[Dom mini cooper]

Hi all,

I'm considering my options regarding finance. I'm 90% sure i'm going to go with MINI finance ( I got a good deal ).

The only problem I have with MINI finance however is that I am not the owner of the car...the garage is. There must be pleanty of people on here that use MINI finance so what do you think? Does it have any effect on insurance at all?

Cheers,

Dom

[Dom]

I'm with MINI finance, insurance not affected as you're the registered owner. Nobody's complained about the modifications to the car yet either!

Dom

[Dom mini cooper]

Cool...thats what I needed to hear...thanks Dom

Dom

[Neil Curtis]

I too am with MINI finance. No complaints. Technically the finance company is the owner of the vehicle until you've made your last payment but your name is on the log book and you are the reg'd keeper. MINI select is the best one in my opinion, PCP with a guaranteed RV at the end takes the uncertainty and risk from vehicle disposal at the end of teh agreement.

nc

[Dom mini cooper]

Quote:

Originally posted by Neil Curtis
I too am with MINI finance. No complaints. Technically the finance company is the owner of the vehicle until you've made your last payment but your name is on the log book and you are the reg'd keeper. MINI select is the best one in my opinion, PCP with a guaranteed RV at the end takes the uncertainty and risk from vehicle disposal at the end of teh agreement.

nc

Yeah it's select i'm going for...seems to be the only sensible option to me really.

Been quite impressed with MINI finance actually...they bettered the best quote I got elsewhere ( with a bit of a push )

When I walked in the dealership they wanted £275 per month. Got them down to £204

Did you guys take the insurance or not? I'm not going to for several reasons. What did you decide?

[Neil Curtis]

Didn't go for payment insurance.

Did go for GAP insurance. I actually sell this stuff and it is worth it. It costs between two and four hundred quid but is included in the finance arrangement. If you write your car off, the insurance company will give you book value for it. Great now but not in two and a half years time. Gap insurance pays the difference between what the insurance company pays out and how much you owe on the finance allowing you to start afresh with out being tits up on the finance.

If you meant the MINI Cover car insurance, I had a nasty shock from them when I realised they were taking £178 per month from my bank instead of the quoted £48 per month. I posted about this sometime ago. Went with the AA in the end, cheaper, better and efficient.

nc £

[AntH]

Before you opt for MINI Select, consider going for straight HP over a longer period - it should work out cheaper. The monthly payments may be higher, but the total cost will be less. With a PCP you are paying interest on a large amount of dosh (the RV) until the end of the agreement. This is what makes it pricey! Also, you are stuck to an agreed mileage (going over will cost you a packet!), your disposal options are reduced (i.e. new MINI!), and getting out early could leave you owing more than the cars worth! Yes, it is guaranteed, you know what you're in for, but it is nearly always more expensive!

What APR did you get in the end? I've gone for straight HP at 7.9% APR.

Was tempted to put the lot on my C'Card, and have total flexibility, but dealer was too keen on paying the 2.5% commission

[Neil Curtis]

Some good points Anth but....

Yes it costs more in terms of total amount payable but it also gives you a lower monthly payment which for me certainly was the key thing. Your options at the end are actually very good. You can just give the car back to BMW finance if you so wish. You could p/x the car with the dealer for something else (irrespective of the vehicles mileage) or you can pay the lump sum and keep the car.

You aren't tied to MINI either. Any dealer can settle the finance at the end for you. e.g. if you wanted a Ford Puma at the end of your agreement, you go into your ford dealer, tehy make you an offer on the MINI. If it's more than your RV, they take it in part exchange and settle the finance themselves using the equity as either cashback to you or a deposit on your Puma. If they don't offer you more than the RV, you give it back to BMW finance.

nc

[RYN]

hi, i too am thinking about the MINI select option as it would give me lower monthly payments. I went tot he dealer and got a quote last week. They quoted me 11.7% apr over three years and 11.5% apr over 4 years. What has other people being offered????

[Dom mini cooper]

N'ah you can get better deals than that. Goto alliance and leicesters site and do a quote...then take a print out to your dealer...they should match it...about 8.5%APR I think.

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/....asp?page=home

[RYN]

funny that cause i bought a car mag yesterday and got the alliance and leicester leaflet and only noyiced it this sfternoon, will check it out. they quote about 9.9 apr do they not? would like to know the spec and price and deposit of your car, would you rather i pm'd you?

[D&M]

we went with tesco and are paying about 7.3% I think.

