The Best Car Finance Blog In The World

Having been in this industry for over 35 years I’ve managed to get a reputation for being hugely critical of leasing companies. I fight with them regularly in an effort to get customers treated fairly, you only have to google Graham Hill PCP and see how outspoken I am about the way that PCP agreements are sold. But today I heard from one of my customers with proof that not all leasing companies are simply heartless businesses.

I had a call from one of my long-serving customers a few weeks ago explaining that his wife was terminally ill. Very sad news indeed and quite sudden. We got onto the practical subject of his wife’s car that was leased through me and what would happen? The agreement was with VW Finance and was just over halfway through.

The legal position was quite simple, if you early terminate a car you must pay an early settlement fee which is usually about 50% of outstanding rentals. In this case it was £4,300. Whilst expectations were not high it was decided to contact the funder to see if they would take a sympathetic view.

After asking for some proof of his wife’s condition the leasing company contacted my client and said that given the very sad circumstances they were prepared to waive the termination cost in total and when the car was collected the collection agent, with no knowledge of my client’s condition, kept the refurbishment charge to an absolute minimum.

Whilst the circumstances were incredibly sad the actions of the leasing company, VW Finance, proved that they aren’t just money-grabbing businesses but a business with a heart. Well done VW Finance, you are my leasing company of the year. Commiserations and best wishes to my clients, both the husband and his wife, our prayers are with you. By Graham Hill

Every year for the last 20 years Auto Express carry out tests on various car care products and award the best with their Product Award. They take account of price, ease of use, performance etc. I thought it would be handy to list their top award winners so far this year. For more details, you can search for Auto Express Best Products. In the meantime here are the best products:

Car Washes: Halfords Car Wash & Wax, cost £2 for 1 litre. Whilst this was the cheapest tested it wasn’t this that caused it to win. You use a little more than other brands but it is much cheaper.

Clay Bars: Bilt-Hamber Auto Clay Regular, cost £9.95 for 200g Clay bars cut through contaminants that bond to the painted surface of a car. This was one of the best priced and the best performer.

Polishes: Angelwax Perfect Polish, cost £9.95 for 500ml. This one saw off some of the more popular brands such as Simoniz, Autoglym an Autobrite. There was little to choose between Autobrite and Angelwax so in the end it was down to price with Angelwax edging it.

Waterless Cleaners: Meguiar’s Waterless Wash And Wax Anywhere, cost £16 for 768ml. Strangely liked for its smell as well as its performance simply spray, wipe then buff and admire the shine. The shine was also the longest lasting.

Waxes and Sealants: Bilt-Hamber Double Speed-Wax, £14.95 for 250ml. Apparently, you can pay up to £50 for a carnauba paste(which is what this is) so great value for money. 24 were tested over 9 weeks with this one coming out on top.

Wheel Cleaners: Bilt-Hamber Auto-Wheel, cost £12.99 for 1litre. In this case the smell was horrendous – eggy in nature. However, the cost and the efficiency of the product made it to the top of the list of 19 tested.

Wheel Wax & Sealants: Wonder Wheels Wheel Sealant, cost £6.50 for 300ml. Best performance and best price this product takes time because you need to properly clean the alloys before applying and it takes time for the product to cure – but well worth the wait apparently.

Tyre Shine: CarPlan TyreSlik, £4.10 for 500ml. This is uniquely the only product tested by Auto Express that has remained in the number 1 position since testing began 20 years ago. Well done!

Upholstery Cleaner: Simoniz Upholstery & Carpet Cleaner, cost £3.18 for 500ml. This was one of the only foam cleaners with a brush fitted to the can. Most others were trigger applicators but none performed as well as this cleaner and low cost.

Screenwashes: Prestone Extreme Performance Screen Wash, cost £3.50 for 2litres. This wash, ready made up was great value for money, cleaned the screen well and won in both categories, winter and summer with the summer version cheaper than the competition.

Headlamp Bulbs: Philips Racing Vision, cost £25.99 for a pair. By far the best bulbs out of 20 tested, brightest and topped all but one of the various tests.

Sat Navs: Tom Tom Go, cost One Year’s Subscription £14.99. In this category they tested both sat-nav units and mobile phone apps with this app being the winner. They’ve stuffed many of the features of their top navs into the app.

