Nissan offer the most finance options of any manufacturer I have looked at, from hire purchases to lease purchases and finance leases you have plenty of options to explore. They even have a section for finance offers.

The site navigation is very easy to use and the graphics very user friendly, a criticism is that the default text size is quite hard to read as it is very small and not dark enough to stand out from the white background.

Looking through the options available on the finance site there will be something for everyone, the one major feature that Nissan seem to lack on their finance site is a calculator or a flash program which will calculate how much your payments will be, based on deposit, term and mileage.

Despite this Nissan do seem very flexible with payments, as they offer a credit limit option. This is advertised as allowing you to still save money rather than tying it all up in car finance.

The site also doesn’t seem to allow you to search through models or view the car you are wanting whilst still on the finance pages, until you expand the window and the footer of the page lets you cycle through the vehicles. A good idea but not prominent or easily viewable.

Nissan are currently one of the front runners amongst electric car manufacturers and it will be interesting to see how they adapt their finance pages and options to suit this. At the moment you can still view Nissan’s electric car ‘The Leaf’ as part of the Nissan site which is something different from others, on Mitsubishi’s website for example the iMiEV has its own webpage which will navigate you away from the official site. Frustrating if you’re just having a browse.

One of the best options for getting a Nissan is to look at Leasbam for Nissan car lease can search all local dealers and find the best price without having your computer screen.

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Lexus set out their finance page in a similar way to their rivals BMW (except Lexus fit theirs correctly to the page), they let images do the talking.If you’re coming onto the finance page for Lexus chances are you looking at a luxury sports saloon in the styles of Lexus, BMW and Audi.

The navigation of the site is pleasant as it allows you to change the vehicle you are interested in at anytime thanks to a set of controls at the top, you can also get an instant finance quote which is useful. Although it does seem to ignore any amount you put it regarding monthly payments and revert to the standard package, even if you put in a higher deposit.

Lexus give you a solid selection of finance deals and there should definitely be one for everyone from the contract hire option to traditional finance which gives you flexibility on deposit and monthly payment. Lexus operate their finance options a lot like their cars, they are luxurious and aim a lot of their options as business users.

An interesting option that is also available is the three year complimentary service plan which is free on all models ordered and registered between July and September 2010. The scheme allows owners to have the first three services free, which is usually one a year or 10,000 miles whichever occurs first. This is sometimes offered on lower spec cars but very rarely on a luxury sports saloon such as the Lexus, and even if it is it is almost never thrown in for free.

Although flexible on their options it seems that a lot of them are fixed to certain cars for example you can only get the best hire deal on IS250 SE-I and they only offer a finance contribution on the IS. But again I would have thought you would not change your mind on a vehicle due to the official finance especially when so many other finance options are available.

If you are interested in a Lexus why not get a quote for Lexus car lease who will search dealers local to you and find the best possible price.

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The tag line of this site is “More BMW For Your Money”, which certainly isn’t a lie they do offer you a lot more BMW but they don’t really tell you how much more money for this ‘More BMW’.

BMW operate a finance website within their official site rather than the independent finance sites of their competitors, this is interesting as it allows them to incorporate aspects of the site without having you navigate away.

When logging onto the finance section of the site you are greeted by the ‘unofficial traditional’ colour scheme of BMW – Cobalt Grey, which has left the site looking very sparse and everything looks like it is crammed over onto the left hand side of the page.

Looking through the finance options available on the website leaves a lot to be desired as only one option of finance seems to be available and the more I look at the site the more it appears that all BMW are wanting to advertise is extras and upgrades. Would be customers are given one option of finance but spread over two or three different models and specs rather than the two or three different models of finance that you would expect.

Most new models of BMW are available on the site each with their own offers on finance but still this site leaves a lot to be desired, especially for ease of use and any sort of definitive price. When looking to get a final quote on finance you are urged to contact a dealer, which isn’t the smooth user experience that you would expect from BMW.

The information on the cars is very detailed from 0-60 stats to the amount of power outage vehicles give, but it does seems that BMW are using this site as more of an advertisement rather than to actually give information about finance options available. Understandable but if you’re looking at financing a BMW chances are you have made your mind up.

