Thank you for replying and giving your advice :)

I am confident I will be able to make the payments everymonth, I am as confident as one can be about my job and I am also confident it won't come to the company auctioning off the car, it's the company I have to convince hence why I was talking about finance being closer to a secured loan than an unsecured loan.

I am looking for a new car, I am sick of old bangers and expenses that go along with them. I am getting a new car with a small engine and lower tax band, the garage has already listed servicing costs and I am more than happy with them, I don't do many miles, 10,000 a year tops, usually around 8000, none of those being motorway miles.

I am doing as much homework as I possibly can, I have found out pretty much everything there is to know about the car and the different models, I know about finance quite a lot as I have had finance a few times before but not on anything quite this big, I will still put money away every month as I always have done for things like new purchases, holidays and car expenses so I won't be solely relying on the manufacturer warranty.

Yes, 15% is about right. With a good credit rating and as a property owner, you might do better. Otherwise you might do worse. Some finance companies will try to convince you to pay extra for whatever protection racket is in vogue at the moment.

Car finance doesn't come as a secured loan in the strict sense but yes, with some finance agreements, if you fall behind the finance company will take the car, auction it off for "trade" price and ask you to pay the rest. When they sell the car they often don't even give it a wash and a vacuum and they will always get less than you could achieve with a private sale so something that you might feel is worth a couple of thousand could sell for a few hundred and then there would be the "charges". If you think that there is a remote chance of this happening, you should not start the agreement. You are usually going to be better buying a car like this than selling.

You mention the Kia warantee. Often such warantees are conditional on you paying the main dealer rates to service the car every few months and the warantee cover is only ever going to be as good as the integrity of the dealer.

Good luck with whatever you decide but I personally prefer to put some money in my own bank account for the "warantee" rather than into someone elses's.

Thanks for the sound advice but you kind of avoided my question altogether. I've been driving since I was 17 in a 1998 1.4 Brava which i've looked after very well, I know the expenses of owning a motor and I also know all too well the expenses of insurance, I have seen a car I would like, done plenty of research and got plenty of insurance quotes, I am confident I can afford it, I previously got myself into a few grand debt and had a struggle getting out of a vicious circle with the bank, thankfully I am out of that now and am looking at owning a newer car, to be precise, a KIA, 7 year warranty convinced me!

So, taking my credit rating into consideration, what APR should I roughly be aiming for and realistically, what would I likely be able to get?

As my credit rating isn't the best in the world, I would have thought i'm more likely to be accepted for credit if i get a car on finance as its almost a secured loan (if for some reason, I can't make payments, they take the car, auction it and I pay off the rest) whereas getting an unsecured loan first then shopping with it is a lot more risk for a company.

Yes, you should be able to get £10k over 5 years for £200 per month. That means that each week you will be working one day just to make the payments. If you lose your job before the loan is repaid, you will have a car that is 4 (?) years older than when you bought it on which you will still be expected to make the same payments, whether you sell the car or not.

An alternative is take your next salary out of the bank in cash and go shopping with that. Be sure to get insurance quotes before buying anything and do some research on how to inspect cars. There are plenty of decent cars around for a few hundred pounds (autotrader.co.uk is a good start). If you buy one, it is 100% yours with no debt around your neck for 5 years. If you don't like it after a month or two or if someone bumps into it, it is not the end of the world.

If you look around any office, you will see people who will gladly clean the boots of any boss who asks because they are in debt and cannot afford to be out of work.

Hello all,

I'm 21 years of age, have a steady job (earning £18k a year) looking to buy a car on finance for around £10k over a 5 year period, I'm aiming for £200/month payments but can go more if necessary, I've got my credit rating from Experian and it was 800 (Fair), can somebody give me a clue roughly what APR range should I aim for? I am really not too sure, I'm guessing around 15% would be good?

Thanks