More Care Needed When Selecting On Line Leasing Companies

Wednesday, 13. August 2008

As the credit crunch bites harder funders and brokers/intermediaries fight each other for the lowest rates on the Internet to encourage you to use them, sometimes as a result of lying and conning. So now is the time to be very very careful as to which company you use to provide your car if you want to avoid problems in the future. Probably the most important fact to be aware of is that the person you place your business with on the Internet is not working for the funder or the dealer – he is actually working for you, even though you are not paying him a fee, his commission comes out of your monthly rental. So if a problem arises you won’t get much sympathy from the funder or the dealer. You therefore need to be very careful as to whom you are dealing with or you may end up with heart attack inducing end of contract charges or a car being delivered which is not the car you ordered. As I reported recently I am still fighting a case with a client of the Bank of Scotland who received an end of contract charge of over £4,000 which a year and a half later is now down to £1,750 but we are still fighting. Believe it won’t happen to you? The number of problems I am currently receiving is up to 2 or 3 a week. So whilst I am not saying you must use me, in fact I will only take on up to 10 new clients per month as I already have a substantial client base to look after, you should make sure that you use someone who is going to look after you, is a member of a professional/trade association and has professional indemnity insurance. Would you book a holiday through a non ABTA travel company, even though the cost of the holiday was less? Just consider the amount of money at stake and think carefully before using companies that you find with a great website but no credentials. By Graham Hill Finance