Dash Cams: Nextbase 612 GW, cost £249.99. The cam has a radius of 150 degrees and records in 4K Ultra HD. The camera picked up pedestrians in the dark and could read number plates from afar. A polarised filter sits on top of the lens making the colours sharper. Given the quality it offers very good value for money.

Tyres: Continental Premium Contact 6, cost £93.20. Wet or dry this car came out on top, sharing the top spot with Michelin in the dry but by far the best in the wet with no other car coming close. All round a very good tyre.

Winter Tyres: Continental Winter Contact TS860, cost £117.22. Not the best in the snow but in the wet that dominates British winters it was streets above the competition. Changing tyres between summer and winter is still not popular but for those that need to change tyres they refer to this tyre as a Truly Remarkable Tyre.

All Season Tyres: Continental All Season Contact, cost £120.64. Out of all the tyres tested this tyre came either first or second in every test making it by far the best all season tyre even after Continental had said that you either changed tyres between summer and winter or put up with a compromise. This is their first attempt at an all season tyre.

Many thanks to Auto Express – By Graham Hill

A point I make every time I read a doom and gloom story about a driver who bought a used car then find out that they have a fault that leads to an unaffordable repair. Choose a new car and finance for 3 years (unless the manufacturer’s warranty lasts for longer) and you are pretty much assured that you will be covered for any faults unless you haven’t looked after the car.

In a What Car report I read about Alistair Hill (no relation) who bought a used Vauxhall Astra GTC VXR 276bhp. from a dealer. The car was no longer covered by a warranty when the engine started to misfire. As the car had only covered 29,000 miles he believed the fault would be minor buit when the dealer checked the engine they found that it had a split piston.

This meant a new engine was required. He complained to Vauxhall who offered to contribute 30% towards the replacement engine which still left Alistair with a bill of £5,000 that he couldn’t afford. What Car got involvd and as usual provided little advice but in this case there wasn’t much in Alistair’s favour.

He had assumed that the car had been serviced when he bought it but it wasn’t and in fact the car was due its regular service but believing a service had been carried out he missed a service. You wouldn’t have this confusion if the car was new when you got it.

He is now without a car that needs an engine that he can’t afford. Vauxhall refused to increase the amount they would contribute as the car hadn’t been serviced properly and he had no warranty on the car. He may have a case under European law but whichever way you cut it he is stuck with a lot of agro in his life because he bought a used car. Point proven yet again! By Graham Hill

Poor Car Condition: 73,500 drivers were taken to court in England and Wales for keeping a car in a condition that invalidates their insurance. The message here is that having a car insured comes with conditions. If your car hasn’t been properly serviced and maintained you could have an insurance claim thrown out.

EV Fast Charging: 100 miles of range can be added to an electric car in just 10 minutes when charging using BP’s new 150kW Rapid Chargers. What they don’t tell you is the cost

Car Maintenance: 61% of drivers don’t check their tyre pressures or oil at least once a month. Low tyre pressures can increase fuel consumption and tyre wear as well as make the car dangerous. Not checking the oil could lead to engine damage.

Cars Stolen: There were 307 cars stolen every single day in the UK during the 2017/18 financial year. More still needs to be done to protect drivers from car thieves. Make sure you are properly protected if you have keyless entry.

By Graham Hill

It’s obscene the way that some law firms advise dealers on what to do to deprive consumers of their legal rights. If you are a regular reader of my news items you will have read how dealers are advised to repair faulty cars during the rejection period of 14 days ‘under warranty’.

This is because if you reserve your right to reject the car but allow the dealer to fix the problem he only has one chance to fix it. But if he repairs the car ‘under warranty’ that does not count as his one chance so in law if the car hasn’t been fixed he can have another attempt.

So what are they now saying to dealers to deprive customers of their rights? Again it is to do with faulty cars just after ‘purchase’. I say purchase but what I mean is financed on a PCP or Hire Purchase agreement. They are telling dealers to forcefully explain that if there is a problem with the car it is their responsibility and to bring it back for them to sort out.

The reason for saying this is that if you have a rejectionable complaint you should take it up with the finance company and not the dealer as it is the finance company that owns the car and is responsible for the quality of ‘the goods’. But if you complain to the finance company according to the lawyers they are more likely to roll over and agree to a rejection or a repair than the dealer would.

