The No Nonsense blog

Back in January we posted about the best offers in car loans from the various institutions in Ireland. At that time the market was very competitive with all the lending institutions active in this space. However, today the market is like a desert in comparison as all but three of the top ten lenders have stopped offering loans on new or used cars.

Car loans no longer on offer:

Darragh pointed out that Tesco Finance, who had the best offer in January, are no longer offering loans in the Irish market. 

First Active of course are no longer trading since they have been merged with Ulster Bank.  

Bank of Ireland are no longer offering car loans but are providing car finance arrangements – similar to hire purchase – but only if you call in to a branch.

FinanceDirect.ie have disappeared altogether and CarFinance.ie are no longer providing “options for finance”. 

RaboDirect have stopped offering any type of loans at all.

So who’s left:

Only three institutions, Halifax, Ulster Bank and AIB, are still offering car loans in the Irish market (from what I can see at least). Note that Permanent TSB are offering a finance/hire purchase arrangement at fairly competitive rates.

I set out to borrow €20,000 over 5 years, with no payment protection or payment holidays. Was looking for a fixed rate.  The figures are all pulled directly from actual quotes or examples on each of the providers’ websites.

In reverse order the best rates are:

3. Halifax – 11.5% APR €434.26 per month, total cost of credit is €6,055.35 

2. Ulster Bank - 9.9 % APR, €419.54 per month, total cost of credit is €5,172.40

1. AIB – 8.05% APR, €393.20 per month, total cost of credit is €3,592

So AIB win with their APR of 8.05%.  If you are aware of anyone else out there offering car loans today please let us all know.