Getting the best finance deals on Honda can involve a number of different options.
Honda as a company will often advertise special deals either through their main company website, or through national and local advertising.
These special deals will often reflect either a reduction in the sales price of the vehicle, or a special interest rate, either on selected vehicles or across the board.
These special interest rate offers will normally be worded to make it clear that these are any to selected customers, and these are likely to be customers who have an extremely good credit score. It is also quite likely that these offers are often limited to either customers who pass a pre-approval credit check, or are limited to cars that have been pre-approved for sale. This
in addition, it is quite likely that selected Honda dealers who are participating in a national scheme will offer additional financial offers by way of inducements to attract customers either to buy or lease a new car or to renew a lease that is due to expire.
In any event, it is well worth realising that different dealerships offer different financing offers both new and used cars, and as an attraction to tempt people to lease a vehicle.
HONDA FINANCING OFFERS
Even when a Honda dealer but offer a specific financing offer, it is well worth remembering that a potential customer can negotiate with the dealership directly both on interest rates and terms and conditions of any loan or lease agreement.
The customer’s ability to negotiate strongly will to a large extent depend upon their credit score. Assuming they are in a strong position they should be able to negotiate a better rate of interest than they are being offered, and quite possibly to negotiate improved terms and conditions on the loan or lease agreement.
Negotiating a better interest rate can be done much more easily if the customer or potential customer has other offers of loans that they have secured from alternative sources that they can use as a bargaining tool.
To that end it is well worth the customer getting alternative locations regarding the loan, and then using this position as a way of negotiating a better deal for themselves.
It is also worth remembering that financing offers can make a difference, but that the customer can also improve their own financial position by doing things like putting down a larger down payment, or extending the length of the loan which may reduce lower monthly payments.
It is worth remembering that on any vehicle the dealership often makes a lot of its money off the various features and options they offer as extras, and a lot of these are either likely to be able to be negotiated down in cost, or not necessary of any real interest to the potential customer.
Honda actively encourage personal leasing plans, and lease specials on normally focused either on specific models of cars.
Also on separate times of year, or on specific finance deals for certain selected customers who have normally been screened through the credit pre-approval process.
Leasing a Honda car or vehicle can be thought of in many ways as similar to a long-term rental, with one or two significant differences.
A lease is a contract between the customer and Honda, where Honda retain the ownership of the car but allow the customer to use it as their own under a form of licence agreement.
There is a contract between the two parties for a fixed period of time, normally ranging from between 24 to 60 months, with a monthly payment on the customer to Honda, a fixed mileage allowance, either on an annual basis or for the period of the lease and normally the option to buy the vehicle at the end of the lease period on favourable terms.
HONDA LEASE SPECIALS
The main benefit to the customer is that they effectively get to own or have the use of a new car on much more favourable terms than they would have if they bought it outright, which they might well be able to afford to do.
In addition to the new car feel, they get specific benefits by way of having a manufacturer’s warranty for the duration of the lease, and normally favourable benefits by way of various vehicle protection plans such as vehicle service contracts, servicing and mentions plans and often diverse types of roadside assistance emergency contracts.
At the end of the lease, there are likely to be additional costs charged to the customer, these are known as lease end costs. Essentially they relate to any excessive wear and tear to the vehicle that would not be expected but making allowances for wear and tear that would be expected given the vehicles age and condition.
There may also be additional costs relating to additional mileage. The nature of the charges and how they are worked out should be specified in the lease agreement, and understood and agreed to at the outset of the lease contract.
Honda lease specials often work at both the national and a local level.
Honda’s website will carry a list of current offers on new vehicles and Honda certified pre-owned vehicles, and this will change from time to time. All of these offers should be available at any participating Honda dealer. In addition, any Honda dealer can in effect make their own offers to customers, either on an individual basis or through local advertising.
This means that it is possible to negotiate any area of the lease agreement with a local Honda dealer, in addition to any national Honda lease deals that may be on offer.
