Best Car Finance Companies UK

The full comparison table

Representative APR, company type, and the actual interest cost on a £12,000 loan over 5 years. Sorted cheapest to most expensive. The "Moral Rating" column is ours — it reflects whether the company's representative APR is defensible relative to the risk they're pricing.

Bank personal loans: the benchmark

The Bank of England reports an average personal loan rate of 4.1% APR as of March 2026. Best-buy tables from MoneySupermarket and Compare the Market regularly show rates between 3.2% and 5.8% for borrowers with good credit scores (700+). On £12,000 over 5 years, that's £1,920 to £3,480 in interest.

The loan lands in your bank account. You pay the dealer cash. You own the car from day one. No mileage limits, no balloon payment, no condition inspections at the end. The trade-off: no Section 99 voluntary termination right and no Section 75A connected lender liability.

Manufacturer finance: sometimes free, sometimes not

Manufacturer PCP deals range from 0% APR (subsidised by the manufacturer to shift stock) to 6.9% or higher on standard terms. The 0% deals are genuinely free borrowing — the catch is usually restricted to specific models, new cars only, and limited terms. Standard manufacturer PCP at 6.9% costs more than a bank loan but comes with VT rights and GMFV protection.

Brokers: the expensive middlemen

CarFinance247 at 19.8% representative APR and Zuto at 18.8% are the UK's largest car finance brokers. They're popular because their application process is easy and they accept lower credit scores. But the cost is significant: on £12,000 over 5 years, CarFinance247's representative rate produces £11,880 in interest. A bank loan at 4.1% costs £2,460 on the same amount.

My Car Credit at 10.9% representative APR is notably cheaper than the big brokers. If you're going the broker route, start there.

Subprime: last resort pricing

Moneybarn's 30.7% representative APR exists because they serve borrowers that mainstream lenders reject — recent CCJs, defaults, IVAs. On £12,000 over 5 years, that's £18,420 in interest. The total cost is £30,420 — more than 2.5x the original car price. CreditPlus at 23.9% sits in similar territory.

If you're in this bracket, the car must be essential (not aspirational), and your plan should include refinancing once your credit improves. Nobody should pay 30.7% for longer than absolutely necessary.

The FCA commission scandal context

In January 2025, the FCA confirmed it was reviewing discretionary commission arrangements (DCAs) in motor finance. Under the old system, brokers and dealers could set your APR within a range — and earned higher commission for charging you more. This created a direct financial incentive to overcharge borrowers.

DCAs were banned in 2021, but the damage was already done to millions of borrowers who paid inflated APRs between 2007 and 2021. When evaluating any car finance company, ask: do they publish their representative APR prominently? Do they explain how your rate is determined? Transparency matters.

Cheapest deals in our database right now

These are the lowest total-cost PCP deals from our current data set of 20 deals across 9 manufacturers. All sourced from public representative examples, not advertised "from" rates.