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A Fleet News survey has shocked many involved in the leasing industry but confirms my long held views that end of lease charges have been spiraling out of control. And this is just the tip of the iceberg because the survey has been carried out amongst the larger fleets only, the companies valued by the lessors and invariably looked after. When questioned the customers have complained that they have received recharges for stone chips and minor scuffs, the sort of damage that had been previously Read more »

Recently we have seen another couple of leasing companies amalgamate reducing the competition in the marketplace. This isn’t good news for the industry and it certainly isn’t good news for the customers as it continues to erode the competition. There are also fewer leasing companies dealing with brokers and the withdrawal of  consumer business by some, most notably Lombard, has resulted in a major contraction of the UK lease market and fewer great deals available. There has been an Read more »

I have had a number of clients put back their lease decisions until later next year which is of course their prerogative. However, as I’ve been pointing out, doing this is a huge gamble. First of all it’s important to point out that we will never return to the good old days of lots of cars sitting around in dealerships and import centres waiting for manufacturers to Read more »

I had an interesting chat with a lawyer friend of mine a few days ago. He had returned a lease car at the end of the agreement and received a bill for the repair work that he was angry about for a few reasons. As far as he was concerned, the work was either unnecessary, as a result of fair wear and tear, or the charges were too high for the work required. Read more »

We all know the expression ‘A little knowledge is a bad thing,’ and it couldn’t be more true at the moment in the area of car leasing. As small businesses and consumers look for ways to reduce their costs, car leasing is being discussed more and more, then armed with sketchy information many are embarking upon leasing without knowing exactly what they are getting into. This isn’t being helped by confusing and conflicting advertising on the Internet as well as some very strange promotions 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 »

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 »

In the course of one week I’ve had what could be best described as a lively debate with two customers, over the contract profile that they took their cars on. One had his car on a 3+23 profile and the other 3+35. I have explained the way the profile works to the point of tedium, reported it on the blog and given examples but people are still confused and I really can’t see why? I think we all accept that a car Read more »

If you’re an avid reader of my newsletter and blog you will have read that you no longer need to have your car serviced by a main dealer in order to maintain your warranty. The rules that were relaxed several years ago that prevented you from having your car serviced wherever you wanted are known as the EU Block Exemption Rules. These rules have just been reviewed again and the rules pretty much left as they Read more »

Whilst I’ve been warning about long lead times for months now the industry has warned those that lease their cars to make arrangements earlier to replace their cars as some leasing companies are proving to be very inflexible with regard to lease extensions unless you are replacing your current car with another of the same make, especially where a captive funder has been used. Worst at the moment are VW Read more »