Many people get so caught up in the process and enjoyment of buying a new car and working out how best to pay for it, that they either forget or do not really think about the practicalities of what problems or issues might crop up regarding the surfacing of the loan.
If they are lucky, the Honda dealership that they bought the car from will be helpful and provide them all the after sales and after-care maintenance policies and information that they need.
If they are not so lucky, they may need to do a bit of searching and a bit of digging to find out information they need.
Luckily Honda to think through the practicalities of how best to service a loan, and provide a number of ways both to paint for the loan and contact our customer service department in the event of any practical difficulties or problems with payment.
If someone has applied for pre-approval for a lane with Honda or simply registered, then they will have an online account that they can access and use it to find out most of the information they need.
HONDA PAY ONLINE
The most common ways of paying back a monthly payment for a loan or lease agreement simply to either login to your account and pay online, to set up a monthly payment debit that is automatically withdrawn from your bank account on the same day each month, to pay by phone, to pay by Western Union or simply by mail.
The other issue that sometimes comes up regarding payment is with regard to some lease deals where there is an end of lease payment to be made. This normally rates either to excess mileage or excessive wear and tear, or sometimes an arrangement by out car at the end of the lease deal.
In either event, the account management section of the Honda Financial Services website is a good place to start as it provides a range of options about both ending the lease and how to arrange any additional payments that may be needed.
Honda does have a customer services Department, which should theory be able to answer any questions and deal with any problems.
Other options include posting questions to one of the many also finance discussion groups online, or going back to the original Honda dealership where the car was bought or leased and if necessary hassling them until they give you the information you need.
My Honda Account
The phrase’ my Honda account’, is both an attempt to personalise the relationship between Honda and its customers.
Also in part to give the customer a dedicated point of entry to being able to deal with the various areas of their financial relationship with Honda after a sale or lease agreement has been finalised.
Any customer or potential customer approaching Honda with a view to buying or leasing a vehicle will probably consider the option of dealership financing, which is essentially arranging the credit or finance with Honda itself.
This can sometimes be done with a pre-approved loan through the Honda website, or with a Honda dealership at point of sale or both. In any event, if an individual arranges finance or credit with Honda, then there is automatically a relationship between the customer and the company which will need managing for a number of years afterwards, and which can potentially run into one or two difficulties.
MY HONDA ACCOUNT
Part of the attraction of dealership financing is that of arranging the finance or credit with the company that you are buying or leasing a car or vehicle from. What many people may not realise is that after the financing has been agreed, the loan agreement or disagreement will most likely be sold to another company will manage it on behalf of Honda.
This can often lead to difficulties when that are either problems with the monthly repayments, when an individual has literally logistical problems either in logging on to that account, or discrepancies with payments made or if any reason they decide to refinance the loan.
When dealership financing is arranged, there is normally an assumption that the convenience factor in terms of arranging finance and buying or leasing the car at the same time carries on through the term of the loan or lease agreement.
If the dealership essentially sell on the loan to someone else afterwards, that fundamentally the changes the dynamic of the convenience factor. For a number of people this will not matter as there payments and functioning of the loan or lease agreement will simply happen automatically over a period of time.
Honda lease offers normally refer to special deals that are offered either by Honda itself on a national or international basis, or deals that are offered by specific Honda dealers regarding the leasing of a particular car, vehicle or truck, or regarding special deals on things such as interest rates.
Leasing a Honda car or vehicle has become an important part of the sales strategy of the company over the last few years, and a lot of effort is put into the process as a way of attracting and keeping customers on a long-term basis.
Leasing a Honda should really be thought of as a long-term rental. Whilst there are significant differences, what a leasing arrangement does is to give the customer ownership of the car or vehicle for a fixed period of time in return for a number of monthly repayments.
From the point of view of Honda, they are signing up in the customer, and hopefully will keep him either through selling that vehicle or another one at the end of the lease, or releasing another vehicle on the current arrangement expires.
