Car Finance Advice Please!

Mzjodie

Hi,

I currently have a Ford via their own Ford finance. I've had it 12 months but would like to change to a slightly older car, that's cheaper monthly payments and not with Ford. Is this possible? I have my eye on an approved used mini. Would the finance be exchanged etc? Any advice would be appreciated

DrEskimo

What you need to do is get a settlement figure on your current finance with Ford, along with a rough estimate of what your Ford would be worth at trade value.

Depending on how you structured the finance for your Ford, how well you negotiated on your Ford's price and how well the Ford is doing on the market, you may have a shortfall or a surplus between the settlement figure and the trade value. If you have any shortfall, then this needs to be settled, whereas any surplus can go towards the Mini. If you used a small payment upfront and have a PCP type finance agreement, it's very likely you will have a shortfall.

It would then be a case of getting a new finance deal after settling the one on the Ford and starting with the Mini.

Try not to concentrate too much on the monthly cost of any finance. It has little bearing on the value or total cost of ownership of a car. Look at the whole picture, and most importantly, look to get cheap finance to not add high interest costs on to the high costs of owning a car already (depreciation, running costs, etc.).

foxy-stoat

You wont be able to swap cars and keep the finance, I suspect you will be stuck with your Ford for a while yet unless you can buy your way out of the agreement.