Finance Rejected? Don’t give up You’ve found the car. You’ve done your checks. You’ve negotiated the price. You fill in the finance application and sit back, confident. Three days later, the dealer rings with bad news: finance rejected. Your credit score wasn’t good enough. You’ve got too many applications on file. Your income doesn’t match…
I spent more than 2 decades in car dealerships. Not selling cars, mind you — selling the idea that you needed a car. And I was very good at it. The difference between a customer who walks onto a forecourt and walks off with the right car at the right price, versus one who drives…
By Frank Butcher · Dealer Tactics · 29 April 2026 There’s a number that lives rent-free in my head from my days as a business manager on the forecourt. £1.87. The price of a pint of beer. The cost of not paying attention. That was my figure. The amount I’d aim to be over a…
If you want to know how to negotiate the price of a used car, you could read one of the hundreds of generic guides online. They’ll tell you to “do your research” and “be confident” and “don’t be afraid to walk away.” Thanks for that. Very helpful. Or you could hear it from someone who…
I’m going to tell you something about HPI checks that most buying guides won’t, because most buying guides are written by people who’ve never actually worked on a forecourt. An HPI check is one of the most important things you can do before buying a used car. Run your own. Always run your own. Never,…
This is a confession in the truest sense. Not about something I did on the forecourt. About the day I took my own advice, followed every rule in my own playbook, and made my eighteen-year-old daughter cry in a car park. Some lessons you learn from the other side of the deal. The background My…
There’s a moment in every finance conversation where the customer says “I’ll just get a loan from my bank.” And I’d smile, nod, and think: they have no idea what they’re giving up. Not because dealer finance is always better. It isn’t. But there are things that come with financing a car through a dealership…
Car Finance Commission: Let me tell you something that might surprise you. When the story broke that car dealers had been earning undisclosed commissions on finance deals — commissions that sometimes meant customers paid a higher interest rate — the nation reacted with fury. Politicians were outraged. Journalists were outraged. The internet was outraged. I…
HP vs PCP car finance is one of the most Googled questions in the used car world and the answer you get in a dealership is almost never the honest one. Car finance is where dealerships make a significant chunk of their money. Not on the car. On the paperwork you sign after you’ve fallen…
This is my confession about GAP insurance — and why it’s the one product I actually stand behind. I sold PPI. There. I’ve said it. I sold it to people who were self-employed and therefore couldn’t claim on it. I sold it to people who had full income protection through their employer and would never…