If a consumer doesn’t get satisfaction from the finance company they can refer the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) which will determine the case not on the law but whatever he deems to be ‘reasonable’.

Finance companies don’t like dealing with the FOS as it costs them money so better to accept the rejection then go for the dealer who is then over a barrel as most dealers wouldn’t have the resources to fight the legal team of a lender.

The agreements between the dealers and the finance providers are generally heavily stacked against the dealer so the lenders are less likely to fight the consumer if they know they can pursue the dealer for the costs.

So the point I’m making is if you have a complaint about a car that you bought on a PCP or HP agreement take it up with the finance provider NOT the dealer, you ar more likely to get a result. By Graham Hill

A must read report whether you are an employer or you drive your own car on company business, even if it is only to drop off the post at a local post box or post office!

According to this report in Fleet News one in six at-work drivers says they have been involved in an accident when taking a call from a colleague, new research suggests.

The study, commissioned by Driving for Better Business (DfBB), also revealed a worrying lack of checks for employees driving their own car for work, the so-called grey fleet.

It showed that half of business leaders polled (49%) expect their employees to answer their phone at any time, including while driving for work.

Almost half of employees (45%) said they experience stress when they receive a call from their boss while driving for work. One in six employees who drive for work (17%) said they have been involved in an incident when driving for work due to a phone call from a colleague.

Despite it being illegal, one in 20 executive directors and one in eight employees thought the hard shoulder was a safe place to take a phone call.

Meanwhile, six in 10 (61%) employees admitted they do not always, or only sometimes, find a safe place to make or receive a work call when driving for work with just over one in eight (13%) thinking it safe to take a phone call while parked on the hard shoulder of a motorway.

The findings also showed that despite three quarters (75%) of executive directors claiming to ensure employees are aware of their legal obligations in relation to driving for work, nearly half (45%) of employees surveyed who drive their personal car for work said they have not been given a copy of their employer’s driving for work policy.

It found that managers were not performing checks on grey fleet drivers and 60% of respondents said they were unsure if any or how many employees use their own car to drive for work purposes.

Furthermore, nearly a half of employees who use their personal car for work purposes (45%) said they have not been given a copy of their employer’s driving for work policy.

The survey reveals that 90% of drivers used their personal cars for work journeys, 75% doing so at least once a week, yet a third of these drivers (33%) were not insured to do so – saying they do not have cover for business use on their vehicle insurance. Only a third (34%) said their employer had checked their driving licence.

The survey also found a poor approach to vehicle checks and maintenance by employees. Nearly three quarters of employees who drive for work (74%) said when they check their tyres they simply take a quick glance to see that tyres look ‘OK’.

Simon Turner, campaign manager for Driving for Better Business said: “The report shows a disparity between what employers and employees are saying when driving for work.”

He says senior managers are failing to communicate and implement a robust driving for work policy to keep those who drive for work safe, particularly for the grey fleet.

“Leaders are failing to carry out basic due diligence checks such as ensuring that all employees have a driving licence or vehicle insurance,” he said.

“At the same time, the study highlights employees are putting themselves at risk while driving for work, not checking that vehicles are roadworthy and exhibit reckless behaviours when using their mobile phone.”

He continued: “Leaders must implement a driving for work policy that enforces legal and ethical obligations on all employees that drive on work-related journeys.

“Regular checks need to be put in place to ensure that employees have read and understood the guidelines laid out in the driving for work policy. In doing so, the associated risk to road users and pedestrians is reduced.”

Driving for Better Business promotes a free seven-step programme of action to reduce occupational road risk. Organisations that introduce the DfBB programme have experienced significant operational, financial and employee benefits.

Turner concluded: “A good practice driving for work policy ensures that at a minimum, organisations are compliant with all relevant legislation and guidelines.

Once implemented, these policies complement more general employee safety and wellness programmes as well as introduce efficiencies that reduce costs associated with employees that drive for work purposes.”

DfBB surveyed 1,006 employees and 255 executive directors from the UK. The survey was conducted by Censuswide. By Graham Hill with thanks to Fleet News.

In a report in Auto Express, Chris Grayling calls for motorway fuel retailers to share live price data via apps and sat-navs

Motorway fuel retailers should share live pricing information to prevent drivers being taken advantage of, the transport secretary has said.

