The Best Car Finance Blog In The World

More and more people that either bought or leased cars over the last two years are either holding onto their cars or extending their leases. Leasing companies have been encouraging extensions putting back the need to sell the end of lease car till as late as possible in the belief that used car prices will recover. But as I reported recently this drop in demand for new cars hasn’t led to a mass of unsold cars finding their way Read more »

A debate is going on about spare wheels and tyres fitted as standard. Should manufacturers continue to provide a full sized spare wheel, a skinny emergency wheel or fit run flat tyres that would enable manufacturers to not fit any spare at all? Puncture callouts to the RAC and AA are increasing, in 2002 the RAC was called out 160,908 times but by 2007 this had risen to 230,196, whilst the AA was called out 330,000 Read more »

It would seem that we are still waiting for some sort of bailout of the car finance sector in order to get people back into new cars but are the Government at risk of doing what they have done with banking and put the money in the hands of the wrong people. There are many lenders other than banks and they should have been helped before the banks who have simply bolstered up their balance sheets in preparation for Read more »

Whilst used car prices are having a negative effect on lease rates as they counter the bonuses given away by manufacturers there has been a mild glimmer of hope during January. British Car Auctions have reported on average a 6% increase in used car prices following several months of continued falls. At the same time they reported that the average price was £1,000 less this January than it was last January so the Read more »

As times become more difficult people turn to desperate measures. Fraud is therefore on the increase. I am hearing each week about many more scams being uncovered. Small used car dealers can no longer get what is known as stocking finance. In the past the dealer would buy say £500,000 worth of cars and a lender would provide the money, charging an interest of say half a percent per month secured against Read more »

Car crime statistics are misleading and could be causing drivers to be complacent according to vehicle security provider Cobra. Contrary to Home Office statistics which show car thefts falling, believed to be as a result of more cars being fitted with anti theft devices as standard, more surveillance cameras and more local community police, Cobra’s survey suggested quite the opposite with car crime still on the Read more »

As more consumers take out Personal Contract Hire and those that have Personal Contract Purchase end up with cars that are worth less than the final payment, more cars are being returned to the leasing companies at the end of the contract that must be in ‘reasonable condition for its age and mileage’. But what is reasonable? One lady wrote to me complaining that she had some unreasonable Read more »

One of the side affects of the current recession and the drop in value of used cars are  the poor settlement figures being offered by insurance companies as a result of total write offs compared to the settlement figure required by the finance provider. Another involves the early settlement figures being asked for by lenders when drivers wish to early terminate a finance agreement, this could be as a result of Read more »

We are entering a very strange period at the moment in the motor industry. Many manufacturers have reduced production of new cars. Some have stopped altogether for up to 4 months. This drop in production is the result of a corresponding drop in demand (sales of new cars have dropped by 30 – 40% over the last few months). So  could it be that consumers and businesses are switching from new to used cars? If Read more »

GE Capital Solutions Fleet Services has suggested that we could reduce our running costs by up to 10%. They suggest that better fuel management could reduce fuel cost, extend service intervals on some cars and reduce tyre wear. Move away more gradually from traffic lights, turn the engine off in traffic jams and drop your speed to the legal limits would have some dramatic affects. Check tyre pressures Read more »