Good and bad, yes and no.... (Yes Car Credit)

Member Name: jjuk

Product:	Yes Car Credit
Date:	17/02/05 (2153 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Source of credit for those with poor history, ** They honour their APR deal without fuss **

Disadvantages: Its HP - you dont own the car till the last payment is made, APR at the higher end

I went along to Yes Car Credit (YCC) as my past credit record had been bad although the last few years I had worked hard to make it better. I figured that getting a loan would be impossible and YCC seemed to be perfect.

I used the Nottingham brach of YCC, a bit of a trek for me but there we go! On arrival we were early and let ourselves into a reception area waited. A member of staff come out to get a coffee and in passing said hello. Later we were met properly and the process began.

They took various details from me and I have to say all my paperwork was taken from me - not to return until later. In hindsight this was not best and could/should have been avoided. Next we had to wait for the magic figure to be brought to us, which took a little while.

The figure was higher than I wanted to pay each month so they went back and brought another figure, I agreed and they went off to get a list of cars to look at.

Now, I had put to them a list of requirements which I said were almost set in stone - however I was prepared to be flexible. I wanted a car that was small to medium, was diesel and manual. Their list had no cars fitting this match, so I accepted petrol as a possible.

We looked at some cars, I rejected them - not my cup of tea. We looked at more cars and rejected them. Some were too small and tin like, others were just tatty for their age. So we looked at a couple of cars of makes I liked and I spotted one which I liked. The snag was the price per month. At that snag I told them I would leave it and head off home.

So they came back with another price, again I said thank you and told them I would be heading home. One last time they came back with a lower figure more to my taste and I said maybe...

All sounds good but the thing to bear in mind is the whole time they want you to pay some cash deposit, and always more £/month.

So, we got to some figures I was comfortable with. They were not what I hoped for, but they were managable. The showroom had got busy in all this time and it took over an hour to then get the finance paperwork sorted, we were far from happy - but on a positive note the staff spotted this fact and did apologise.

And so to the paperwork. Of course you can take as much time as you need to read it, but by this time we were keen to get sorted and off. So much small print, so little time. And this was the point where the insurances and warranties were added on, and the APR was at last shown. They quote a typical APR or 19.9%, mine was 29.9% - ouch! And with all these things adding up, they repayment amount was double the 'cash price' of the car!!!

Anyway, all in all after 4 hours in the showroom we finally got to the car and was ready drive off - after the customer satisfaction survey (compulsary...!)

Side note: Please bear in mind this was my own fault, but this wa the first time I had heard the car start and I should have test driven it etc, but didnt - make sure you do. Also note that when it came time to drive off, the battery was flat and the car would not start!!

Anyway.... after all this I decided that I would look at the YCC 28 day better APR deal. I called for terms and conditions and was told all I needed to do was get a loan offered (unsecured) within 28 days, with a better APR and I could repay the cash purchase price, minus deposit and that would be it (not forgetting that I would need to cancel the GAP and warranty insurance or I WOULD have to pay for them). So this in mind I contacted a finance company (a well known reputable one) and it turned out my credit rating was better than I expected. I was offered a loan with an APR of 7.6% - yes thats 7.6% compared to YCC 29.9%!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I accepted it. Repayments were £45 a month LESS and the total amount to repay was minute compared to the YCC agreement.

Now here is a huge praise to YCC. I had expected them to be difficult about this deal and do anything possible to stop me doing it. In fact, just a fax of a copy of the credit agreement and they OK'd it all. I paid the cash purchase price, minus deposit over the phone by debit card and the GAP etc was cancelled - all done (well of course there was the new credit arrangement to pay, but this was far more suited to my budget anyway)

On the whole, YCC is great for those who just cant get credit elsewhere, but you do of course pay for it with large APR. I would advise anyone to try what I did if you want to get a car anyway, visit YCC and then try for an alternative loan - at worst you will have a car and a large APR, at best you will have a great deal!

Would I use YCC again? if I needed to I would, if I didnt then I would steer clear as I dont want to pay over the odds back

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