PDA

View Full Version : Audi Finance



Timothy Nathan
08-03-2012, 01:52 PM
I took the deal to have a substantial number of £s knocked off the price and then have paid off in full before the first Direct Debit. I don't understand the business model, but hey, the difference pays for a holiday.

I must say that I was quite nervous as to the nature of the catch, I expected all sorts of tricks and small print.

But in fact it's been a piece of cake.

I dialled a number (do look on www.saynoto0870.com to get the non premium numbers - 0845 309 0100 and 01908 485000 when I looked) and entered the details on an automated service.
Letter with settlement figure arrived two or three days later, with about three weeks to act.
Called the same number and paid the total by debit card.
They told me to call the bank to cancel direct debit (also very easy)

Job done.

So don't be put off!

burningoil
27-03-2012, 05:01 AM
hello, just ordered a new a6 avant on this deal, improved the deal by about £5k. salesman told me i could pay off after 6 months, can i do it earlier ? will try and take out conventional loan to pay it off. thanks

Timothy Nathan
27-03-2012, 08:26 AM
I was fully paid up within 2 weeks.

There is one small mistake I made that you can avoid.

I also have a maintenance plan. When I paid off the finance, the guy at VAG Finance told me to cancel the Direct Debit, but (I later found out) that DD had not been set up, so I cancelled the only one which was on my account, which turned out to be the maintenance plan one, so I ended up being treated like a naughty schoolboy for missing the first payment on that.

Make sure you cancel the right one, if you are on both plans.

burningoil
28-03-2012, 06:12 AM
i do not have the maintenace plan. i signed the paperwork the other day , but get the car this saturday. can i just request the settlemant figure now, before i get the car ? This was the obly deal where i could get ££££'s off, in fact it made more sense taking this deal than going for a 6m old demo thanks

Timothy Nathan
28-03-2012, 08:28 PM
You'll get a letter about 7-10 days after you get the car and the instructions for getting a settlement letter are on it.

You need a contract number, so you cannot start the process until you have that first letter.

For me, the whole process was done and and dusted within 2 weeks of getting the car.

nealeb
01-04-2012, 09:50 PM
I was given a copy of the finance agreement when I picked up the car and that talked about the "right to withdraw" or some such. I think there is a 14d cooling-off period and in my case, I was charged something like £4.50 a day interest. I was given a settlement figure over the phone, confirmed by letter a couple of days later. They then say that you have 7d to pay, but there is a strong implication that in practice this is 30d (I don't have the letter in front of me at the moment). There doesn't appear to be a catch, and it was all pointed out to me very clearly by the Audi salesman. As someone said, a strange business model but I guess that they hope that not too many people realise.

burningoil
10-04-2012, 11:39 AM
Yes, phoned in yesterday. Got the settlement figure (p/work should be here in couple days), there is a wee bit of interest to pay. I can get a 6.0 APR loan to pay the balance of over 36months. One the amount I am financing it is £90 per month cheaper with m&S bank loan. So, £3240 cheaper over 3 years and I got the benefit of my p/x "being worth" £5,000 more by taking out the finance. Keep looking for a catch but there does not seem to be one.

robbyg
23-05-2012, 04:35 PM
just signed my papers today. wording implies that if you terminate agreement they can chagre the whole interest...

tim: you paid yours off within the 14 day cooling off period?

Nealab and burningoil, when and how did you pay yours off, before or after the first direct debit?

Timothy Nathan
23-05-2012, 05:14 PM
I paid at the first opportunity.

TDiTom
23-05-2012, 06:13 PM
Am I missing something here? What was the exact deal you agreed to on finance with audi, and how did the final amount to pay back on finance, compare with the cash price and settlement figures you were given?

Have you paid FULL or PARTIAL settlements? One is good, the other leaves a balance on your credit file but no further action may be taken to recover it.

Timothy Nathan
23-05-2012, 06:48 PM
I was given a substantial number of thousands off for taking finance.

Paying it off in its entirety cost a very small number of hundreds.

It was a no brainer.

robbyg
23-05-2012, 08:03 PM
have to finance about 50% of the car and you get between £3 and £4k off cant remember actuall figure.
Salesman says the interest is worked out daily so if you pay off in full after say 2 months, you only pay interest for those 2 months.
seems too good to be true!

Timothy Nathan
24-05-2012, 12:41 AM
It seemed like the elusive free lunch at the time, and nothing has happened to change that.

I guess it's just a way to give you a discount without giving you a discount, like Volvo's 17% off if you own an old car.

a8toa6convert
24-05-2012, 07:23 AM
Consumer credit legislation stops VWFS, or any other car finance house, from stinging you for lots of front end interest and penalties. You just have to pay the few £hundred in admin fees plus accrued daily interest. It was even worth it for me buying an ex-demo car, where the incentive is just £500 plus 2 years' free servicing.

jbanfie
24-05-2012, 07:42 AM
I have some experience of this, back in March I bought a Mini Countryman for the wife and gained an 1150 additional discount by taking out the finance - the dealer - an idiot - told me I could early repay after 3 months - Lexus dealer told me similar stories over a new one of those quoting you can repay early after 6 months. All of that is rubbish.

