So, you’ve decided to take the plunge and start looking for a new (or new to you) car. You’ve chosen to hold onto your hard-earned savings and opt for car finance instead. You certainly won’t be alone – over 90% of cars are now bought on finance in the UK.
You have various options available to you on how to finance a car. From going through the car dealership to applying online, there are plenty of ways to go. Whichever way you choose, it will ultimately be a car finance company that looks after you.
How we choose the best car finance company for you
Choosing the right car finance company for you depends on what works best for each person – it’s not a case of one size fits all.
First and foremost, every applicant needs to have their personal credit score assessed in order to identify suitable lenders. Some lenders work exclusively with excellent scores, while others specialise in helping those with a less-than-perfect credit history.
From there, it’s important to compare different offers to find the most favourable conditions. This comes down to your personal circumstances and preferences. Do you want the lowest possible interest rate to minimise what you’re paying overall? Or is it more important that you spread the cost over a longer period to shrink those monthly payments and boost affordability?
Be sure to research lender reputations too. We’re talking about registration with bodies like the FCA, years of experience and customer reviews. This will ensure you get a company you can trust that provides a reliable service. You don’t want to be taking chances when it comes to your finances or your car.
Being part of the UK’s largest car finance broker, Evolution Funding, My Car Credit has access to one of the largest selections of car finance companies out of any broker. Over the years, we’ve built up great relationships with these companies so that we can offer customers the best choice.
In addition, we’ve created market-leading technology that makes it easy for customers to get a quick decision on car finance. And because we have so many car finance companies on our panel, we can assist customers with all types of credit profiles, from excellent and good through to poor and bad.
Read on for a bit of insight into many of the car finance lenders we work with.
Launched in 2006, Alphera Financial Services is part of the BMW Group, making them a motor company rather than a bank. This means that their products and services are developed specifically for those customers looking for car finance. They are multi-award winning and offer flexible finance solutions across a variety of new and used cars and motorcycles. As with all areas of the BMW Group, they put first-class service and an unrivalled understanding of the motor industry at the heart of their approach.
BNP Paribas is a leading provider of finance in Europe, operating in over 30 countries. They have over 45 years of consumer finance experience and so are well placed to help you with car finance! They offer a wide range of easy-to-use car financing products including hire purchase, personal loans, personal contract purchase, personal contract hire and value-added products such as vehicle protection.
Established in 2005, Blue Motor Finance is one of the UK’s premier lenders of consumer car finance. With remarkable growth, they are ranked 1st in the Financial Times’ FT1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies (March 2019). They use technology to ensure that they offer an excellent customer experience. This includes flexible and competitive finance packages, quick decisions, and reduced administration time.
One of the UK’s leading independent motor finance companies, Close Motor Finance was founded in 1988. They are part of Close Brothers Group plc, a leading UK merchant banking group that was established in 1878! They offer a range of finance products for cars, motorcycles and vans. Close are multi-award winning, including being named Finance Provider of the Year (Prime) at the Car Dealer Power Awards 2020. This was due to their superb customer services.
With over 40 years in the motor industry, MotoNovo Finance is one of the largest and fastest growing car finance companies in the UK. The Consumer Credit Awards 2020 voted them the Best Car Finance Provider, along with many other achievements. They can help with funding cars, vans and motorbikes.
Dating back to 1956, Northridge Finance is part of the Bank of Ireland UK. Northridge have established themselves as one of the UK’s most trusted finance companies in the motor finance market. They were named ‘Best Independent Lender (bank owned)’ at the Car Finance Awards 2019. Whilst they provide finance across a range of sectors, they specialise in motor finance. As part of Bank of Ireland UK, they have a solid foundation you can trust in.
Founded in 1983, Billing Finance are a privately-run, family owned, vehicle finance company. Offering hire purchase agreements, they focus on customers with non-standard credit profiles that may not fit the automated underwriting processes of other lenders. They can finance cars, motorbikes, light commercial vehicles and leisure vehicles, such as caravans and motorhomes. Billing Finance were named Best Independent Lender (Non-Bank Owned) at the Car Finance Awards 2020.
