Giving the car back early on Ford Options

[Yokomoko]

I'm sure there are quite a few posts on here about this but I can't find any...

 

I am currently 25 months in to a 36 month agreement on my Fiesta Zetec S Black Edition. I have a 9000 mile/year agreement and it currently sits on under 11000. I want to hand my car back in around July in order to buy another car, used, with a personal loan instead (Lower costs than what I am currently paying for a car already depreciated the most value). I have 2 (what Ford called 'major' in a recent service) scuffs to the 2 front tyre walls which I did not get repaired at the time. 

 

Ford quoted me for budget tyres, so I was wondering if I could get away with replacing the tyres with budget tyres when it comes to handing the car in as tyre wall damage is not reasonable wear and tear.

 

I was even wondering if I should bother at all and take the charges (if any) when the car goes back and gets inspected. The mileage is grossly less than what was quoted (probably roughly 9000 less than quoted, even less when it comes to giving it back in a few months) so do you think there would even be an additional charge if I left them as-is? I know Ford like to take you for all you're worth so wasn't sure whether it was work risking it or not! 

 

At the very least I assume I won't need to cough up £100 each for 2 new Continentals (fitted) and can just get £50 budgets instead..

 

Any thoughts?

[ayrshiredude]

Not sure about the tyres however if you do hand the car back then in order not to have to pay a settlement figure you'd have to have paid at least half of the loan amount.  If not then you can't just hand it back and walk away.  If you are over the half way mark and you do hand it back then be aware the finance company will likely put a Voluntary Termination notice on your credit file which could affect your ability to get car finance for a while.  I handed a car back a few cars ago and this happened to me.  Luckily I had arranged the new finance before handing the car back so it wasn't a problem.  Have you found out how much you'd get as a trade in against the new car?  Would you not be better to go down that route?

[Taylor22]

As above, you can't just hand the car back when you like. If you want to get rid of it in July you'll have to sell it back to the dealership and then you're liable to pay the negative equity that comes with it. I've gotten out of one PCP finance agreement before (that's what ford options is). My car was valued at a trade in price of 7,500 and the loan still had 9,700 on (this is made up of your remaining monthly payments + balloon payment - any interest owed on the loan). Therefore I had to pay £2,200 to get out of having the car. If you're buying another car on finance you can put the negative equity in with a hp loan but from what you say you're looking for a personal loan so you'd have to ask for a loan of whatever you're looking to spend on a new car + what you owe in negative equity. In any case your reason for wanting to change is to save money so not sure changing cars before your 36 months is up is actually a good idea. If i were you I'd just wait out the last 11 months otherwise you'll have a hefty price to pay for switching early. 

[Philf1]

Just put some part worns on as long as they are legal Ford can't argue

[Yokomoko]

Sorry I missed this for a while... I've paid 50% off of the car as per last month. A guy from Ford said it was still in negative equity as of March but as I've paid 50%, I'm under the impression I can hand it back regardless of that? I'm fairly certain of that.

An early termination on my credit score is mad. Credit Scores are a total pile of **** if I'm honest, designed to keep you in debt for as long as possible so you can continue to get shafted. 

I'd imagine once I'm ready to swap I'll get a loan approved and hopefully find a car I'd want before 'triggering' giving my car back so the credit score thing shouldn't matter. I'll stick part-worn tyres on there is that is the case or go for budgets as they're a lot cheaper. 

It isn't just to save money, it's to actually own a car (that won't depreciate like mad for the next 3-5 years and be virtually worthless at the end of it) so I eventually do not have to pay £200+ on car payments each month, as I now only do probably 600 miles a month instead of the 4000+ I was doing when I first got into the PCP endless cycle. I've paid off £4k of 'debt' within the past 6 months, the only outgoing that is classified as debt now is the car!!