Quoting from my BMW Financial Services Hire Purchase Agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 - there are three things you can do

Right of Withdrawal - this is what you should do!

"You have the right to withdraw from the credit agreement under Section 66A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 by giving us written or oral notice of the withdrawal before the end of the period of 14 calendar days beginning with the day after the relevant day. Blah Blah Blah
a) You must given us notice of withdrawal by writing to ....., phone or fax to .... You do not need to give us any reason.
b) If you withdraw from this agreement after the credit has been provided, we will keep any advance payment you have paid and you must pay £13,937.40 (the amount of credit) plus the interest at £2.44 per day which has accrued from the date the credit was provided."

Early Repayment

"You have the right to repay all or part of the credit early at any time:
a) Write to us etc etc
b) To repay all the credit early, you must replay all the amounts payable by you to us under this agreement, including the Purchase Fee, less any rebate of charges allowable by law. You will then become the owner of the Vehicle" I guess that mean you pay the interest to date!!!

Termination

You can terminate and give the car back.


My Audi Dealer said you could get £4500 off by using the finance, some came from the dealership some from Audi Finance - as my discount was bigger than this he did not even try and sell me finance.

It's all a fudge to get cars sold, you really can get the "finance discount" and Withdraw within 14 days no questions asked.

As I have Lloydstsb Premier, I can get a credit report anytime, the "Loan" from BMW appeared very quickly and then about six weeks later became "Settled" any my credit score went down by about 10!!! I'm not entirely sure the loans industry likes people paying off really early as they won't make any money!

I think I had credit on the Mini for about 12 days cost me about £30 - lush

robbyg
24-05-2012, 08:57 AM
looks like i should pay it off within the 2 weeks then i think!

dealer advised me to wait at least 1 month and make the first payment.

robbyg
24-05-2012, 09:04 AM
have just had a good read through the small print, i see how they make their money - they hold the majority of balance back so at the end of 3 years you still owe alot, and have paid the 6.8%apr interest on it for the duration.
for me, financed sum is £27.6k. monthly payment for 3 years is £402, then there is a "final payment2 of £17.8k!!! so this back end loading they can make 6.8% on all the way through!

i will be following tims guidance in the opening post i think!

Timothy Nathan
24-05-2012, 09:09 AM
I tried to pay off earlier, but they said that it hadn't been set up and I had to wait for a letter with an agreement number.

I thought it churlish to try to avoid paying a small fee, when I had gained a massive discount, so just went along with it.

I too am with LloydsTSB Premier but know nothing of this credit report. Do I get it via online banking or do I have to call the 0845 number? Is it free?

a8toa6convert
24-05-2012, 09:25 AM
Right of Withdrawal - this is what you should do!



If you "withdraw" rather than make full "early repayment", then you are electing to be put back in the same position as if you hadn't entered into the finance agreement at all, and so surely VWFS can claw back any incentives given ? That's what my dealer told me, and is why I am planning to repay early rather than withdraw.

Timothy Nathan
24-05-2012, 09:27 AM
If you "withdraw" rather than make full "early repayment", then you are electing to be put back in the same position as if you hadn't entered into the finance agreement at all, and so surely VWFS can claw back any incentives given ? That's what my dealer told me, and is why I am planning to repay early rather than withdraw.
That makes total sense and it is also the "right" thing to do, to my mind.

jbanfie
24-05-2012, 09:39 AM
You need to read the small print on the documents - the document will give you a withdrawal figure and a daily interest amount exactly as I decsribe above, this is what you pay, on my BMW example there is no claw back or anything. Of course the early repayment terms might be OK - on my example the APR for the loan was over 13%, but on the withdrawal it was only 6.4% so I paid as soon as I could. Also, I was very wary of the whole thing until I actually got my hands on the documentation when everything became very clear.

Don't get me wrong, I thought there had to be a catch, but I think under the Credit Act, there is none, as that's the law.

Timothy on LloydsTSB premier, the credit report stuff is all under the idaware scheme, you need to access that via the online banking.

sixfoottwo
26-05-2012, 10:50 PM
A most interesting thread. I hope to get my car on Thursday, and will be taking out the finance, which I aim to repay within the 2 weeks. The price paid matched that on Orangewheels, so feel as though I have a really good deal.

jbanfie
27-05-2012, 06:17 AM
Sixfoottwo has nailed it, I took exactly the same approach, using internet deals to negotiate with the dealer, it worked fine and the dealer was happy to match the price without debate, in his words "We only get one bite at the cherry, if we don't offer a deal there are plenty of other dealers who will!" - I thought that was remarkably frank, honest and actually respectful - hence they got my business.