Moneybarn is the UK’s leading non-standard vehicle finance provider. Founded in 1992, they specialise in helping customers with a poor credit score who may have been turned down by other lenders. They can help with the financing of cars, vans and motorbikes. Moneybarn have won awards for their service and approach to lending, including ‘Non-Prime Lender of the Year’ at the Motor Finance Europe Awards 2020 and Feefo’s Platinum Trusted Service Award 2020.
Established in 2014, Specialist Motor Finance funds Hire Purchase agreements for customers. If you have a less than perfect credit file, Specialist Motor Finance may be the option for you. They offer products that are comparable in quality and service to conventional prime lenders, but with a more flexible approach.
Understanding car finance companies
In a nutshell, car finance companies (or lenders) loan you the money to buy your car. They can often be part of a much larger organisation, such as a bank or car manufacturer. However, many of them are also independent businesses.
- Bank-owned finance providers are essentially subsidiaries or ‘brands’ run by large banks, allowing them to highlight more specialist services available to their customers. For example, the Bank of Ireland UK provides car finance through Northridge Finance.
- Manufacturer-linked finance companies are those which partner with or even stem from specific manufacturers, such as Alphera Financial Services (part of the BMW Group). They typically specialise in finance for vehicles from specific manufacturers.
- Finally, there are independent finance providers. These companies have been founded specifically to help customers finance their car purchase. Like banks, they provide finance for a wider range of vehicles.
Whether you apply through a dealer, a broker or online, it is the finance company that you take out an agreement with. Furthermore, it is the finance company who owns the car until all payments have been made on the agreement.
There are many different finance companies across the UK. What’s more, they tend to focus on a particular area of the car finance market. For example, some finance companies specialise in helping customers who have poor credit. Others prefer to focus on good and excellent credit.
Above all else, their goal is to help you facilitate your vehicle purchase with tailored financing solutions. Finance companies don’t offer set packages or loan amounts. They give you the money you need to buy your next car, then work out a repayment plan for your preferred term.
While you might want to select a finance company quickly to get on with the process, it’s vital to spend a little more time on this step. Your choice of finance company will impact your loan terms, how much you repay and your overall satisfaction.
The importance of choosing the right finance provider
Why does your choice of finance provider matter so much? Because they vary in terms of the services they offer and the quality of those services too.
With the wrong finance provider, you could end up paying over the odds for the car you want and need. The same vehicle might be much more affordable with a different provider – but you’ll never know.
Even worse, unsuitable finance companies may simply reject your application. Without finding a company that specialises in poor credit scores, for example, you could fall at the first hurdle time and again. This can impact your credit score negatively over time, which can put off other providers. Not to mention that it wastes your time and leaves you feeling frustrated.
Ultimately, you’ll want a trusted car finance provider to make the whole process easy and convenient too. Good car finance companies know what they’re doing. They can help you through the process and communicate everything clearly. This extends from the application process to their terms and conditions – which should be completely transparent.
Let My Car Credit match you with the perfect finance provider
Now that you know a bit about each car finance company, you may be thinking about going directly to the lender of your choice. However, by taking this approach, you may struggle to find the best rate with the right lender for your circumstances. What’s more, it could take a lot of time and legwork, as well as involving multiple credit searches, which can damage your credit file.
At My Car Credit, we do all the legwork for you! As part of Evolution Funding, we work with the largest panel of trusted lenders out of all UK car finance brokers. This allows us to find tailored car finance solutions. Our team will compare deals on your behalf, but that’s not all.
Our smart soft search technology allows us to check your application against all these companies in one go, without impacting your credit score. We only use a soft search initially, so your credit file will only be impacted when lenders use a hard credit search further down the line.
All of this means that you can compare different car finance companies and their deals without having to spend hours and hours researching providers and filling in applications. The results come back through to us in seconds and the best deal available for your circumstances wins your business! As a car finance broker, we don’t have any vested interest, so you can rest assured that you’re getting the right deal for your circumstances.
Want to see for yourself? You can test all this out by calculating car finance and then making a no obligation online application. So don’t delay, find out if one of our car finance companies can help you today!
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Evolution Funding Ltd T/A My Car Credit
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