The Best Car Finance Blog In The World

VAT is about to increase as of 1^st January 2010. This means that there are going to be some very strange things happening between now and the end of the year in order to entice you to part with your dosh well in advance of your new car being delivered. If you are buying a new car for cash, that won’t be delivered until early next year, you may want to pay for the car in December in order to save some of the VAT. It is 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 �

After a year of successful growth in used car prices we are now starting to see prices level and, in some cases, slightly fall in auction. With fewer new car registrations, a reduction in rental car fleets and cars being scrapped the supply chain of used cars reduced significantly through the year. Businesses started to buy used cars instead of new as well as hold onto their lease cars by extending contracts turning the Read more �

In a recent case, exposed in What Car a lady experienced a sunroof leak in her 2 year old Mondeo. She made a claim on Ford under her warranty agreement but was told that water ingress was not covered by her 3 year warranty beyond the first year but they made an offer to cover 30% of the repair cost and the dealer was prepared to cut his labour rate. The suggestion from What Car was to push for a bigger 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 �

More and more manufacturers are embracing the new stop-start technology in an effort to reduce car emissions to meet the targets set by the EU if they are to avoid some hefty fines. “But how does stop-start work Graham?” I hear you all shouting at your computer screen. In fact I can’t hear you shouting, I’m imagining it. In fact you may not even give a monkey’s banana but you’re going to be told anyway! Let’s take 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 �

It wasn’t that long ago when you could return a car at the end of a lease in pretty average condition and the leasing company would overlook anything other than serious damage. These days they send out specialist inspectors to check over the car and seem to charge for anything that doesn’t conform to showroom condition, in one case they counted the number of stone chips on the bonnet and argued that there were Read more �

If you drive a car and thought you were being singled out in the past to pay off the National Debt single handed through all the various stealth taxes, you aint seen nuthin yet as the saying goes. As local authorities form a disorderly queue behind Nottingham, the first to announce at work parking, to put forward their own schemes for Government approval, others are looking at ways to Read more �