Wednesday, 31. July 2013
Now I know this will cause you to roll about the floor in fits of hysterics but I actually have a soft spot for French cars. No seriously – it’s true. They tend to be ultra comfy, have lots of gadgets and occasionally look a little bit tasty/different.
I remember a Renault 25 V6i that I had years ago. At the time Renault were consistently winning the touring car championship and supplied many of the F1 engines but more than the fact that the engineering was amazing it actually had a graphic equaliser built into the centre console! How brilliant was that? And with seats thicker than the average armchair it was a delight to drive.
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So I was unhappy to read that the French manufacturers are struggling badly. As was recently reported PSA Peugeot Citroen’s finances are in a mess. The group is ‘burning’ 200 million Euros (£172m) every month and sales are not strong. The French Government has already loaned the group 7 billion Euros (£6.03bn) and are now represented on the board but long term the group needs a new industrial and financial partner.
GM has a 7% stake but is showing no appetite to invest further. Rumours obviously involve China with a hot favourite DongFeng (no I haven’t either), but there has been no official comment. In the meantime PSA will continue to bounce along with a grave lack of direction. I for one hope they turn things around. By Graham Hill Car Finance
Sunday, 30. October 2011
If someone does a particular job for a living and you need some advice related to the work he or she does would it not be a good idea to ask them for advice? For example if you weren’t sure how to record expenses in your books would you ask an accountant? Changing some taps in the bathroom, it might be a good idea to get some advice from a Read more »
Friday, 28. October 2011
Oh dear, can you hear that bubbling? If you can it’s my blood boiling. Today it’s a manufacturer that’s managed to get my back up and the fact that Auto Express seems to be a bit short on advice again. A reader negotiated a good discount on a Vauxhall Corsa but then saw an ad for zero percent finance so naturally asked for the deal. The dealer explained Read more »
Monday, 24. October 2011
It seems that lenders in the vehicle finance sector are becoming more anal in the way that they are transacting business, requiring more information than ever before when applications are made in company names and becoming very tough about complete information and proofs when it comes to personal applications. This has led to customers Read more »
Friday, 14. October 2011
Been a busy week for me, last week I was attending, as a speaker, the F&I Conference and awards dinner. For the uninitiated F&I stands for Finance and Insurance offered by car dealers and brokers. It was a great event and even though I went over time with my presentation I believe it went down well. The most surprising thing for me was the Read more »
Sunday, 2. October 2011
We need a debate about this or a discussion about that, it’s all we seem to hear these days from the mouths of politicians. The banks aren’t lending – we need more sources of finance! This is the clarion call of the coalition but in truth it’s all around us, sources of finance I mean. We don’t need debates, discussions or more sources of finance it’s all Read more »
Thursday, 29. September 2011
I recently had a note from someone who was having major problems with a dealership over a fault that developed in his new car. The problem was taking far too long to resolve and the client was getting very frustrated. Even contacting the manufacturer didn’t seem to work so in a fit of rage he called the finance company, who legally still owned the car, Read more »
Monday, 26. September 2011
My blog continues to grow in stature, if you haven’t seen it you really should visit it sometime. It isn’t pretty but it contains more information than any other car finance blog in the world. As of this morning the site was number 1 on Google out of 200 million for the three word keyword expression Car Finance Blog . It has seen off it’s main rivals from Read more »
Thursday, 15. September 2011
With many 0% finance deals about, following the new registration launch, it is important to take note of the advice that I have given in my books and previous blog posts. That is to negotiate a deal on the car on which 0% finance is being offered as though you are a cash buyer. Get some extra discount on the car, a full fuel tank and maybe a few extras Read more »
Friday, 9. September 2011
Just imagine, you’ve had your car for the last 3 years without any problems at all. You got it from your local dealer on a special PCP scheme they had running at the time which made the deal attractive and the cost low. You know how the PCP scheme works as your last car was on a similar scheme, you put an amount down, make regular monthly payments Read more »