It's dog eat dog out there!

nealeb
27-05-2012, 09:40 PM
I took the "withdraw within two weeks" route; I rang them and it was a "no questions asked" deal. And, just as the dealer told me, there was no request for return of any incentives. I paid something like a £4/day nominal interest charge.

TDiTom
27-05-2012, 09:53 PM
Hmm, madness. However I have just done something very similar now, buying the Mrs a new pc, I was offered £200 cash back if I bought on buy now pay later, after one month the credit is applied and I can settle with no interest! Big companies starting to give credit again, signs of an improving econamy.

nealeb
27-05-2012, 10:26 PM
Doesn't have to make sense - it's marketing! You know, where the rubber meets the sky...

burningoil
11-06-2012, 11:39 AM
sorry late in replying, once you get the paperwork through the post, just phone them for an early settlement figure. I did mine well before the first D/D was due. Paid off and took out conventional bank loan over the same period, much cheaper. Cheers

robbyg
11-06-2012, 06:55 PM
Done it, the day the letter with the policy number came through. Paid off in full over jubilee weekend. I think they charged £125 set up fee plus a months interest. Fair enough for a £4k discount. Just waiting for the "all clear" letter to come though.

krupatel
11-06-2012, 10:02 PM
So far I've only received a two page document from Audi Finance detailing the payment structure. There is an agreement/direct debit ref on there. Is this the same as the policy number and so can I call them for a settlement figure yet or is there a detailed policy document still to come?

robbyg
11-06-2012, 10:35 PM
So far I've only received a two page document from Audi Finance detailing the payment structure. There is an agreement/direct debit ref on there. Is this the same as the policy number and so can I call them for a settlement figure yet or is there a detailed policy document still to come?

agreement number, yes thats it. ring the number on the letter.

robbyg
21-06-2012, 01:35 PM
Letter came through today confirming nothing outstanding and they have "transferred ownership to me". Easiest £4k i have ever saved - 20 minutes effort. I cant beleive many people of means to buy an A6 get suckled into paying off the whole deal and the baloon payment. maybe on cheap cars this is a profitable tactic. I assume most A6 drivers can deal with basic finance and maths......

Also though my door, letter telling me i have won the premium bonds. next quandary is how is spend my £25 winning.

sijomi
06-09-2012, 05:14 PM
Is the deal being discussed in this thread the Audi "Solutions" finance option? The Solutions deal I was offered did not seem so good and, according to the dealer, had a minimum repayment period of 7 months. Though I get the feeling this might have benefited the dealer in some way and was not necessarily enforceable.

johnsimcox
06-09-2012, 05:23 PM
Is the deal being discussed in this thread the Audi "Solutions" finance option? The Solutions deal I was offered did not seem so good and, according to the dealer, had a minimum repayment period of 7 months. Though I get the feeling this might have benefited the dealer in some way and was not necessarily enforceable.

It is Solutions and there is no minimum period (indeed you are offered a 14 day cooling off period to cancel deal and settle the finance) during which you cannot pay the finance off. Maybe that the local dealer (or sales guy) has its own policy. Speaking to someone who knows a former Audi salesman apparently they get only a small amount of commission on selling a car but they hit the jackpot if they sell it with finance. May be that payment is reduced if the customer exercises their right to cancel.

sijomi
06-09-2012, 05:44 PM
But you still benefit from the discount or "Audi/Dealer contribution to deposit"?

johnsimcox
06-09-2012, 05:57 PM
But you still benefit from the discount or "Audi/Dealer contribution to deposit"?

Yes everything stays the same. There are many here who have taken the deal and then paid it off immediately

mrankin
06-09-2012, 07:37 PM
I'm keen to understand this too. I took the finance to get the contribution from Audi finance as specifically asked the dealership ahead of time what the penalty was to pay in full before the normal period. They claim 1 months interest only for ealry termination.

they also told me that if I pay the full ammount off BEFORE the third payment is made then Audi Finance recoup the additional discount yopu get for taking out the finance from the dealership. So they "asked" me nicley not to do this. Am going to check over the papers now with a toothcomb but would appreciate others thoughts/experiences arround this and whether the dealer is just bs'ing me...

Mark

krupatel
07-09-2012, 09:28 AM
I'm keen to understand this too. I took the finance to get the contribution from Audi finance as specifically asked the dealership ahead of time what the penalty was to pay in full before the normal period. They claim 1 months interest only for ealry termination.

they also told me that if I pay the full ammount off BEFORE the third payment is made then Audi Finance recoup the additional discount yopu get for taking out the finance from the dealership. So they "asked" me nicley not to do this. Am going to check over the papers now with a toothcomb but would appreciate others thoughts/experiences arround this and whether the dealer is just bs'ing me...

