HELP is on hand for motorists who are reluctant to change their car during the Covid-19 crisis and face having to hand it back to avoid an unaffordable final payment.
Online car marketplace BuyaCar.co.uk has launched a service to settle the finance by switching motorists to a hire purchase agreement, enabling them to affordably keep their car.
Prompted by a growing number of customers who said they were concerned about reaching the end of a finance contract before they felt ready to buy another car, BuyaCar launched the service as part of its drive to help motorists through the coronavirus crisis.
With most cars funded by Personal Contract Purchase (PCP), many hard-pressed motorists suddenly faced a choice between handing their car back during the crisis, struggling to source the right car during lockdown – or having to find a large sum to settle the finance and keep the car.
In an unusual move for a business primarily focused on selling cars, BuyaCar hopes to help people who aren’t ready to change theirs to stay in their existing vehicle until the crisis is over.
Britain’s finance watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), announced last week that it expects lenders to offer a ‘payment holiday’ of up to three months for car owners facing financial uncertainty. But many motorists will still face a big final payment at the end of that period or may remain cautious about going back into the market to get another vehicle.
BuyaCar has partnered with specialist lenders to help those drivers to avoid the final ‘balloon’ payment on their PCP and instead fund the outstanding finance on their car with a traditional hire purchase agreement – so they can own the car outright.
Finance expert Christofer Lloyd, editor of the BuyaCar website, said: “You might want to keep your car because you’ve fallen in love with it, perhaps a new one is outside your budget, or simply because you’d rather not source another one during such an uncertain time. In those circumstances refinancing the outstanding sum at the end of your contract and eventually owning your car outright may be the ideal solution.
“We welcome the FCA’s encouragement of lenders to help customers during the current crisis in particular but a three-month payment holiday is a short-term measure, whereas we aim to offer people the long-term certainty of owning their car where that is best for them.
“Although most of us are looking forward to the end of social confinement, there are some car owners who simply don’t want to venture back out into the market just yet and we are there for them too, whether or not they originally bought their car on BuyaCar.co.uk.
“During this unprecedented crisis we are determined to offer as much help as we can, wherever we can. Alongside our special offer of free delivery and warranties for key workers, extending a helping hand to motorists who are uncertain about their finance options has proved a popular choice for some and we will continue to provide it for the foreseeable future.”
To help customers make the best decision for them, as well as offering many articles on ways to fund a car, BuyaCar has launched a series of entertaining, plain English explanatory videos designed to demystify the world of financing a car.
