Car Service Zillmere

Archive for the ‘Car Finance’ Category

Waving goodbye to a favoured old banger can be an emotional time, you try to tell yourself that it’s going to a better place, but in your heart of hearts you know the scrap yard is not really a better place at all.  Then, the tow truck rounds the corner and suddenly you experience a rising sense of glee – finally you’re shut of the old rust bucket, with it’s disgusting emissions and its frequent visits to the garage.  Free, free at last, free to buy that brand, new, shiny, gadget-ridden new motor.  And you will be funding this how?

Facts of life

Most of us have to take out car finance when we buy our dream cars, in the same way we have to take out mortgages when we buy our dream homes.  Our two most expensive purchases in life are both incredibly exciting and a little daunting.  Debt is something that even major governments have noticed needs to be paid off and when adding to the list of monthly payments most of us are wary.  However, car finance remains a fact of life for us and there are a number of ways of approaching it.

Extending the mortgage

A few years ago we were all merrily adding to our mortgage lending to extend homes, furnish them, buy a few luxuries or take the holiday of a life time.  Negative equity, falling house prices and a stagnating housing market were nightmares of the distant past and banks would lend you a tenner on the mortgage for a bag of crisps and a can of pop if you asked them.  How things change.  Lending criteria are so tight these days that financing anything can be difficult.  Adding to your mortgage to buy a new car is still an option, but is it wise?  With no real signs of the market improving, even if you’ve plenty of equity in your home, using it to purchase something that can only depreciate is not a sensible plan.  Add the fact that the all-time low that interest rates have been experiencing is likely to end soon and additional mortgage lending becomes less palatable.

Dealership finance

Dealerships will offer plenty of finance options and they may well have some excellent prices on their vehicles.  The motor industry has suffered badly during the recession and many companies are seeking to entice people to purchase a new car with a range of finance options combined with all manner of tempting added extras.  The lending criteria available through dealerships is no less rigorous than most loan offers at the moment but it can certainly be one to consider.

Specialist finance

A relatively new model of car finance is also available, based on the personal loan model.  This type of loans often offers more flexibility than dealer finance.  Once you’ve been accepted you are free to shop around as many dealers as you like.  You’ll in effect be a cash purchaser which means you can indulge in a spot of haggling – don’t be afraid, car dealers love haggling.  Using this method of car finance you can really cash in on the added extras on offer and you can afford a better, shinier, more fuel efficient and reliable vehicle than you might otherwise have access to.