[Dom mini cooper]

Quote:

Originally posted by RYN
funny that cause i bought a car mag yesterday and got the alliance and leicester leaflet and only noyiced it this sfternoon, will check it out. they quote about 9.9 apr do they not? would like to know the spec and price and deposit of your car, would you rather i pm'd you?

N'ah it's ok..I'll post here as it may help somone else:

Hummm well

Car about: 14,000
PX (deposit): 3,100
Est value at end of period: 4,000
total outstanding: 6,900

Repayments.....£204 / month...48 months.

Total repayable...9792.

Now whist this may not sound too great the key thing for me is keeping the repayments down...following is the nearest I could get with A&L ( 48 months again ).

Total loan ammount : 10900
Final replayment : 3270
Total ammount actually being borrowed : 7630
Repayments : 215.33
total repayment: 10335.84

This is where it gets tricky! lol... basically over the whole period i'd be paying A&L 543.84 more than if I were to go with MINI select.

I'm pretty sure this is fairly accurate.

The thing which is worth remembering is that with the MINI finance deal the 4,000 is the guarenteed value of the car at the end of the loan. If the cars worth more than this then you either get a cheque or the money towards the next car...however if the car's worth less then you just give them the car and walk away.

With a bank loan the value at the end you have settle...ie another loan or something. Of course this is the case with the MINI system too if you want to keep the car.


I know i'm confused now...i'm sure i've cocked something up in the maths there but it sounds about right...hope it helps! lol

Dom

[Neil Curtis]

Yes, you can get very good APR rates with personal loan companies. Don't forget though, that MINI Select is not a personal loan so the rates will be higher expecially if going for the Select/PCP option. On a Select deal 10 - 11% APR is pretty good.

The dealer should be able to match lower rates on HP though, if not they could if they wanted to. The rate will always be higher on a PCP because of the way the document charges and residual risk are calculated by BMW finance.

Anything below 9% APR for HP is good from a dealer

Anything below 11.5% APR on PCP is a good deal from dealer.

APR doesn't mean toffee anyway. Go by what you can afford per month and how much is repayable in total. As an example on ten grand over three years, the difference between 10.9%APR and 7.7% APR is £10.61 per month.

nc ££££

[Neil Curtis]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dom mini one
This is where it gets tricky! lol... basically over the whole period i'd be paying A&L 543.84 more than if I were to go with MINI select.
Dom

Yeah, that pretty much is what I was trying to get at.

Whats more important?, the APR or how much it costs you?

nc

[Dom mini cooper]

Quote:

Originally posted by Neil Curtis


Yeah, that pretty much is what I was trying to get at.

Whats more important?, the APR or how much it costs you?

nc

APR means jack TBH ( as you so rightly said )

My head hurts now

What is worth thinking is this....if you take the insurance with the MINI loan you basically pay BMW (or the loan company) £600 extra per year for nothing. Not a good idea IMHO...much better to save the £50/month just incase you loose your job etc.

My 2p

Dom

[RYN]

what you are sayin is almost exactly the same as what i am wanting to do

Car £14000
Deposit £4000

So what was the final APR that the BMW dealer agreed on as last time i was in i never haggled with them as i never had any hard evidence of cheaper loans.

I am away to start my final year of uni so the lower the monthly payment the better.


BTW, what is the options you have picked for your cooper??

[Dom mini cooper]

To be honest I really don't know the APR. Like you i'm just interested in keeping the repayments as low as possible so that's what I go by. £204/month was the best I could get and I think a pretty good deal.

My car

Cooper
BRG/white
Chili pack
Aircon
17inch S spokes
Computer
ASC+T
CD boost.

(I think that's it...pretty sure i've forgotton something.)

Actually I think the total for my car was nearer 14,300...but 14k is near enough as an example

Dom

[Neil Curtis]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dom mini one
What is worth thinking is this....if you take the insurance with the MINI loan you basically pay BMW (or the loan company) £600 extra per year for nothing. Not a good idea IMHO...much better to save the £50/month just incase you loose your job etc.

I would have to agree. The dealers earn big out of payment protection. You don't need it escpecially at £50 per month, thats too much. Go for the vehicle replacement insurance which should cost no more than three hundred and fifty for three years cover (this can be added onto the finance agreement).

n£c

[Big Al]

When I placed the order for my Cooper S (due in october),
the salesman asked me how I intended to finance it .
I suggested writing a cheque for the full amount .
A few days later the manager called me and suggested that
the cash would be better kept in a high ? interest account
and nearer the delivery date would like to talk finance .
What could be cheaper than paying cash ??
If he offers me some sort of killer deal I will be amazed .