Car finance customers can take their pick of vehicles

Several big name car dealers are offering deals and discounts to tempt consumers into spending car finance on their vehicles.

Saab has been running a high-profile ad campaign making its staff discounts available to ordinary car finance customers. When the discount is applied to the Saab 95 Saloon Turbo Edition 2.0t, the £19,995 headline price is reduced to £18,534 - a £1,461 saving.

Other car dealers have struck deals with struggling property developers to offer potential property purchasers the option of a free car. Murketts, the Cambridgeshire Vauxhall dealer, has teamed up with an estate agent and property developer to offer a free Vauxhall Corsa with a list price of £10,000 to anybody who buys an apartment at a new development in St Ives.

Dealers are prepared to make a loss just to move cars off their forecourts. Simon Empson, who runs a website detailing offers from 300 car dealerships, said: "Before the credit crunch, the average discount we could get on a German make such as BMW or Audi was between 8% and 10%," he says. "Now, we can often cut by 30% or more."