Mark
My dealer said the same...nevertheless still paid it all off straight away.

mrankin
07-09-2012, 09:43 AM
My dealer said the same...nevertheless still paid it all off straight away.

Did you have to wait till after the 14 day cooling off period to pay it off or were you able to get a settlement figure immediately ?

BTW I read the small print and the letter that arrived from Audi Finance yesterday and basically it just saus they calculate the sttlement figure based on the formual in the "Consumer Credit Act". I would have thought they would have had to have been explicit about this rather than simply refere to legislation (or at least replicate the legislation). Will look the details up when I get some time later today.

Thanks

Mark

jbanfie
07-09-2012, 10:23 AM
If you pay within the 14 day right to cancel period, you pay the invoice price plus a daily interest amount that is calculated using a government mandated rate, which I can't remember but it's small.

When you get the complete paper work all this should be explicitly stated along with the phone number to call and the a statement to the fact that you do not have to tell the finance company why you want to cancel.

The consumer credit act is very much your friend.

krupatel
07-09-2012, 11:01 AM
Did you have to wait till after the 14 day cooling off period to pay it off or were you able to get a settlement figure immediately ?

BTW I read the small print and the letter that arrived from Audi Finance yesterday and basically it just saus they calculate the sttlement figure based on the formual in the "Consumer Credit Act". I would have thought they would have had to have been explicit about this rather than simply refere to legislation (or at least replicate the legislation). Will look the details up when I get some time later today.

Thanks

Mark

No need to wait as long as you have the paper work through with your ref /policy number give them a call for your settlement figure.

rajjy
20-03-2013, 12:42 AM
Bumping this thread.

When people are settling the finance, are you paying the whole amount including the balloon or just the amount covering the 36 monthly payments?

Apologies if this is a stupid question! :o

sixfoottwo
20-03-2013, 01:16 AM
I received a document outlining the monthly payments. This has an account number, Ring Audi Finance for a settlement figure asap and this has to be paid within a short period - can't remember how long. This is considerably less than the monthly payments would amount to. Well worth doing. I couldn't believe it was so easy.

rajjy
20-03-2013, 08:20 AM
Thanks,so it settles the monthly payments and the balloon is still outstanding. Will definitely be doing this

retired99
20-03-2013, 09:05 AM
Thanks,so it settles the monthly payments and the balloon is still outstanding. Will definitely be doing this

What are you trying to achieve?

If you want to clear the whole finance deal and end up owning the car you need to ask for a settlement figure. This will give you the amount you need to pay and will include interest owed, any admin charges and the balloon. You need to pay the balloon to own the car.

If you want to reduce the term or reduce the payments you can ‘overpay’ to achieve this. Remember, even if you were to eliminate the payments entirely you will still be charged interest on the balloon as this is money you have borrowed.

Timothy Nathan
20-03-2013, 09:43 AM
Thanks,so it settles the monthly payments and the balloon is still outstanding. Will definitely be doing this
It just settles. There was no balloon in my case, just monthly payments (and I am sure that my case was absolutely standard.)

I suspect that people are very cautious about this deal because it just seems too good to be true, but it seems, from my and everyone's universal experience, that it is quite as good as it seems:


Accept the massive discount for accepting finance
Pay off the finance at the first opportunity, which involves paying a small amount of interest on the first month (about 4% of the original discount, leaving you with 96%)
The car is yours for approximately £3860 less than it otherwise would have been.


There does not appear to be a catch.

johnsimcox
20-03-2013, 09:44 AM
My understanding is that settlement means exactly that you pay off everything you owe which includes the balloon payment. With the PCP whilst you are only paying off part of the capital (purchase price less balloon payment) you are paying interest on the entire amount as that is what you actually owe.

jbanfie
20-03-2013, 11:46 AM
We need a skicky on how to 'do' Audi Finance.

There are a number of options, but as per the Consumer Credit Act 1974, you have a 14 day cooling off period (The Right of Withdrawal) in which to settle the entire balance at a notional interest rate for the few days you actually borrow the money.

This should be detailed explicitly in the finance document detail from Audi, and famously 'You don't have to tell us why'.

Not done it with Audi, but over at Mini I 'Borrowed' £13,937.40 and had daily interest of £2.44 (about 6.4% apr), I think I waited till day 8 to settle!


Seperately from this you have a right to Early Repayment, but you are more at the mercy of Audi Finance terms if you use this route.

As Wuffles has experienced it is important that you check your credit records to see that the account has been 'Settled' if you use either process.

jbanfie
20-03-2013, 11:49 AM
Sorry I should have added, that the whole point is that you can get the massive extra discount thing by using the finance package, but pay it off hassle free within 14 days for pennies of interest and play the system.