Honda also look to make a significant amount of profit from the customer through things such as trying to arrange vehicle insurance, vehicle service contracts, various maintenance plans and extended warranties etc.
HONDA LEASE OFFERS
All Honda lease offers should be viewed in this context. The old cliche that there is no such thing as a free lunch is true, but it does not mean that people do not like the idea of being pampered and the pretence that there is.
Honda lease offers whether they refer to a specific vehicle or to a specific area of the leasing arrangement such as a low interest rate should be worked out fully against the other financial component of the arrangement to see what discounts or benefits are really on offer to the customer.
Any leasing arrangement will have a number of components, such as the size of the down payment, the length of the time of the lease arrangement, the fixed amount of monthly repayment costs, lease end arrangements, servicing and maintenance plans, mechanical breakdown plans, cost of auto insurance and gap insurance etc
Honda motor credit normally refers to what is also called dealership financing, where an auto manufacturer in this case Honda, offers credit or finance directly to an individual, either through their dedicated website or through a dealer network, or most commonly through both.
The type of credit and finance that is offered is normally pretty much the same at any other type of personal financial loan, and can be offered, subject to credit, regarding why that the sale of a new or used vehicle or the leasing of a car or truck. Honda motor credit is also referred to as Honda financial, and is widely available through its dealership network.
HONDA MOTOR CREDIT
Some people like the idea of obtaining credit or financed through the network dealer because it makes the process of buying or leasing vehicle and arranging finance convenient, in that it is done at the same place and at the same time.
Other people think that that convenience comes at a price, and that inevitably finance or credit through the dealership is going to cost slightly more than through a traditional source such as a bank or a credit union.
In fact finance or credit arranged by Honda is likely to be pretty similar to finance all credit arranged from most other sources.
What determines the cost is essentially the credit score of the individual themselves, how much money they are intending to borrow, what type of car they are thinking of buying or leasing and how much time and effort they’re willing to put into negotiating the price of the vehicle and its financing.
When obtaining any quote for finance or credit, it is always a really good idea to obtain alternative quotes from different sources, and to be able to compare them on a like-for-like basis. This is especially true with auto finance, where an individual’s credit score may have picked are indications in terms of the terms and conditions of the loan, such as the size of the down payment or the interest rate charged throughout the period of the loan or lease agreement.
Anyone can lease a Honda, subject to status !
The reason this question comes up quite a lot, is because traditionally leasing was always seen as being connected to some type of commercial or business operation.
In which case the Honda dealership would arrange special terms with a company to let them loose a number of other cars or trucks for the operation.This was sometimes referred to as fleet management.
The idea was that it was more economical for a business who needed a number of cars and trucks to essentially rent them for a period of time, rather than buying outright and then having to re-sell them into three years time hence.
This perception or leasing a Honda being reserved for commercial customers only has taken time to change, and has required a concerted effort by Honda and by other auto manufacturers to make people aware of the idea of personal leasing.
LEASE A HONDA
The logic behind an individual being able to lease a Honda is twofold. From Honda’s point of view it essentially allows them to hook a customer, and whilst it is not technically a sale, they are essentially selling the vehicle to the customer for a relatively short period of time.
In addition they are potentially getting the customer’s business regarding insurance, vehicle protection plans, vehicle service contracts, extended warranties and possibly the sale of the vehicle at the end of the lease period.
Most auto manufacturers will admit that the majority of their profits come from these extended or additional services to customer, as opposed to the actual sale of the vehicle itself.
From a customer’s point of view, it allows and to eventually own a new vehicle, albeit for a short period of time maybe three or four years, when they would probably not otherwise be able to afford to buy it. It also is a matter of convenience, that whilst it is costing them quite a lot of money, they do not have the hassle of having to resell it at the end of the period.
If anything the manufacturer will help them either by car right by way of a lower cost, or help unleash another vehicle instead of the one they are currently with.