Chris Grayling has contacted a number of motorway service station operators, asking them to list how much they are charging for petrol and diesel at their motorway forecourts at any one time on smartphone apps and sat-navs.

If motorists were able to access this data in advance, rather than having to pull off the motorway and drive to the forecourt, they would be able to better plan motorway journeys and work out where to get the cheapest fuel. In addition, the Department for Transport has suggested that the data could be used by autonomous vehicles in future.

Petrol and diesel prices at motorway service stations can be around 15p per litre more expensive than at other retailers.

Grayling said that, if motorway fuel retailers decline to make their live pricing data openly available in the way he has suggested, he will launch an “urgent review” into how motorists can refuel affordably.

“Fuel prices are highest on motorways, taking advantage of drivers who have less choice when it comes to shopping around,” said Grayling. “Accessing this data on a smartphone or sat-nav means motorists can plan ahead and refuel safely at the best possible price.”

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams commented: “While we welcome the idea of motorway fuel retailers sharing their pricing data in terms of better transparency, the reality is any app will only tell drivers what they already know – that motorway fuel prices are unbelievably expensive.”

Williams added that RAC research has shown 44 per cent of drivers “would never buy fuel on the motorway”, advising motorists to try and find forecourts that charge at or below the average price of fuel. By Graham Hill

According to Auto Express, the DfT has started the rollout of E5 and B7 labels indicating ethanol and biofuel content of petrol and diesel. Signs will be mandatory by 1 September

The Department for Transport (DfT) is rolling out a new set of labels for petrol and diesel pumps at filling stations across the UK, with unleaded petrol to be renamed E5, and diesel labelled as B7. E10 petrol is likely to follow at a later date.

The names relate to the percentage of ethanol and biofuel present in petrol and diesel respectively, and are intended to make motorists “think more carefully about the environmental impacts of their journeys” and “educate drivers on the benefits of biofuels.” The majority of unleaded sold in the UK must contain up to five per cent ethanol under the Government’s Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation, though no such requirements are in place for super-unleaded.

The new labels are being rolled out immediately, and garages will be legally required to display them by September 2019. As well as the mandated E5 label, petrol stations will have to clearly show the biofuel content of the diesel fuel being sold, with diesel comprised of seven per cent biofuel clearly labelled as ‘B7’.

Biofuels are typically comprised of a blend of oil and plant or animal fat fuel, with the UK’s biodiesel comprised of oilseed rape, sugar beet and wheat. Figures from 2016 show 132,000 hectares of land in the UK was used to grow crops for bioenergy.

The move towards E5 and B7 labels is likely to herald the arrival of E10 petrol, which contains up to 10 per cent bioethanol and is claimed to bring about a two per cent reduction in CO2. The Government launched a consultation into E10 petrol in 2018, but motoring organisations have warned as many as 800,000 cars can’t use E10, and a second response to the consultation is due later this year.

Commenting on the new labels, Transport Minister Michael Ellis said: “Biofuels are a key way of achieving the emissions reductions the UK needs, and their use reduced CO2 emissions by 2.7 million tonnes last year alone – the equivalent of taking around 1.2 million cars off the road.” By Graham Hill

Many moons ago my dad bought a brand new Cortina and one of the options at the time was electric front windows. I asked if he was going to have the option as it looked pretty cool and his answer was – why? What problem did electric windows address? And besides which it was something else to go wrong.

Hand-cranked windows rarely went wrong and if they did a sharp bang on the inside of the door seemed to sort it out. So when you read daily of car crime increasing because of crooks being able to break into keyless car technology and nick cars and contents on an industrial scale I find myself asking the question – why? Why does the technology even exist?

What problem does keyless entry solve? I understand remote controls, one of the best things ever invented for TV’s and cars. With respect to cars, you no longer have to fumble in the dark to find a hole in which to stuff your key or breath on the door lock to defrost it enough to insert the key and gain entry on a frosty morning.

No more fumbling in the rain and with some diesels, remotely unlocking the car from a distance actually activates the pre-heaters which should be activated before starting the engine. So why this obsession with keyless entry? What is the problem it is solving over and above a remote key.

A remote key is capable of transmitting around a trillion variants of its generated code that allows the car to be locked/unlocked/boot opened etc. The only time the code can be accessed is when you push the button to transmit which is then changed the next time you lock or unlock the car making it incredibly difficult to break into the car.

