The Best Car Finance Blog In The World

There are two reasons why you should not procrastinate when you have found a great deal on a car that is in stock and for which you’ve been approved for finance. Firstly, whilst lenders don’t like to provide information regarding fraud, as it may alert the crooks out there as to how the latest frauds are working, fraud has increased, according to some insiders, at an alarming rate. As a result we are seeing Read more �

When Kelvin MacKenzie, the ex editor of the Sun newspaper, received an end of lease charge of £1,867.48 he was shocked and immediately tore into Mercedes Benz Finance through the columns of the Sun. In the same column he said, referring to the charge from the lender and following details of the charges, “as per the agreement (my fault I didn’t read it).” He didn’t read the agreement but he’s lambasting the lender Read more �

Leasing fell dramatically across Europe during 2009 according to Leaseurope, the trade association representing the European leasing and vehicle rental industries. New lease business was down by 28.4% last year compared to 2008, this represented the greatest fall since they started keeping records in 1994. My own view is that much of this was the result of manufacturers diverting money into scrappage whilst Read more �

I raised the issue of digital radios many weeks ago but a few commentators are now starting to pick up on the fact that there has been a change in legislation which will follow the introduction and adoption of The Digital Economy Bill. Amongst other directives it rules that radios will be digital from 2015. Now correct me if I’m wrong but that’s only 5 years away. So knowing that this was going to be the case Read more �

We expect to see some changes in ownership of car manufacturers as we come out of recession, the latest of which is the increased ownership of Chrysler by Fiat. The deal will include Jeep and Dodge. Fiat took a 20% stake in ailing Chrysler last summer and have announced an increase in their stake to 35% if targets are met over the next 2 years. Chrysler registrations were down by 42.8% last year over 2008. Future Read more �

Sales of new cars surged by 19% last month over sales for March last year according to latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). It sounds like a large increase but the sales last year were abysmal but hey we’ll take any glint of light that indicates things are moving in the right direction. Having said that, the sales in March were the highest monthly sales for 2 years, so it’s Read more �

Finally got our price list out this week. There are a few deals starting to creep through but the manufacturers still have a way to go. Hopefully we will be following on the lead taken by the leasing companies in the US. They are launching some great incentives over there including no deposit and no first monthly payment (see last week’s blog). We are unlikely to see such aggressive pricing over here but hopefully the Read more �

As we know, we tend to follow behind America, whether it’s the weather, release of new technology, a recession, an economic recovery and so on. So I was pleased to read in the Wall Street Journal that the leasing industry is just taking off big style in the US with (surprisingly) Toyota leading the way with Honda following up offering incredible deals to move new cars with rates dropping lower than they were at the Read more �

Auto Express have named their Driver Power 2010 top 100 cars. More of this next week but I can report that the Jaguar XF has been knocked off the number one position and replaced by, wait for it, the Hyundai i30. The survey was polled amongst 23,00 drivers with cars being assessed on 10 factors including reliability, comfort, build quality and performance. More of this breaking story next week but this week we are offering the i30 on special terms as our deal of the week – I don’t just throw these things together you know! By Graham Hill

‘I don’t mind what it is, I’m after something that does the job but doesn’t cost a lot per month.’ Quite a common request that I receive and so I have a bit of a rummage around and find a Kia on a really good deal or maybe a Hyundai or a Chevrolet. Suddenly the customer has become a bit more of a snob than even he thought he was but are we right to dismiss some of these makes? Martin Ward of CAP test drives cars all Read more �