If you want more options on a BMW why not try a Leasebam BMW lease

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The Ford home page offer you a link to its financial section. Navigating to the finance page you are welcomed by a drab gray and orange colour scheme. You are instantly hit with a barrage of information.  This is because Ford have a few options in regard to their credit. They also offer alternative ways of applying.

There are 5 main option for checking out their finance plans; links and section are displayed on Ford options, Ford options cash plan, Ford acquire, Help me choose the right Ford and Payment protection plan.  There is also an opportunity to download an e-brochure.

The first page also offer you chance to navigate through an interactive section to help you choose your Ford, book a test drive and a search function for your local dealer.   These are all available by a side menu located on the left.

If your after quick figures though, you will be disappointed. As Ford only seems to offer an overview of what their services do.   If you navigate through the Configure your vehicle section then you will get a full list price of your Ford but, no other information. Weekly or monthly payment cost and interest information is in desperate need of being supplied.;

The help me choose the right plan to finance my Ford option opens up a PDF. This is a flow diagram outline the option and helps people reach a conclusion.  There is still no figures though.;

The Ford page in summary is a little boring but it does explain its options. However, it lacks any real figures other than full list price.  The lay will struggle to work out what exactly what each plan does and  will have difficulty finding the lease .

We have several Ford suupliers that can offer you Ford leasing within the Leasebam website

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Upon arriving at the Mercedes Benz finance page, you are welcomed and you receive instruction on an interactive feature.  This feature Mercedes say is to “help you choose the right sort of finance”.; The feature works by asking a question and giving 2 choices for an answer.   By choosing one of these answers, you then move on to the next question.; Don’t worry about having to answer loads of questions, you only answer three or four simple one before you get an answer.;

Once you get your answer you get the opportunity to look at further details on the option.  This takes you to another page; The information is presented in an easily readable format. with the majority of the advantages of a certain scheme give in bullet point format;

There If you don’t want to go through the interactive system and you want to get the information on their finance schemes straight away.You can click on the links to each plan, in the top left hand corner.

There a couple of thing lacking on these pages though.  There is no information or examples to let the consumer know whether they are better off with Mercedes. There is no real small print.  In essence; there are no numbers. There is also a marked lack of contact details.

The information provide is presented well but the site lacks the information necessary for the consumer to make a decision. The interactive question feature is also a little unnecessary as most consumers will want to make up their own minds as to what contract is to their benefit.

To compare what is on offer eleswhere why not try a Mercedes Lease quote through the Leasebam system

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BMW UK have their BMW finance page split in to relative units for the private buyer and the company business buyer and then tries to direct their customers to the right financial solution. Their solutions’ include BMW Hire Purchase, BMW Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) and BMW Contract Hire.

The menu system is good although once you have left a page, it is difficult to remember where you have been and as some of the finance options appear to be similar I.E. Hire Purchase and Contract Purchase , so a bit more information on these pages to help customers distinguish the difference would be helpful.

There is nothing on these pages that helps customers to the conclusion that a BMW is affordable. I..E no monthly hire example  contract prices, or information about residual values. There are invitations to fill in a form for financial quotes, but how many people would fill in this form, I don’t know.

The most intelligent way to finance your BMW, is the message we see at the top of the page, but there is no information that suggests what BMW offers is better than say a broker. It could be, there is just nothing to suggest what BMW offers can not be offered by a third party.

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Looking through many of the main dealer websites we have come to the conclusion that some manufacturers are not clear about what lease or contract  options they can offer both business users and private. We though we would take time out and review the financial pages gradually on each car make to see if  it is clear what they offer their customers, or whether more information is needed.

We will not be reviewing the actual finance or making any opinions of what is available, just how they present what they have on offer on their websites. For example do they actually mention  any car lease? Do they mention contract hire? Or is it all just to general talking only about motoring financial solutions, assuming that their customers would know this included car lease etc.

This will happen generally and occasionally as we get time, but we do feel it needs to be done here at Leasebam.

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