Thursday, 4. August 2011
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Alphabet is the fleet management division of BMW and a company that I have criticised for using some somewhat dodgy PCP type schemes to avoid the full legal rights that a consumer would have within a traditional PCP type scheme. The latest news is that they are expanding by taking over ING Car Lease in order to expand as a multi brand Read more »
Tuesday, 2. August 2011
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With reports that insurance costs are continually rising and teenage insurance now said to average £4,000 per annum it seems that car makers are likely to wade in and fight the fight. Ford has announced a new service that will handle accident management claims. By cutting out injury lawyer referral fees it says its customers could soon be enjoying Read more »
Sunday, 24. July 2011
If you are a regular reader of my postings you know that I rage on about simply taking the cheapest lease rate. In a recent article in Fleet News I found that I wasn’t the only one holding these views, most of the leasing companies do also. In fact it seems that the reason why many large lessors have pulled out of the broker market is that they don’t Read more »
Wednesday, 20. July 2011
Whilst I hear many a complaint in the pubs and bars about the fact that you aren’t charged the half percent bank base rate interest when you take a loan or HP, most people understand the reason why. If lenders were to charge half a percent interest they would soon go bust as that wouldn’t cover the cost of the documents let alone all the other costs Read more »
Tuesday, 19. July 2011
As of the 1st July the Bribery Act came into force. There was a great deal of concern when the terms of the Act were originally announced as it looked as though buying someone a cup of tea and a sandwich could be construed as an act of bribery. However, it seems that common sense may have played a part in the final wording of the Act following 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 »
Saturday, 16. July 2011
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Following from my previous article there has been much confusion for years about warranties provided on used cars. It has been a much held view that a car warranty is an insurance policy and therefore falls within the control of the Financial Services Act. In other words you have to be a regulated advisor to discuss the product and the product itself 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, 11. July 2011
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Been a busy week for me this week, had a board meeting of the NACFB, of which I’m a director on Tuesday 28th followed by a lovely dinner, hosted by an old friend of the association, Bob Lefroy, editor of Business Money. This all took place at the Birmingham NEC Hilton Metropole and what a hotel that is. Amazing in size and activity. Add in a Neil Read more »
Tuesday, 5. July 2011
I’m going to send out some training soon, much of which will address some important car finance issues. One of the main subjects is APR, what it is, how it works and why it’s a complete waste of time. I am on a mission to change the way we look at finance in the UK and why I think that it is important to change attitudes. To give a little taster APR is Read more »