The Best Car Finance Blog In The World

I have mixed views over my next piece. You see over the years I have recommended to clients that they make use of the law wherever they can to save money. One area that I have heavily promoted is covered by sections 99 and 100 of the Consumer Credit Act, better known as Voluntary Termination, whereby once you have paid half the total cost of the finance, you can simply hand the car back to the HP provider and they have to stand any loss between what would normally be required to Read more »

Research by licence checking company, CFC solutions, revealed that whilst there is a common held belief that young drivers and older drivers have more points on their licences than those in their middle age, it’s not as simple as that. The theory held good and younger and older drivers (17 – 25 & 65+) certainly do have a higher frequency of points on their licences but it was found that those in the 25-34 and 35-44 age groups, when they had points, they were more than in the other age groups. Read more »

Electric vehicles are too quiet! I mentioned this in one of my very early articles about the introduction of electric vehicles. With no engine, only a fairly quiet motor, electric vehicles could pose a danger to pedestrians and cyclists. Modec, manufacturer of electric commercial vehicles has said that of all the vehicles built over the past 3 years, only one customer, Royal Mail, has asked for noise awareness equipment to be fitted. They say this is because the vans are being used in large hangers so Read more »

I loved the story about those responsible for vehicle fleets attending the recent Fleet Van conference. These people are all responsible for making sure that drivers act lawfully and adhere to all areas of vehicle, driver and employee legislation. But whilst they were listening to the speakers, ATS Euromaster had nipped out to the car park with their tread gauges and checked all the vehicles. The attendees were then confronted by the fact that 9% of the vehicles were given Red Tyre warnings. This Read more »

The economy is fragile and uncertain which means there is greater demand for short term leases, as businesses and consumers look to restrict their commitments. Unfortunately, the fact that the manufacturers have scaled back production considerably, means that there is no overstock of vehicles available. This oversupply would normally encourage the manufacturers to provide additional bonuses, making short term leases relatively cheap, as this bonus helps to offset the heaviest Read more »

Andrew Sentance may not be a name that you have come across before but he is very important in our lives. He sits on the Monetary Policy Committee in the Bank of England. They sit each month and decide whether base rate should stay the same, at 0.5% or increase. Since the rate dropped to 0.5% every member of the committee has voted to keep it at the same level, that is until the October meeting at which Mr Read more »

Oh dear, oh dear oh dear! When are people going to start treating car finance as a specialist product and one that must be very carefully considered before taking it out rather than a tin of beans that they can tout around online to see whether Tesco have them on offer this week or are they cheaper at Asda? There are three major comparisons to be made when deciding upon the finance that you are going to take out. Read more »

My gadget of the week is the equivalent to an in car black box. It’s an app that runs on the Android system on mobile phones. It allows you to relive a journey complete with details such as speed, time and location. The Daily Roads Voyager app uses your smartphone’s and built in GPS sensor to record a mixture of photo and video information. You will be able to record and share details of anything you see in your travels but in the event of an accident you will have video evidence and data such Read more »

There’s a scandal out there that no-one realised. Yep, you guessed it we’re talking exhausts here. Dirty exhausts. Emission testers Emission Test Facility UK, based in Longbridge, West Mids. tested scores of aftermarket exhaust systems against manufacturer’s own with some shocking results. Some emitted up to 20 times the level of nitrogen dioxide and twice as many hydrocarbons. One well known brand’s £300 Read more »

The Graham Hill review of the week is on two cars following the re-birth of Lotus, one of my favourite car makers of all time. Probably because my namesake drove for them when he started his motor racing career and won his second world F1 title in his famous Lotus 49. Anyway, after returning to F1, Lotus have now launched the new Esprit and Elise at the Paris Motor Show (along with Elan, Elite, Eterne and a Read more »