Classic car
finance
For companies, business owners and high net worth collectors buying, refinancing or borrowing against the cars that matter, from a Series 1 E-Type to an R34 GT-R.
We are a broker, not a lender. We find the finance and prepare the case.
Entry form
Two questions decide how your finance works and who can arrange it. Nothing you tick is stored until you send it.
What we arrange
Six kinds of finance, each for companies, business buyers or certified high net worth individuals.
What a lender
looks at
We gather all four before a lender sees the case, so the questions are answered before they are asked.
How the structures differ
Four ways to put a classic on finance, and what each one costs you in flexibility.
Hire purchase
A deposit, then the whole balance cleared across the term. Title passes to you at the end, and the agreement is secured on the car throughout.
- SUITS
- Buyers keeping the car, and companies putting it on the balance sheet.
- WATCH
- The monthly payment is higher than a structure with a balloon, because nothing is deferred.
Lease purchase
Hire purchase with a balloon payment left at the end, which keeps the monthly figure down. The balloon is settled from cash, refinanced, or covered by selling the car.
- SUITS
- Higher value cars, and buyers who want the monthly cost managed.
- WATCH
- The car has to be worth comfortably more than the balloon when the term ends. Test it against values falling, not only rising.
Borrowing against a car you own
Capital raised against a classic already in the garage. The lender takes security over it and registers its interest; the car normally stays with you.
- SUITS
- Funding another purchase, a restoration, or a business need without selling.
- WATCH
- How much you can raise follows the valuation and how readily that model sells, not what you paid.
Refinancing an existing agreement
Settling finance already on the car and rewriting it, sometimes releasing the difference between the settlement figure and the current value.
- SUITS
- Cars bought quickly at auction, and agreements coming to a balloon.
- WATCH
- The settlement figure and any early repayment charge decide whether refinancing is worth doing at all.
Deposits on classics are usually larger than on modern cars and terms are shorter, because the lender is pricing a specific vehicle rather than a model line. Rates depend on the lender, the car, the structure and the borrower, so any figure quoted without all four is guesswork. The calculator lets you model a payment on your own assumptions.
Common questions
The four questions we are asked most often about financing a classic car in the UK.
Can you get finance on a classic car?
Yes. Specialist lenders fund classic and modern classic cars by valuing the individual car rather than applying an age cap, with the agreement secured on the vehicle.
What they want to see is consistent: provenance, condition evidenced by inspection, an independent valuation, and a sensible account of how the car will be kept and how the borrowing is repaid.
What is the 50% rule for car finance?
It refers to voluntary termination. Under a regulated hire purchase or PCP agreement, a consumer can end the agreement and hand the car back once they have paid half the total amount payable, subject to the car being in fair condition.
That right comes from the Consumer Credit Act and applies to regulated agreements only. The agreements we arrange are unregulated business and high net worth finance, so voluntary termination does not apply to them. It is one of the protections you give up outside the consumer credit perimeter, and it is worth understanding before you choose a structure.
What is the best way to finance a classic car?
It depends who is buying. A company or LLP usually takes hire purchase, or lease purchase where a balloon payment keeps the monthly figure down. A certified high net worth buyer borrows under the exemption, with terms written around the car.
If you already own a classic, raising money against it is often cheaper than borrowing unsecured, and the car normally stays with you.
On an appreciating car, the balloon is the part that deserves the most thought, because the car has to be worth comfortably more than it when the term ends.
What is the 40-year rule for classic cars in the UK?
Vehicles built more than 40 years ago are generally exempt from the MOT test and can be taxed in the historic vehicle class, provided they have not been substantially modified. The threshold rolls forward each year.
Exemption does not change what a lender expects. The car still has to be roadworthy, properly insured and, on most cases, inspected.