Car finance mis-selling query, re Aston Martin. Was I duped?
Discussion
This is not about discretionary commissions (thankfully, though that actually does apply here too)! I have decides to post this pseudonymously as I suspect I have been quite dumb.
Anyway.
I purchased an Aston Martin from an official dealership that I won't name, a few years ago. I had a substational trade-in value from an existing Aston and wished to finance the difference between the two. The new Aston was £80K and the trade-in Vantage was valued at £68K, so I naturally assumed I could finance just the £12K difference over a few years.
The dealership offered PCP, but told me that the maximum deposit allowed against the car was "circa" 40% and that they would have to give me a cash back for the difference. So, I got a cheque for £36K but was now financing and paying interest on £48K over three years, totalling 8K interest and a £40K balloon payment. Furthermore, they told me that it was a flexible agreement and could be settled with a maximum charge of 1 month + 28 days interest, which turned out to be untrue (12 months interest on any settlement figure, as it turns out). Both these statements are in writing to me, as well as a statement that £40K was the minimum balloon payment possible, justifying a large balloon.
Blinded by lust for the car, I rather foolishly said yes to all of this, rather than walk or just get third-party finance for the original £12K difference. So, no financial genius. I could kick myself. Level 10 stupidity. I paid it all, but it was a significant financial burden as the Astons were a luxury purchase that I could just afford and decided to treat myself to. Could have paid it against the mortgage and made the other half happy, instead.
My questions are... was this ethical? Is it normal? Is there potentially a mis-selling case, here? Would be interested to know from posters with experience of car finance.
Thanks.
Anyway.
I purchased an Aston Martin from an official dealership that I won't name, a few years ago. I had a substational trade-in value from an existing Aston and wished to finance the difference between the two. The new Aston was £80K and the trade-in Vantage was valued at £68K, so I naturally assumed I could finance just the £12K difference over a few years.
The dealership offered PCP, but told me that the maximum deposit allowed against the car was "circa" 40% and that they would have to give me a cash back for the difference. So, I got a cheque for £36K but was now financing and paying interest on £48K over three years, totalling 8K interest and a £40K balloon payment. Furthermore, they told me that it was a flexible agreement and could be settled with a maximum charge of 1 month + 28 days interest, which turned out to be untrue (12 months interest on any settlement figure, as it turns out). Both these statements are in writing to me, as well as a statement that £40K was the minimum balloon payment possible, justifying a large balloon.
Blinded by lust for the car, I rather foolishly said yes to all of this, rather than walk or just get third-party finance for the original £12K difference. So, no financial genius. I could kick myself. Level 10 stupidity. I paid it all, but it was a significant financial burden as the Astons were a luxury purchase that I could just afford and decided to treat myself to. Could have paid it against the mortgage and made the other half happy, instead.
My questions are... was this ethical? Is it normal? Is there potentially a mis-selling case, here? Would be interested to know from posters with experience of car finance.
Thanks.
I think the recent high court cases around car finance revealed that they have no obligation to act in your best interest and that this should have been obvious, unortunately. I know that they were out to make a buck. We all are. However, I am wondering if this "cashback" practice is widespread. Seems gratuitous and I am not even convinced that the 40% limit on deposits is a thing. Wish I had threatened to walk rather then capitulate.
Alex_Aston said:
I think the recent high court cases around car finance revealed that they have no obligation to act in your best interest and that this should have been obvious, unortunately. I know that they were out to make a buck. We all are. However, I am wondering if this "cashback" practice is widespread. Seems gratuitous and I am not even convinced that the 40% limit on deposits is a thing. Wish I had threatened to walk rather then capitulate.
I'm guessing the deposit limit is something they have agreed with Lloyds (who are the underwriters for Aston finance). That 12k cost to change might also have turned out to be a larger figure had you not been taking their finance.Alex_Aston said:
This is not about discretionary commissions (thankfully, though that actually does apply here too)! I have decides to post this pseudonymously as I suspect I have been quite dumb.
Anyway.
I purchased an Aston Martin from an official dealership that I won't name, a few years ago. I had a substational trade-in value from an existing Aston and wished to finance the difference between the two. The new Aston was £80K and the trade-in Vantage was valued at £68K, so I naturally assumed I could finance just the £12K difference over a few years.
The dealership offered PCP, but told me that the maximum deposit allowed against the car was "circa" 40% and that they would have to give me a cash back for the difference. So, I got a cheque for £36K but was now financing and paying interest on £48K over three years, totalling 8K interest and a £40K balloon payment. Furthermore, they told me that it was a flexible agreement and could be settled with a maximum charge of 1 month + 28 days interest, which turned out to be untrue (12 months interest on any settlement figure, as it turns out). Both these statements are in writing to me, as well as a statement that £40K was the minimum balloon payment possible, justifying a large balloon.
Blinded by lust for the car, I rather foolishly said yes to all of this, rather than walk or just get third-party finance for the original £12K difference. So, no financial genius. I could kick myself. Level 10 stupidity. I paid it all, but it was a significant financial burden as the Astons were a luxury purchase that I could just afford and decided to treat myself to. Could have paid it against the mortgage and made the other half happy, instead.
