The Best Car Finance Blog In The World

 If you are a regular reader of my articles you will know that I don’t regard those expert advisors that write in the media about car finance very highly. In fact I regard most as being daft as a house brick. But whilst an article that appeared in the Independent didn’t really change my views there were a couple of points over which I had to agree, as painful as it was! The reporter suggested that the scrappage scheme cash may run out by mid October which is a feeling shared and hoped for by Read more »

One of the effects of the recession is that apparently greenhouse emissions are substantially down as a result of cost savings and people traveling less miles in their cars and vans. Whilst this is great news for the environment and has helped to stabilize fuel prices it may also have a positive effect on the lease cost of cars on either contract hire or contract purchase. If you find that you are now traveling substantially fewer miles in your car you should Read more »

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 »

On my soon to be released blog I talk about the way that the media misleads the public about, amongst other things, car finance. For some reason when it comes to anything vehicle related they put out reports that are poorly researched then draw conclusions that are either ill informed or simply inaccurate. This week we saw The Telegraph with headline news about the way that motorists are conned into Read more »

If you aren’t going to be sensible and take a car on lease through me don’t get conned by a dealer when negotiating the purchase price of a new car if you are specing it up with a pile of factory options. According to What Car, dealers receive exactly the same discounts from the manufacturer on the factory fitted options as they do on the car, so if your dealer is offering you Read more »

a few people have been asking about new cars and when a new car is a new car. I have explained this in detail in my book, An Insider Guide To Car Finance, which can be bought and downloaded online. But to summarise, the car must not have been registered to anyone else before you receive it, not even to the dealer and it must not have an ‘unreasonable’ mileage on the clock, expressed in one court case to be no more than 500 although I find this excessive. The strange rule is that Read more »

Following a survey carried out by ATS Euromaster it has been found that large numbers of tyres are having to be replaced prematurely as a result of damage that could be avoided. In fact 1 in 5 tyres were found to be replaced early in a survey that involved 100,000 vehicles. The main causes of avoidable damage were punctures (31%), sidewall damage (27%) and drivers exceeding the 50mile/50mph rule when run flat tyres are fitted. Not sure how you avoid a puncture but obviously the boys at Read more »

Whilst we are still having our flabbers gasted how big do you think the joint operation of Hyundai and Kia are? Most people think that production has only just been moved out of the garden shed but in fact the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has become the fourth largest global automotive manufacturer, according to the Automotive News Data Centre. In fact the Korean manufacturer has now overtaken Ford as they have seen production drop by 30% in the first half of 2009. With a lot of good feedback these days on Hyundai and Kia product maybe we should take a closer look at them. By Graham Hill

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

Experts are warning that the hike in fuel duty taking place this week by 2.3 pence per litre could be the start of significant increases on the way as crude oil increases in cost and the reduced rate VAT is set to end. The RAC predict that pump prices could return to the levels of summer 2008 at around £1.20 litre. So if you are thinking of changing your car you should make sure that you take a close look at fuel consumption, there is no longer the clear distinction between petrol and diesel. By Graham Hill