Method of Finance? Advice Please!

[Sesqui89]

Hi All,

I am picking up an Approved Used Cooper S in March, very excited!

I would however like some advice on financing it. My original plan was to go through Mini Select Finance, looking at a small deposit of £500, leaving me Monthly payments circa £240 and a final purchase price of around £4k.

However, the final purchase fee is putting me off somewhat and after doing some research on Personal Loans I can potentially borrow the full amount required over a 1 year longer time period, pay slightly less per month and then own the car outright at the end of it, also at a much lower interest rate, which makes much more sense to me! What are other people's thoughts on this?

My only concern with this method is that I've financed a car with a personal loan in the past and it did not work out well for me due to me rather foolishly writing off the car. However I'd like to think I've matured a lot since then and I am planning on purchasing a GAP policy also for added peace of mind. Has anybody else used a GAP Policy with a Personal Loan?

Apologies for the essay and many thanks in advance for any help

Jamie.

[MINI Sales Man]

If the finance is being taken out with MINI then what you need to remember is that it isn't a final purchase price...it is a guaranteed future value from MINI.

With the outstanding £4k you can either hand the car back and walk away, pay off the balance and the car is yours, refinance the £4k or trade the car in. If there is some equity in it you could use it as a deposit on another car ie.. the car is worth 5k when you come to the end of your finance agreement, you owe MINI 4k so you are left with 1k to use as a deposit. MINI try to set the guaranteed future values quite conservatively so that there is a high chance you will have equity in the car and you will hopefully buy another MINI

Hope this helps

[starzz121]

im with Mini finance, but sounds like be good to just have the extra year on a personal loan. you can still buy GAP insurance from MINI x

[CosmicBear]

get the APR that your bank offers in writing and take that back to your mini dealer. they will most likely go down with their APR or even match it.

[Sesqui89]

Thanks for the replies guys... MINI Sales Man, that is a very valid point. I will speak to my Dealer tomorrow regarding the interest rate as CosmicBear suggests and see what they say!