Finance: Right to withdraw

[Sweetchuck]

Guys - forgive me for asking what are very straightforward questions but I want to quickly check back with others on the process of securing the Audi finance discount and then settling within 14 days using the right of withdrawal directive.

I have read some previous, very helpful posts on this forum.

As far as I understand, I would:

1) Negotiate best possible deal (main dealer or otherwise) to incl. finance through Audi, with deposit, monthly payments, agreed baloon payment etc
2) Await delivery, sign finance deal then call to withdraw within 14 days, incurring some small fees

If this is the case, is there anything else I need to be aware of? Is there any value in negotiating the deposit/monthly payment or would I be best aiming for the smallest possible deposit?

Also did you discuss what you were planning to do with the salesman?

Thanks and apologies again for the mundane post

[Whippy53]

I too would be very interested in this ie can it go wrong?, any pitfalls? etc I also wonder whether you can secure just as good a deal as a 'cash' buyer and some hard negotiating? As I say, interesting.

[retired99]

I’ve taken the finance deal and intend to terminate it when I’ve take delivery.

As with many credit arrangements you have the legal right to early termination only paying the interest accrued and probably some small admin charges. This is clearly early termination of an on-going credit arrangement. More than one salesman has told me terminating the finance deal in this way is not a problem. They have implied the need to make a monthly payment. The salesman I've placed the order with is aware that I'm going to do this and says it's common practice.

I don’t know about cancelling within the cooling off period. Would this mean there was no finance deal and thus no entitlement to the associated discount?

In order to minimise interest charges I have taken the biggest possible deposit, which is 50%, meaning monthly interest charges are around £130.

I guess if you cancel within 14 days you save that interest payment, but even if you can’t do that it’s still a good deal.

I doubt you could get the same deal without the finance as some support for the deal comes from Audi so doesn't cost the dealer the full amount.

[ukgroucho]

I've done the same as retired99 - I'll put 50% down and the remainder is audi finance over 3 years. The interest over that period is just a bit more ( a few hundred £) than the audi finance contribution so i look at it as pretty much an interest free loan.

[jbanfie]

I did this last year with my wife's Mini Countryman, and it's a painless process, on my finance documents was the statement 'You don't have to tell us why.' in the section on withdrawl!!

One small thing is that the finance agreement will appear on your credit report, and when you withdraw from the agreement it becomes 'Settled'. As a result my credit score actually went up because I had used credit and not gone into any arrears. Now there are two things here:

1. Wuffles will tell you that sometimes the 'Settled' bit doesn't happen because Audi Finance make a mistake - I'll leave Wuffles to chip in the expletives. It will be worth keeping an eye on your credit report through the process.
2. Other lenders MAY notice that you used finance and settled immediately which may put them off giving you finance in the future because you'll just do that to them.

Given the discounts on offer - and you should still chip away at the dealer's margin - it's a bit of a no brainer to pull the Audi Finance shuffle!

Just for reference I went into Audi with a friend 9 days ago for a A6 Avant and the deal was 10% off (presumably dealer and we reckoned we could get this to 12%), £2250 for the Audi Finance offer and £1000 off cause his trade in was a merc. The dealer reckoned that Orange Wheels was out of date because the quarter had finished. But he also said that this quarters targets were silly because they would not be physically able to build that many cars. One approach would be to wait until June (end of quarter), and see how the deals fly!!!! Dealer was being reasonably honest because I bought my A7 from him last year.

Good luck!

[Sweetchuck]

Thanks for your replies. Much appreciated.

Like you say, as long as you can access the cash to settle the finance, its a no brainer!

[retired99]

I did this last year with my wife's Mini Countryman, and it's a painless process, ....

When you say 'this' do you mean within the cooling off period or when the agreement is in place?

[Wuffles]

We "withdrew" from the credit agreement with 14 days and the discounts still applied, nothing extra to pay either. I don't see how they couldn't apply to be honest. By then you are no longer dealing with the dealer, but with the finance company who are presumably less slippery about commissions and so forth, but still slippery in other ways.

As jbanfie quite rightly pointed out, twice we had HP outstanding on the vehicle, for all I know it is still on it as VWFS have told us twice that it has been removed. We also had a £26,951 default outstanding on in my Wife's credit file for months. That was eventually shown as settled, albeit months after it should have been. For those that haven't been following our problems, this caused us to be unable to remortgage and cost us dearly in interest and could (but didn't) cost my Wife her contract in Financial Services.

Bottom line, make sure it's settled, make sure the HP is knocked off the vehicle.

[retired99]

We "withdrew" from the credit agreement with 14 days and the discounts still applied, nothing extra to pay either. I don't see how they couldn't apply to be honest. By then you are no longer dealing with the dealer, but with the finance company who are presumably less slippery about commissions and so forth, but still slippery in other ways.

As jbanfie quite rightly pointed out, twice we had HP outstanding on the vehicle, for all I know it is still on it as VWFS have told us twice that it has been removed. We also had a £26,951 default outstanding on in my Wife's credit file for months. That was eventually shown as settled, albeit months after it should have been. For those that haven't been following our problems, this caused us to be unable to remortgage and cost us dearly in interest and could (but didn't) cost my Wife her contract in Financial Services.

Bottom line, make sure it's settled, make sure the HP is knocked off the vehicle.

The discount is made available if you take the finance offer. I wondered if pulling out during the 14 day cooling off period would count as not taking the finance as you didn't go through with the deal. Whereas if you terminate after the deal has come into effect, i.e. after the 14 days, then you clearly have taken the finance offer.

Have to admit I'm assuming there is a 14 day cooling off period having read about it it somewhere.

[Wuffles]

Well, we did and I still don't see how it could affect the price. We were advised to do so by a salesperson, presumably to get the sale.

The 14 day cooling off is law I believe. "Right to withdraw" <-- which I have just noticed is the thread title.