Monday, 19. September 2011
The motor industry gets a bad press when it comes to the way it treats customers but I feel certain that the vast majority of car dealers act honourably and fairly. However, treating customers fairly doesn’t make for good headlines so I tend to only read the stories about the atrocious behaviour of just a few dealers when the customer, normally a Read more »
Monday, 18. July 2011
Have you heard of log book loans? Do you know what they are? As more people find themselves out of work and desperate to raise some cash to pay bills or attend interviews they are looking at some of these grey areas of raising cash. There are of course the loan sharks that everyone should avoid but there is one area that seems to have an air of Read more »
Friday, 15. July 2011
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The Guardian Newspaper offered some advice to a driver who bought a car from failed on-line provider, Autoquake. It seemed MW of Farnham in Surrey bought an £8,000 car but was seduced into taking out a warranty costing £859 which included breakdown cover, which he was very pleased with. However, after a month the administrator wrote to Read more »
Monday, 9. May 2011
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I am very Mr Angry of Sussex. You see I get very frustrated when it comes to poor customer service, not helped by the fact that I’m the UK’s leading authority when it comes to vehicle finance so when I see a so called expert or an authoritative car magazine or national newspaper giving so called advice which is flawed I get bloody furious. Take a Read more »
Monday, 14. March 2011
Last week I reported on the shambles known as the EU Consumer Credit Directive that would, without doubt, cause widespread confusion amongst consumers and small businesses (who were included in the Consumer Credit Act but not in the CCD). Trying to get the message across to customers in dealerships would result in the blind leading the blind Read more »
Tuesday, 8. March 2011
A few weeks ago I had a bet with an old friend of mine over one of the critical sectors that I believed had been omitted from the new EU Consumer Credit Directive (CCD) which came fully into force from 1st February. The question was over Hire Purchase. I knew that the sister product, known as Conditional Sale, was included but it was my understanding that Hire Purchase was excluded and was therefore simply controlled, as it always has been, by our existing Consumer Credit Act. Confused? It gets Read more »
Sunday, 12. December 2010
During many of my discussions and presentations it is often clear that those using vehicle finance or personal loans think that there is some sort of master format that means they don’t have to bother reading it. Those that may understand that this isn’t the case may ask which terms are important, the ones they need to read? Whether it is only necessary to understand the terms in a lease as opposed to a personal loan. The fact is that EVERY term in a contract is important and should be read and Read more »
Monday, 6. December 2010
If you were to have some major surgery, I’m sure you would need to know that the person carrying out the work was a qualified and capable surgeon with a history of successful operations. If not you may end up a paraplegic or worse still not survive the operation, so I’d say that it was quite important to feel confident that you are using a professional who is good at his job. On the other hand you may have a faulty gas appliance and need a repair carried out. Who would you call in to carry out the Read more »
Sunday, 5. September 2010
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 »
Tuesday, 4. May 2010
I am, without doubt, the leading expert in car finance in the UK. However, wherever you look there are ‘experts’ who will not fail to give bad advice. This seriously winds me up because it can cost people a lot of money and in some of the worst cases, their home. It’s bad enough when this bad advice is given by well meaning friends down the pub or an accountant who is really not specialist, as I am, in vehicle finance. Read more »