Car Finance - secured or unsecured

Filed Under (Uncategorized) by admin on 26-02-2009

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Ever wondered what the difference is between secured car loans and personal unsecured car loans and how that difference affects your finance and the car loan payments. Basically the difference is small in terms of the car loan details themselves, but is bigger when the true cost of each is taken into account.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of car loans packages , let’s first have a look at the a range of machinery that determine the cost of your loan and of your monthly repayments. The cost of the car finance package is the total you repay less the sum borrowed. Hence, let’s say you are repaying $20,000 at 12% interest rate over 36 months; you will pay back at the rate of $664.29 per month. That would total a repayment of $23,914.44, and the cost of the loan would be $3,914.44 plus any set-up or administration fees. A car finance calculator will assists in calculating these figures to calculate the real costs of car finance.

An choice to a loan package would be car hire purchase (HP), where you hire the car over the repayment period and obtain the owership papers to the motor car with your final payment. Until then the car belongs to the HP company.

However, most credits are either secured or unsecured, and not all finance companies offer unsecured car loans so let’s look at secured car finance first. A secured car loan is one whereby the lender offers the loan with the car as security. If you fail to make payments, the lender can sell the car to recoup their money. It is possible to get a secured car loan if the car is over a certain age, often 7 years, but the finance term could be shorter than 5 yearsor not at all by using your home or some other form of security. These however are not strictly classed as a car loan. normally the car is used as security over the loan.

If you prefer you can request no deposit car finance and have all on-road costs added to the amount financed. Options like registration , loan insurance and comprehensive auto insurance as part of the financing deal. Loan protection insurance makes sure that the finance is paid off in the event of your death during the loan period, and car insuranceis needed to make sure that the car is in good condition should it be needed to repay the lend in the event of you defaulting on your payments.

This might look hard , but these are conditions you see with most secured car loans, not only car loans. You can get car loans secured for a period of one - seven years , and the interest rate will be lower than that for an unsecured car finance where the finance company charges extra to compensate for their added risk. As with any loan, a deposit will result in lower payments, or a shorter term, whichever you prefer.

Some car loans can come with an option to have a balloon payment, which is like a deposit in reverse, payable at the end of the period. This is popular by those whose income will increase over the period, and they will be in a better financial position to pay a lump sum in 3 - 5 years time. This too results in either a lower monthly repayment or a shorter repayment term.

If you are looking to purchase a used car, your finance package will be priced differentlyaccording to the car finance company and the age of your car. Many will charge higher car loans interest rates, and the current credit problem has changed the outlook of many lenders to unsecured car finance in particular. Many no longer offer unsecured loans due to the increased risk in the current economic climate.

However, they are still available, and some car loan brokers can put you in touch with a choice of lenders that are still willing to offer you an unsecured car loan. In addition to the interest rate on such loans, you should also compare the fees charged, since they can involve a considerable outlay for you before you get the loan.

The key differences between secured and unsecured motor finance, therefore, can be summed up as:

Secured car loans are cheaper to repay, with in general lower rates.

Secured loans demand fully comprehensive car insurance, while unsecured loans do not.

Both finance packages could require life insurance cover for the finance, but secured car finance packages are more likely to.

You can sometimes include comprehensive insurance, registration and other costs in the secured loan, but with an unsecured car financing you must include the the expenses on top of the amount borrowed.

Fees for unsecured loan package can be noticeably higher than for secured loans.

Not all car loan lenders will offer unsecured car finance.

There few doubts that if your vehicle is young enough to be given a loan with the car as colateral, then that should be your option. You might be able to arrange a secured finance for an older automobile with your home as security, but you will have to make sure to maintain the repayments since lenders are becoming unsympathetic in the current economic climate.

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