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Fraud is on the increase as Internet and other car finance brokers find themselves up against it. Add this to the fact that people are now starting to realise that loans are not simply down to APR and leasing isn’t simply down to monthly rental. Take out finance and you have to sign a document locking you into many terms and conditions that you agree to by Read more »

Just recently manufacturer’s own finance arms have been competing head on with the major leasing specialists such as Lex, Lombard etc. In some cases this has put off customers from using brokers and, as a result, going direct to dealers. This can be dangerous because if you use a broker, who has been in the industry for sometime, such as me, we know which dealers to use in order to Read more »

Which car holds its price best? I would have said Mini as it has held the title for some time but a few surprises have taken over, possibly as a result of high demand for smaller cars and fewer cars available in the used car market as a result of the scrappage scheme. The best performer, according to Glass’s Guide, over 3 years has been the Peugeot 107 which has retained 60.9% of its value. This has been followed by the Toyota Aygo (60.2%) and the Suzuki Swift (59.5%). My flabber has never been so gasted! By Graham Hill

Thinking of selling your car and taking out a lease on a new car? Well, according to Manheim, the car auction house, now is a good time for you to sell you car as used car prices have been shooting up recently. An 8 month old ex rental car with less than 8,000 miles on is now fetching £2,200 more than it was a year ago. Manheim auctions increased their average sale price by 4% in July over June whilst British Car Auctions saw a 3% increase. Year on year prices are up by Read more »

This is becoming a real technology week, we’re now onto Sat Navs that save you fuel! Yep, I kid you not. Whilst the sat nav on my last car, a BMW 7 Series, insisted on taking me round in a complete circle in the middle of London for a good ¾ hour last Christmas and after averting a traffic jam on the M25, on many occasions, insisted on re-routing me straight back into the midst of the logjam, they think they have the technology to calculate the route that saves most fuel! Bosch are currently Read more »

A warning to business users has been issued regarding proposed changes to the way that leases are accounted for. Currently if you lease a car the cost simply appears as an expense in the profit and loss account and notes regarding commitments in the accounts notes. However, new accounting proposals will see all leased assets appear on the balance sheet as Read more »

One of the things that makes a car look really ‘scruffy’ is a badly scratched or scuffed alloy wheel and yet it is so easy to damage but just as easy to repair. There are a number of companies that will offer a local service. They will call round and either fix the wheel(s) at the roadside or take the car away and bring it back later with the wheel(s) looking like new. This is quite useful to know because if you return a lease car Read more »

I mentioned in recent items the move in the industry from 3 rentals in advance to 6 rentals when contract hiring vehicles, suggesting that this could be as a result of  lenders requiring more security by taking larger upfront payments. It has now come to light that this is more likely to be the case and 6 advanced rentals likely to become Read more »

Having revealed that end of lease charges have hit an all time high, according to auction house and de-fleeting company, Manheim, with charges up by 9% in the last 18 months, they have also explained that part of the reason for this unfriendly approach is lack of interest in the customers shown by the leasing companies. They feel that this may be because the customer retention rate is only running at 33%. But then if the leasing companies stopped charging such ridiculous amounts at the end of each lease maybe their customer retention rates would increase. Don’t you just despair sometimes? By Graham Hill

Unless you have money to burn now is not a good time to be too precise when it comes to selecting your next car. I recently explained that the rates between contract hire companies on the same car can be staggering but compare the rates for similar size and spec cars and it can be much worse. And its not just down to the purchase price of the car. Lets take as an example a Chrysler 300C, this is a great, value for money car in terms of what you get for your cash (it’s the Bentley looky likey car). Leather, auto and lots of gadgets. To buy an equivalent Audi or Mercedes would cost an additional Read more »