On the other hand, a keyless device is transmitting constantly making it easy for crooks to harvest the code and unlock then start the car using a handheld computer device to gain entry. The fact is that it isn’t like my iPhone with either fingerprint or facial recognition you need to carry something so why not a remote key?

Personally, I don’t think my life will be in any way enhanced by having keyless entry so with a higher risk of theft and no doubt higher insurance premiums give me a remote control. My Audi is even more dopey. I have a remote control to open and lock the car and boot but when I’m in the car I have to press a button to start it with the remote control taking up space in one of my cup holders. Crazy!

In order to overcome the security issues faced by those with keyless entry I’ve scanned the solutions introduced by manufacturers and found that most either overcome the problem by using a Faraday bag that encases the signal or the remote can either be deactivated (a bit like pressing a button on a remote control) or it will deactivate itself if there is no movement. My solution is much easier, revert back to remote controls!

If you are concerned about keyless entry with your car some manufacturers have allowed for the keyless entry to be disenabled either yourself or by a main-dealer. Call their customer services or call into a dealer to find out. By Graham Hill

In a recent piece I wrote about the grave lack of charge points that will prevent people from buying or leasing Electric Vehicles (EV’s) along with the lack of range and the ridiculously high cost to buy an EV compared to a petrol or diesel car – we have another factor. Batteries.

Despite everything, we are starting to see a rise in EV sales this year that has taken manufacturers by surprise. One would think that the solution would be simple – up the production of EV’s and solve the problem. On the face of it, that should be the solution but it would seem that increasing the supply of steel or say plastic components would be simple, increasing the supply of batteries isn’t so straight forward.

This increased production needs to be planned years ahead so the fact that Hyundai sold its whole year’s allocation of Kona electric models by March and has a waiting list of 2,000, Kia has also sold out of its year’s allocation of 1,000 e-Niro models it’s put pressure on battery supply. And there simply isn’t the production capacity.

And the increased demand isn’t just the UK, global demand has shot up making the problem even worse. EV’s have suddenly moved from being in the doldrums to higher than expected demand causing car manufacturers to up the investment stakes into battery development and production. Nissan, whilst suffering low sales of their Leaf has now reached ‘Inflection Point’ according to Roel De Vries, corporate vice president, global head of marketing at Nissan.

In other words, demand has outstripped expectations. But, as he pointed out, increasing supply of batteries isn’t as simple as increasing order quantities or place additional orders with other suppliers. The global suppliers are at capacity and if new suppliers are to come online it will take two years to get from plans to production.

In order to address the problem Nissan has taken a stake in Automotive Energy Supply and Toyota has signed an agreement with Panasonic to develop and make Lithium-ion, solid state and next-generation batteries. Other manufacturers are following suit. Kia has partnered two battery producers in order to avoid future bottlenecks in battery supply.

The other issue is cost which needs to come down substantially. Currently, the battery pack in an EV represents 40% of the total cost of the car and this has reduced from 70% over the last 7 years. KPMG expect the battery cost to drop by another 50% by 2030 to 20% of the cost of the car as a result of cell chemistry and economies of larger scale production.

Autotrader have also pointed out that the cost of producing an internal combustion engine is around £1,000 to £2,500 whilst an electric powertrain is approximately £8,000. But in a typical contradiction whenever we discuss EV’s PA Consultancy predict that parity between electric car cost and diesel car cost will reach parity as soon as next year. Given supply and demand of batteries, I find that very hard to believe.

Tesla pointed out that under-investment in mining over the last few years has led to a situation where raw materials could be in seriously short supply. Lithium is limited and could be the first problem so mining companies are searching for areas to mine to increase supply. Nickel is also another metal that will give supply problems.

Beyond the metals we have Cobalt and other minerals that also have to be mined. And the problems don’t stop with the mining. Specialist group, Security of Supply of Mineral Resources (SSMR) have pointed out that 60% of the world’s Cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo controlled by Chinese traders who use child labour and low pay.

They warn that we need supplies from more stable parts of the world or risk being held to ransom by unscrupulous traders. Who said moving to electric vehicles would be easy? Probably the same people who predicted that leaving the EU would be a breeze! By Graham Hill