My questions are... was this ethical? Is it normal? Is there potentially a mis-selling case, here? Would be interested to know from posters with experience of car finance.
Thanks.
Who was the actual Lender and was your contract regulated or unregulated ?Anyway.
I purchased an Aston Martin from an official dealership that I won't name, a few years ago. I had a substational trade-in value from an existing Aston and wished to finance the difference between the two. The new Aston was £80K and the trade-in Vantage was valued at £68K, so I naturally assumed I could finance just the £12K difference over a few years.
The dealership offered PCP, but told me that the maximum deposit allowed against the car was "circa" 40% and that they would have to give me a cash back for the difference. So, I got a cheque for £36K but was now financing and paying interest on £48K over three years, totalling 8K interest and a £40K balloon payment. Furthermore, they told me that it was a flexible agreement and could be settled with a maximum charge of 1 month + 28 days interest, which turned out to be untrue (12 months interest on any settlement figure, as it turns out). Both these statements are in writing to me, as well as a statement that £40K was the minimum balloon payment possible, justifying a large balloon.
Blinded by lust for the car, I rather foolishly said yes to all of this, rather than walk or just get third-party finance for the original £12K difference. So, no financial genius. I could kick myself. Level 10 stupidity. I paid it all, but it was a significant financial burden as the Astons were a luxury purchase that I could just afford and decided to treat myself to. Could have paid it against the mortgage and made the other half happy, instead.
My questions are... was this ethical? Is it normal? Is there potentially a mis-selling case, here? Would be interested to know from posters with experience of car finance.
Thanks.
If they “ lied “ about the Interest then arguably that may be a start point but only if you have the incorrect part in writing.
Having financed Astons previously I would say it wasn’t normal but ethical I think we could all guess at the answer of no on that.
The DCA debacle doesn’t seem to include this type of action unless the interest rate charged is also deemed excessive but presumably to have it confirmed you must have already made a complaint to the lender presumably ?
The lender was Alphera (BMW Finance) who were who trading as Aston Martin Finance at the time (may still do, for all I know).
I found out about the interest penalty when enquiring re settlement, with about a year to go and discovered that it was simply not worthwhile and not the 1 month + 28 days that the dealership put down in writing.
As for the interest rate, it is subject to a DCA claim and BMW Finance have confirmed that discretionaty finance was used on my finance deal. That aside, I suspect that they would have financed a smaller amount if I had threatened to walk and not been totally blinded by the new toy.
I am curious as to whether anyone else has had this cashback arrangement where the supplying dealership claims that there is a ceiling on the max deposit amount to maximise the amount financed and therefore the interest.
I found out about the interest penalty when enquiring re settlement, with about a year to go and discovered that it was simply not worthwhile and not the 1 month + 28 days that the dealership put down in writing.
As for the interest rate, it is subject to a DCA claim and BMW Finance have confirmed that discretionaty finance was used on my finance deal. That aside, I suspect that they would have financed a smaller amount if I had threatened to walk and not been totally blinded by the new toy.
I am curious as to whether anyone else has had this cashback arrangement where the supplying dealership claims that there is a ceiling on the max deposit amount to maximise the amount financed and therefore the interest.
Alex_Aston said:
I found out about the interest penalty when enquiring re settlement, with about a year to go and discovered that it was simply not worthwhile and not the 1 month + 28 days that the dealership put down in writing.
I am going to retract the allegation about the settlement interest penalty as I am just reviewing settlement quotations and I think 58 days may in fact be accurate. The question is now solely pertaining to this cashback practice.
You may find you get more replies if you post this in the AM sub forum of PH. Personally I think if you managed to trade in your existing Aston Martin and only needed to finance £12.000 as a cost to change against another Aston Martin, then you are selling your financial nous somewhat short as you are clearly a magical financial wizard! Only joking OP, but as it’s an AM specific question you have, it could be worth starting a new topic in the AM forum and see what comes back. BRM.
Minglar, I was going from a Vantage AMR to a DB9 GT and I had only and AMR for less than a year but the colour scheme just never gelled with me.
Don't want to spam all the forum - it could just as easily be another car brand, I suppose. The more I heat about DCAs, etc, the more I wonder about this as well; will they just tell you anything?!!
Don't want to spam all the forum - it could just as easily be another car brand, I suppose. The more I heat about DCAs, etc, the more I wonder about this as well; will they just tell you anything?!!
Alex_Aston said:
Minglar, I was going from a Vantage AMR to a DB9 GT and I had only and AMR for less than a year but the colour scheme just never gelled with me.
Don't want to spam all the forum - it could just as easily be another car brand, I suppose. The more I heat about DCAs, etc, the more I wonder about this as well; will they just tell you anything?!!
Unless your interest rate was excessive it won’t get picked up as a redress item under the DCA. Don't want to spam all the forum - it could just as easily be another car brand, I suppose. The more I heat about DCAs, etc, the more I wonder about this as well; will they just tell you anything?!!
Largely that remains a “hidden commission “issue.
If now you think that actually the interest rate isn’t a debate then as you say it boils down to did the dealer / finance manager correctly suggest you should borrow more than ideally you wanted to I guess.
That may be a somewhat tricky one to prove.
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