A Comprehensive Guide: How to Buy a Car

You’ve decided to get a new car, van or motorbike but like many people in the UK, you’re too busy to spend hours and hours trawling around dealerships looking at cars so have decided to do your search online.

Some people don’t know what car they want or where to start. With hundreds of makes/models to choose from, this can be a daunting task, especially if you’re not familiar with the used car market. Happy Motor Finance is not only a motor finance brokerage, we also offer a personal shopping service to help people find the right car for their requirements and aspirations.

What kind of budget do I need?

Before starting the search for a car, van or motorbike, it helps to have a good idea of how much you can borrow with monthly payments that you can afford. It makes sense to get your finances approved in principle before starting the search for a specific vehicle. That way, you know what price of a vehicle is within your monthly budget.

The first step is to submit a finance application via our website. Our motor finance specialists then work to get you the best acceptance from our panel of lenders. Once you have motor finance approved in principle, the approval lasts for 30 days which should be more than enough time for you to find the right vehicle.

What’s the difference between a soft and hard credit search

When you apply for motor finance with Happy Motor Finance, we use ‘soft’ credit checks which do not impact your credit score. A ‘hard’ check will be conducted by the lender if you decide to proceed, but this will be one hard search instead of multiple hard searches which can impact your credit. 

Unfortunately, most car dealerships will do a hard search on customers which means they can only perform 2 or 3 hard searches before the application will get declined.

At Happy Motor Finance we put your application to multiple lenders on a soft search basis but also meaning generally a better chance of approval and the best rate available from our panel based on your circumstances. If you have circumstances that rule you out of finance from some lenders, our experts will direct your application to other select lenders using our knowledge of the finance market.

How can I find a new vehicle when taking out finance through Happy Motor Finance?

Once we have an acceptance in place. one of our Account Managers will give you a call to run you through your quote and asses your vehicle requirements. You may know exactly what you want, you may have some idea or you may have no idea. It makes no difference to us but we are here to help you find and purchase the right vehicle for you.

If you do need help finding a vehicle, your Account Manager will do the hard work of searching online and contacting dealers that we have relationships with. Your Account Manager will then send you some vehicles to review and you can tell us your thoughts to narrow down the search.

How is the vehicle checked?

Once you have selected a specific vehicle, your Account Manager will call the dealer and run our standard checks on the vehicle and the dealer.

Vehicle checks include making sure the vehicle is roadworthy and prepared correctly by the dealer using our vehicle history checking technology and dealer interview to assess this. If we haven’t worked with the dealer before, we will credit check the dealer and check their recent customer reviews to make sure they are reputable and providing a great service to their customers. 

Can I part-exchange my car when buying a new one?

If you have a part exchange, we will negotiate the price with the dealer to try and get the best possible trade-in price or direct you to an instant online car-buying platform if we believe you can get a better deal from them. 

What are the final steps of getting my car?

Once we are all happy with the car and the dealer, we will send out your finance documents via email which you will need to review and sign electronically. We may need some documents from you to prove identification, address, earnings, etc. but your Account Manager will manage that process.

Once all the documents are in place, we prepare the funds for transfer. You will then go to the dealer to make sure the car fits the bill and is in the condition you expect and give us a quick call to confirm. We will then transfer the money via instant transfer to the dealer meaning you can drive away there and then.

Summary

At Happy Motor Finance, most of our Account Managers have worked in dealerships, so are vastly experienced in both vehicles and speaking the dealer’s language. We also know the common things to check and look out for and are experts in recommending vehicles if you really don’t have a clue what to buy.

Our personal shopping service is FREE! It’s important that you love your new car and it works as it should. It’s also important we and the lender are confident the vehicle is going to give you years of happy motoring until you pick the phone back up to us and get another.

Start your application below and let us take the hassle out of finding your next vehicle and finance for it.