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A few days ago I had a very interesting chat with a referred client. He had always obtained his cars from dealerships in the belief that this was the best way to do it. He had moved from HP to PCP as it removed the risk in the resale value of the car. His last two cars, funded on PCP, were simply handed back to the leasing company as they weren’t worth the Read more »

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 »

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I am often asked how the lease rates on some cars can be so low compared to the cost of the car? Take for example the deal we had last year on the VW Passat CC (their new 4 door coupe). If you had taken the car on a 2 year lease you would have paid the equivalent of 26 payments x £229.99 + VAT. That’s a total of £7,175 on a car that cost around Read more »

This year has been a bit of a struggle for many industry sectors but not so much for the motor industry. Following the scrappage scheme it was expected that the motor industry would contract and dealerships close, something I personally didn’t think would happen. In anticipation of a potential downturn the manufacturers started to scale down production in 2008/9, some would say too far, as virtually every new car drifted out to long delivery lead times as demand remained relatively high. This Read more »

It’s turned out to be a pretty busy week following the launch of my new book, Graham Hill’s Simple Guide To Car Finance which I hope will get everyone driving a great car. Preparing for finance is vitally important at the moment as there is little money about to lend. So that tempting low APR or monthly lease rate, that gets you sending off your finance application, may lead to a decline if you are not totally Read more »

If you see a car you like, now is not a good time to wait to see if the rate improves. With some Audi’s now having a delivery lead time quoted at 26 weeks there is far from an over supply out there. It now seems that the ‘bible’ used by leasing companies to predict future car values, CAP, may be as much as 10% adrift in its valuations which is likely to lead to some re-alignment of rates quoted by the leasing companies. Read more »

Just as we were hoping to see more lease deals come through and rates start to drop CAP, the used car valuation company, has announced a weakening of the used car market and prices through auction starting to fall slightly. Mike Hind of CAP said that he wasn’t too concerned as ‘This is not the same dynamic as the panic of 2008.’ Although he went on to point out that the market is at its weakest for 12 months with no Read more »

Lease rates will have to increase for some of the larger ‘gas guzzlers’ as a result of the new showroom tax. However, there are some winners. If your new car spits out less than 130 g/km of carbon dioxides then you will pay no showroom tax and low road fund licence (car tax). The highest showroom tax is £950 for vehicles throwing out over 255 g/km of carbon dioxides. Aimed at discouraging large environmentally Read more »

According to reports by trade valuation guides, Glass’s Guide and CAP, the setting of residual values will become more difficult this year due to future uncertainties. Last year values increased as a result of the scrappage scheme, which removed cars from the system, fewer new cars were registered and more lease cars had their leases extended forcing up used car values in the middle of a recession because supply fell Read more »

My view, over the last few weeks, that we will see some return to the fleet market by manufacturers, now struggling with sales, following the end of the scrappage scheme, seems to be substantiated as Skoda, Chevrolet and Renault have all stated in one week that they are aiming at the fleet market. Renault aims to increase its market share from 3.17% to 5% this year whilst Chevrolet launches an independent fleet sales Read more »