It seems you are looking at about he same amount I have recently to buy a
MCS (picked up on Saturday!!
(Dealer report to follow
)
First post on this forum BTW
sorry for the wall of text 
I was about to go along with the Mini Select deal but due to a clerical error on the finance agreement we looked into it further and found out just how
EXPENSIVE Mini Select is.
Bear with me as figures might be slightly off as I don't have the info in front of me.
This is what I found:
MCS 55plate, Dark Silver, Chili, LSD
Car:= 13467
Deposit: £1000 cash
Part x £900 (which was WELL under trade let alone the private value as they just punt it to an auction
- be warned)
Finance needed £11567
They wanted £219 a month payments over 48 months
£4500 ish as a ballon payment
It worked out that the interest over the term was about £3500 or there abouts.
The Flat rate % was 5.48
APR 11%
I went for a Marks and Spencers Car buying plan same thing just a personal loan with a deffered payent (ballon).
Cant link as my first post but go to site, click loans and look for car buying plan
Amount loan £11500
Monthly : £224
Deferred: £3470
Apr - 8.9%
I think it worked out that interest was £2680
So straight away was paying less interest of £820
Also with the ballon payment at Mini of £4500, and the M&S deffered being £3470 = means £1030 less.
So working on the basis of the fact that MIni is a business out to
make money, and wouldn't Guarantee a value of £4500 if they think they wouldn't make at least that and much much more on each car that is "Just handed back to them".
The car we bought was Dec 2005 and would be 6 years old at end of term, looking at market 6 year old minis with "normal" mileage are going for at least £6000+ (i know market might change but unlikely by much for a hugely desirable and sought after brand).
Handing back the car is there
only real selling point for Mini select deal as they will
only give you trade value the same as any other car dealer when P/X'ing for a "new one" regardless of having Select or not.
So in essence the total saving of around £ 2000 !!
NOTE: A car loan such as HP (select agreements) use FLAT RATE % for interest on the loan.
This means that they calculate the interest of the whole loan value upfront so you pay interest of the £11567 across the whole loan. You pay off interest first.
TIP: Flat Rate is "roughly" doubled to show the indicated APR %
If it was just APR then you pay interest on how much you owe per year. BUT, for ease of you knowing what your payments are each month they do a calculation to make a "mean" average thus the payment you pay each month.
Otherwise your monthly payment would change over the years as you owe less on the loan.
So an APR that is shown on the Mini Select is in fact an indication only as they are using FLAT RATE interest
I hope this helps a little, and I know your said you were having trouble getting a personal loan from some banks but to save even further money over the loan then a 6 year "normal loan" with a 6.8% apr rate. This would mean you have paid £11k at around 48 months and the payment would be much less (about £200 a month) but you would only owe £2000 at that point and could end the loan early and kind of making your "deferred payment" only £2000 so even better if you trade in or sell the Mini at that point
.
On this track make sure you check out the "early termination" terms some change a fee or a percentage of the loan as a penalty but still could be much less than £4500!! or even £3500.
Good Luck and hope you found my experience help, if just a little
