The Best Car Finance Blog In The World

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 »

Fears are growing regarding the safety of cars on our roads as drivers put off service and maintenance work in order to save some money during the recession. There has also been an increase in employees either asking to be put on a cash for cars scheme or for their employers to introduce a scheme. It is felt the motives are purely financial with employees looking to downsize their car and pocket what equates to an 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 »

There have been mixed feelings expressed over the Corporate Manslaughter Act that was introduced in April 2008. Basically, if you are an employer and you have failed your duty of care that results in the death of your employee or others you, or the director/partner in your business responsible, could face prosecution and a prison sentence as well as an unlimited fine on the company. Some have stated that the Read more »

There are a number of vehicle recalls each year, some of which are fairly minor causing no more than an irritation whilst others are much more serious which could result in injury. One of the latest recalls was issued by Ford on 29,000 Focuses for a potential overheating problem in the cooling fan to be rectified. The warning read: Focus (potential overheating/fire risk), models from 20/02/04 – 31/05/06. Read more »

Fraud, miss-selling and malpractice cases have been on the increase during the recession causing a serious re-think about the regulation of the motor finance industry. In the meantime brokers are strongly advised to provide warnings to customers about the dangers of signing a legally binding contract without reading and understanding the terms and naively basing the decision to take finance on rate or APR alone. I Read more »

Things are not getting any easier for us brokers or our funders. I heard yesterday that a large part of the Audi range is now on Feb/Mar 2010 delivery for orders placed now. Most funders will price fix for 3 months from the date of order which means that the monthly rate will be held as long as the vehicle can be delivered within the 3 months. However, if delivery is beyond this, rates may be subject to review as a Read more »

Warnings about stone chips have been issued as we move into winter. With local authorities operating on reduced budgets more roads will remain unrepaired as frost causes pot holes to appear. So when the roads start to get gritted, causing the usual stone chips on windscreens, drivers have been warned to have the chip repaired rather than run the risk of hitting a pot hole which can often result in an instant crack. Don’t forget Read more »

Lex Autolease have carried out a study on 21,000 vehicles used for business with some startling results. Driver negligence has not only pushed up maintenance and repair bills but also resulted in fines for drivers and even loss of licences. The biggest cost burdens have been misfuelling, windscreen damage, illegal tyres and vehicle downtime. Average cost to replace a windscreen is Read more »

If you have had reason to have your driving licence updated because of a change of address or your licence has run out of date (don’t forget that the new photo licences only last for 10 years), you need to check it for any omissions. The DVLA have admitted that some licences have been returned with errors, in particular entitlements such as the entitlement to drive a motorcycle. One would think that the solution was simple Read more »