Lease Rates Online Could Be An Old Scam Returning

Friday, 12. September 2008

On the subject of scams there is a lot of evidence of an old favourite amongst the more unscrupulous brokers returning. It was used a lot in the last recession and will no doubt be used even more as we have the added ‘bonus’ of a credit crunch as we move in the direction of another recession. It’s based on the deal that doesn’t exist, the sort of thing that dealers used to do a lot in the past by advertising a really cheap car to undercut all the local competition then telling the customer when they call that they have just sold the last of those cars but they have another car on not quite such a good deal to offer instead. Well in this scam the broker offers a deal that doesn’t exist in the form of a really cheap lease rate to undercut all the competition. As I always suggest you should never accept the very cheapest rate as there is normally a problem just waiting to happen. Anyway, you call and surprisingly this is not a scam, the deal exists and you can have the car in whatever timescale the car can actually be provided. Phew, it’s not a scam, so you complete your finance application and submit it, but here is the scam. You get a call from the broker to say that either the funder, who had bought a batch of these cars, has now run out or you have been declined for credit, either way you are now really disappointed, however there is some good news. The nice broker has another funder he can use who still has some cars left but as his underwriting isn’t so tough he feels certain that he will get you through on finance (for those who have been supposedly declined) or the funder has slightly higher rates but of course he has stock available or on order so would the customer like to go for the car at an extra £15 or so a month? Of course the broker has been sitting there with an acceptance from the first funder all along at the higher rate. The trouble is that I have occasionally had clients declined by one funder then accepted by another for no apparent reason and one funder who runs out of cars whilst another still has cars available, so there are occasionally instances when this is the case but then again I don’t advertise myself on the Internet or advertise unachievable rates. I am also a member of a professional body who would view any complaint made along these lines very seriously. The moral again – beware the low rates and only deal with brokers who are members of a professional body. By Graham Hill