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Brokers don’t work for the leasing companies, they actually work for their clients, in the same way as an accountant or a solicitor does but without the need for a qualification, just a Consumer Credit Licence, which can be obtained fairly easily if the program about loan sharks aired by BBC’s Panorama is anything to go by. When I started as a broker, many years ago, the situation was the same, we worked for our Read more »

I reported last year that ‘staged crashes’ resulting in fraudulent insurance claims was on the increase. However, law firm Keoghs who produce the Annual Motor Fraud Index have shown that the hot spots are spreading in 2009. Along with the major hot spots, as shown below, other nearby towns are now becoming problem areas also. Greater vigilance is needed when driving in these areas to avoid accidents Read more »

I recently warned about the dangers of not having your car serviced on time from the point of view of safety. We have now had further warnings from manufacturers and leasing companies about the importance of having your car serviced on time. The manufacturers are referring to the potential loss of warranty cover if the car is not serviced ‘as per manufacturers’ recommendations’. The chances of an engine Read more »

As all of my readers know I treat manufacturers, dealers and lenders with the greatest of respect and don’t go out of my way to make them look daft. I don’t need to as they normally manage that quite adequately themselves without my help. But then I read an item about BMW who are now entering the short term rental market because their fleet sales are down. Now for a prestige manufacturer to enter the short

 term rental  market it smacks of desperation as they have to give away around 30% or more discount and bonus in the cars. Whilst they are off doing that Mercedes are wiping the floor with them with C Class sales via dealerships in association with brokers who are offered special terms. It wouldn’t take much research to identify this potential opportunity. In the meantime BMW are offering cars to an accident management company who offer like with like cars to those whose cars are in being repaired following an accident. BMW sales director Sean Green has pointed out that ‘It is a conquest opportunity for us’, ‘This is an area we hadn’t looked at in the past and are now putting our toe in the water.’ Now I have my daft moments but one would assume that if your car is being repaired the person using the BMW, whilst it is being repaired, will not be placing an order as soon as it arrives out of a body repair shop. In addition the cars supplied on a like for like basis will mean that many drivers already drive a BMW. In the meantime, my brother in law who wanted to replace his BMW with another was looking at a £100 per month increase, so took an alternative car and others that want to drive a BMW are now driving Mercedes as a result of them passing on bonuses through leasing to drivers who are looking for a car NOW! That’s conquest business, not waiting for someone who drove a BMW whilst his car was being repaired to decide on a BMW for his next car in a couple of years. Is it me? By Graham Hill

Trade journal Fleet News has carried out a survey into reliability of cars by contacting the top 50 leasing companies and asking which manufacturer and which individual cars have proven to be most reliable over the last 12 months. BMW just pipped Honda to the post as the most reliable manufacturer with Audi coming in third, jumping from 7^th place last year. Audi was highest rated dealership network for Read more »

There are many stories bouncing around regarding end of lease charges from excess mileage charges that treble per mile if you exceed 10% overrun, eg. the excess charge per mile is set at 4 pence per mile if you exceed 3,000 miles on a 30,000 mile contract, thereafter increasing to 12 pence per mile, through to the leasing companies charging for re-repair of body repairs that they consider to be sub-standard even Read more »

A reader of What Car, Carey Trewavas, wrote in to effectively confirm something I have been warning about since the recession started. He arranged to lease a car through a broker, known as Auto Dealer Direct. In August he sent a bankers draft for £2,511 as his deposit payment on the Audi A5 that he ordered. Since then he hasn’t been able to contact Auto Dealer Direct by phone, email or letter. According to What Read more »

It was earlier this year when I warned that money was tight in the vehicle finance sector that would mean only the squeakiest of clean business would be written. In some instances I heard that acceptances were down to just 20% of applicants, not because the vast majority of applicants were poor credit risks but available funds meant this was the maximum number of applicants that could be accepted. Many Read more »

We have a unique and totally different method of leasing in the UK compared to the US and to make matters worse few people in the UK actually understand how it works. On numerous occasions I’ve had conversations with customers who have explained to me they have negotiated a great deal with a dealer and could I work out a lease for them based on their negotiated price. The problem is that this isn’t Read more »

Over the last few months we have seen a great deal of activity in dealerships offering a greater variety of finance products to customers. Manufacturer provided finance facilities are offered through ‘captives’ that are either funded by the manufacturer or through a major finance provider. The funder provides the facilities on documents printed in the name of the manufacturer. As a result of increased competitiveness Read more »