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Manufacturers were going a bit crazy last week as they warned contract hire companies and brokers from selling on hugely discounted new cars. As though this was earth shatteringly new! It isn’t, how do you think the car supermarkets have been able to sell new cars more cheaply than main dealers can buy them for? The practice of daily rental companies selling on brand new cars to Read more »

Insurance fraud is growing to epidemic proportions. In the latest scam police arrested a company director who has been allegedly raking in millions of pounds in a ‘crash for cash’ scam involving luxury cars. Detectives arrested a 23 year old man following a raid on his flat in Paddington after an 8 month investigation. The police have confirmed that they are still on the look out for a second person in connection with the crime. In a raid on a warehouse in Tottenham police seized 13 cars supposedly Read more »

Animal damage is on the increase according to contract hire company Masterlease. During 2007 animal damage cost Masterlease customers nearly £100,000 after vehicles were in collision with a variety of animals from badgers, cattle, deer and pheasants to domestic cats and dogs. The most common collision was with deer, accounting for 28% of all animal collisions. Pheasants caused 21% and badgers 9%. However, the surprising big increase was accidents involving cattle which caused an average of £1,100 worth of damage to each vehicle. By Graham Hill

I mentioned the tax changes that will take place in April 2009 relating to company cars. However, some people are confused over the affects on leased cars whilst others still have concerns over their capital allowances after the changes have taken place. It would of course be wise to seek the advice of your accountant but in order to shed some light on a confusing situation – I hope this helps. First of all one thing will not change and that is the position with regard to ‘Low CO2 Emission Cars’. Whilst the threshold Read more »

Having been the first to break the news that the takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB would also result in the amalgamation of the two contract hire giants Lex and Autolease many are now reviewing what this could mean to the industry. Whilst the takeover still has to be approved by the FSA and needs shareholder approval both MD’s have said that in the meantime it is business as usual. As both companies are Read more »

OK now I’ve filled you with doom and gloom let me give you the good news. Whilst this new superleasing company (Lloyds/TSB Lex) will dominate the market, because of the scale of their operation they will have to concentrate more on the large fleets rather than the SME and consumer sectors, thereby increasing competition amongst the smaller players. As a result contract hire companies such as Leaseplan, Lombard, Masterlease etc will concentrate on model specific deals. Whilst the superlease company will arrange Read more »

If you are the sort of person who still likes to own your car then at some stage you will need to sell it again but according to contract hire company Lex it depends where you live as to how much you will get for your old car. If you have gone green and now own a hybrid or electric car you will be better off in the South especially around London as a result of the affects of congestion charging. Conversely Read more »

As the credit crunch continues to have an effect more brokers are reporting difficulties with underwriting. As many of my readers know I have a column with Motor Finance – the journal of the motor finance industry and many brokers that contact me, as a result of my column, have reported that lease enquiries are still running high but finance declines are running higher than ever as funders become more selective as they prepare for the anticipated recession. Read more »

Whilst identity fraud continues to increase and cause concern to the leasing companies that often pay out tens of thousands of pounds for cars after receiving just a few signed documents and an advanced rental cheque, often for less than £1,000, motor finance fraud is relatively low compared to say credit card fraud or online purchase fraud. But there has been a steady increase in some more sophisticated organised fraud that results in professionals having their identities used in order to Read more »

Leasing companies are really starting to feel the squeeze from several directions. Interest rates are going up, new car prices are increasing, there are fewer customers and more importantly used car prices have taken a sudden dive resulting in losses on virtually every car that is being de-fleeted  forcing rates up further on new cars in order to balance the losses. However, in addition to the rate adjustments we have seen many leasing companies try to recoup losses from customers by making large Read more »