Registered Keeper whilst on finance

[HughT4]

Quick question - i think i know the answer and its probably a no-go..

Having issue funding EV purchase in company. Despite £100k profit, A credit rated company, offering director guarantees and only needing a £40k finance for new EV, the dealers finance house have declined the company - company has never had or needed credit before.
Dealer business manager said "its common at moment for SME's"..
Dealership is pushing me to do PCP in personal name - which i know should be fine as have had previous finance at higher levels.
Obviously if vehicle is registered in my name i cannot get tax reliefs on vehicle.
An accountancy forum has suggested i sell vehicle to my company via DL loan account then pay back monthly.
My accountant is on holiday this week so cannot check.
My gut feeling is that i cannot sell to company (just change of keeper) whilst retaining the PCP in my personal name? I assume finance house would find out and then want finance repaid?
(anyone know if i could sell the beneficial interest on to the company, but retain finance - keeping HMRC happy and finance company happy?)


Only other possible option is to fund via combination of personal savings and personal loan into the company who will then purchase and pay me back monthly. (Drawback with this is my savings are currently earning over 5% and small personal loan will be 6%+, so higher than current 2.9% dealer finance).
thanks.

[twing]

HughT4 said:

Quick question - i think i know the answer and its probably a no-go..

Having issue funding EV purchase in company. Despite £100k profit, A credit rated company, offering director guarantees and only needing a £40k finance for new EV, the dealers finance house have declined the company - company has never had or needed credit before.
Dealer business manager said "its common at moment for SME's"..
Dealership is pushing me to do PCP in personal name - which i know should be fine as have had previous finance at higher levels.
Obviously if vehicle is registered in my name i cannot get tax reliefs on vehicle.
An accountancy forum has suggested i sell vehicle to my company via DL loan account then pay back monthly.
My accountant is on holiday this week so cannot check.
My gut feeling is that i cannot sell to company (just change of keeper) whilst retaining the PCP in my personal name? I assume finance house would find out and then want finance repaid?
(anyone know if i could sell the beneficial interest on to the company, but retain finance - keeping HMRC happy and finance company happy?)


Only other possible option is to fund via combination of personal savings and personal loan into the company who will then purchase and pay me back monthly. (Drawback with this is my savings are currently earning over 5% and small personal loan will be 6%+, so higher than current 2.9% dealer finance).
thanks.

When you say the dealer's funding house do you mean the manufacturer's or the dealer's preferred lender?

[HughT4]

twing said:

When you say the dealer's funding house do you mean the manufacturer's or the dealer's preferred lender?

Yes, BMW/Mini's own in house corporate finance arm. Didn't want to push an appeal or discuss figures - the manager just said "hes getting it a lot at the moment (corporate finance being turned down)". But was then happy to push a personal PCP to do it in my personal name.
(have previously had several PCP's from them in my personal name - one just repaid in full which was much higher than the new one i requested - i should have held onto the funds that i used to repay that to buy this new motor, but never thought it would be a proble,)

[twing]

HughT4 said:

Yes, BMW/Mini's own in house corporate finance arm. Didn't want to push an appeal or discuss figures - the manager just said "hes getting it a lot at the moment (corporate finance being turned down)". But was then happy to push a personal PCP to do it in my personal name.
(have previously had several PCP's from them in my personal name - one just repaid in full which was much higher than the new one i requested - i should have held onto the funds that i used to repay that to buy this new motor, but never thought it would be a proble,)

Not sure what rate you were getting but as you'll be writing the interest off anyway it's largely irrelevant. Try Lombard or Evolution, it may just be that BMW have shut their book for a while.

[HughT4]

twing said:

Not sure what rate you were getting but as you'll be writing the interest off anyway it's largely irrelevant. Try Lombard or Evolution, it may just be that BMW have shut their book for a while.

it was a decent rate on the finance which makes taking the finance attractive as opposed to having to fund it in my personal name and then lending the money to the company.
THank you, i'll give them a whirl. I wasn't sure where else to try for corporate funding.

[twing]

HughT4 said:

it was a decent rate on the finance which makes taking the finance attractive as opposed to having to fund it in my personal name and then lending the money to the company.
THank you, i'll give them a whirl. I wasn't sure where else to try for corporate funding.

[Aberlour]

Did you get anywhere with this HughT4? I’m in a similar position to yourself and considering a purchase instead of a lease for the next company vehicle. Hoping they can improve on VWFS interest figures which seems to be about 11% at the moment.

[HughT4]

Nah, BMW had their head up their backside and didn't want to fund EV's in a company name. Heard this was happening a fair bit in early 2025 as they were overexposed. I decided to get an EV for the business through Renault who approved it no questions asked (its a good tax write off and keeps the miles off the petrol car for local use).
BMW later approved me for a £65k M4 comp purchase in my personal name 2 weeks after they declined me for the EV - almost twice the finance i was after on the EV. Wierd, but as the BMW used rate came in at 9.9%, i pulled out of BMW and went with Charles and Dean who offered 8.9%.
In short - some funders are very cautious funding EV's.

[Aberlour]

Thanks for the feedback. Seems like some manufacturers are all over business offerings (Tesla being a good example, not that I want one though) while some a bit more opaque. Further research required.
How did you come across Charles and Dean? Just googling?

[HughT4]

Saw them recommended on a few posts when i was looking at Porsche's.
Their rates vary from 8.9-c.10.9%. Spec, model of car and likely residual dictates what rate they offer.
Another firm i got quotes from was Forza Finance - they are similar broker, but do quotes online.
Yes, i never actually found out what the issue with the business finance was - i offered personal guarantees, offered putting down a huge deposit and did a company credit check which was A1 with no issues. The BMW finance manager dropped in a suggestion that "we were not the only ones having issues with EV funding" (Q1 2025) ...It was almost like the finance arm were not wanting to lend on any new cars.

[South tdf]

HughT4 said:

Nah, BMW had their head up their backside and didn't want to fund EV's in a company name. Heard this was happening a fair bit in early 2025 as they were overexposed. I decided to get an EV for the business through Renault who approved it no questions asked (its a good tax write off and keeps the miles off the petrol car for local use).
BMW later approved me for a £65k M4 comp purchase in my personal name 2 weeks after they declined me for the EV - almost twice the finance i was after on the EV. Wierd, but as the BMW used rate came in at 9.9%, i pulled out of BMW and went with Charles and Dean who offered 8.9%.
In short - some funders are very cautious funding EV's.

My understanding is any business deal is underwritten by Alphabet t/a BMW Business Finance where are personal deals are BMW Financial Services. They are ultimately the same parent company but specialise in different areas of funding.