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Nowadays, it’s very rare for people to buy a car outright in one transaction. For many, completing such a large purchase will require a lot of saving and may be too difficult to pull off financially.
For this reason, millions of people in the UK turn to car finance schemes instead to help make buying a new or used car a little bit easier.
When you get car finance, instead of buying the vehicle in one lump sum, you’re going to be paying for the car over monthly instalments. These instalments are much cheaper, helping you to better budget and afford the car.
It’s important to clarify that there are multiple types of car finance, and they all work in their own unique way. For example, you can get car finance through a dealership and then pay that dealership back over time for the car.
Alternatively, you could get car finance where you’re given a loan to pay for a vehicle all at once and then pay that lender back for that loan.
The latter example is how Carmoola works. They’re an online business that provides car finance, allowing you to buy cars from any dealership or online showroom in the UK. They’re a newer name in the automobile industry and have quickly become one of the better, more straightforward options to try.
Here’s a deep dive into Carmoola if you’re curious to learn more about their service and if it’s good value for you. This review will investigate the critical features of Carmoola, exploring the good and weak aspects of the business to help you determine if they’re a good option for you.
If you’re interested in other brands or need a different service for selling a car, then we have plenty of other reviews that you can browse right here on Car Adviser.
Carmoola is a new name within the car finance and automobile industry, starting operations in March 2021.
Despite not being around for a long time, Carmoola has become an excellent option for those looking for a simple way to finance their car. As a modern company, they provide a modern stripped-down finance option that’s easy to understand and use.
Carmoola does car finance a little differently. Instead of offering you various types of finance, such as Hire Purchase or Personal Contract Purchase, they make things simple by providing you with a loan that you can use to pay for your car.
The business is entirely focused on modernity, as everything can be done through an app, and the company also offers you a digital credit card that contains your loan from which you can buy your car.
Carmoola offers car finance to everyday people in the UK. That said, they’re not a finance company that provides money for those with bad credit or in difficult financial situations. This means that if you have a poor credit score or do not have an income, you may not be accepted when using Carmoola.
When looking to get a finance deal from Carmoola, you’ll have a lot of options on the types of cars you can get with the brand. They offer finance for electric and hybrid vehicles, and you can also use their finance to get an automatic.
The only cars you cannot buy with Carmoola finance are new cars. This is likely because new vehicles sold by manufacturers will likely have their own financial plans. This means that you can only buy used cars with Carmoola finance. In addition to that, Carmoola will not allow you to purchase cars that have driven over 100,000 miles. This protects you from getting a car that’s more likely to break down.
Although most finance companies and sellers require a deposit to start your agreement, this isn’t a requirement with Carmoola, helping to make the car more affordable.
Of course, having a deposit will reduce the amount you pay each month, but not needing to put one down is a great option and makes things flexible.
Carmoola is not a place where you can buy a car. In fact, they have no fleet of their own, meaning they’re only a place from which you can get finance. In essence, Carmoola is a loan lender, as they’re giving you money to help you purchase a car from elsewhere, which you’ll need to pay back.
When getting finance from Carmoola, you’ll have to follow a process so that the business can check your eligibility and see what kind of budget you can reliability be lent.
The first step with Carmoola is that you’ll need to get approved for a budget that the business is willing to lend to you. This is done through their eligibility checker, where you’ll be asked a series of questions about your details and financial situation so that the business can get an idea of your affordability.
If everything is in order, you can get approval in just 60 seconds and then be offered an amount you can borrow and the length that this finance deal is paid back over.
When Carmoola searches your eligibility, it will not affect your credit score, meaning that this initial check will not damage your score.
Once you’ve been given your offer, you’ll need to verify your identity. This is to make sure that the website is secure. Doing this should be as easy as taking some videos and pictures of yourself and your idea, and it can be done without having to post or email any documentation. This helps to make it a quick and straightforward process.
Once you’re all approved, you can then search for your new car. You have complete freedom over where you buy the car and what car you get, as long as it’s within the financial budget Carmoola offers you.
To ensure that you’re getting a good vehicle, Carmoola offers a great feature where you can entire the car details for them to check against their records. This prevents you from using your finance on a dodgy, damaged, or stolen vehicle.
Carmoola has a unique and intuitive method to complete this payment when paying for the car. When you get your budget from Carmoola, that amount will be placed into a digital debit card.
You can then use this card to make your payment for the car by either entering the card details on a website or making a bank transfer with a physical dealer. This helps to keep your Carmoola budget easy to manage.
To pay off the Carmoola loan, you’ll have an app from which you’ll be able to see how much of the car you’ve paid off, how long your contract is, and how much your monthly payments are.
You’ll also be able to make overpayments to pay off the loan faster and also change your payment terms and dates, which can be helpful if you’re in a period where money is tight.
Of course, because Carmoola finance is a loan, it’s important to remember that you will have to pay interest on the borrowed amount. This means that over time, you will pay more than what you initially took from Carmoola.
The amount you overpay is dictated by the APR (Annual Percentage Rate) you’re offered for your loan. After each monthly repayment, this percentage is applied to the balance you have left to pay and compounds over time.
This means that more extended repayment plans will usually mean that you pay more by the end of them, although your monthly repayments will likely be smaller than a shorter payment plan.
Carmoola’s representative APR, which is the percentage that at least 51% of applicants are offered, is 14.8%. Despite that, the rate applied to your loan could be as high as 24.9% and as low as 6.9%, depending on the amount you borrow and how long the loan lasts.
With Carmoola, you can get finance for £2,000-£40,000 to pay for the car. That amount that you receive has to go towards buying a car. Using this loan for any other purchase breaks their business terms and may get you into trouble.
At Car Adviser, we’re firm believers that the best way to determine if an online business is good is to look at past reviews written by people who have used the brand before.
Customer reviews are a fantastic way to get more specific knowledge about a company’s strengths from a customer service point of view, and it also informs you about how satisfied past customers have been.
You should consider the review scores when evaluating a website that offers car finance, as these reviews can help you determine if the website is one to trust and if they live up to its reputation and promises.
Some businesses are well respected purely because of their marketing and brand image, but their real-life performance may not live up to this hype. Looking at customer reviews and testimonials can help you obtain more accurate details of a business and build a true-to-life expectation of the service.
When looking at reviews online, the best source to find them is Trustpilot. This website has aggregated thousands of reviews for each business registered on it, and they use sophisticated security features to ensure that most reviews are genuine and not fake.
This means that the score a business obtains on Trustpilot is accurate and is a fair reflection of the company’s quality. The reviews on Trustpilot can score a company between 1 to 5 stars.
All these scores are combined to create a definitive final score for each business that serves as a good initial indication of a business’s quality.
Below is a more detailed look at how Carmoola reviews on Trustpilot to see how good their car finance and other services really are.
Out of a possible five stars, Carmoola has obtained an excellent 4.8 score out of its total customer reviews on the Trustpilot website. This means that they’re one of the highest-rated websites from which you can finance a car in the UK.
Being rated as an excellent business indicates that the service you can expect from Carmoola is quality and that there have been many happy customers in the past.
That said, there currently is a small volume of reviews for Carmoola. Although many other established websites have thousands of reviews, Carmoola as of April,2024, has just over 300.
This can likely be explained due to the company being relatively new, although it would still be nice for the company to have more reviews to look through.
Out of those 200 reviews, a whopping 95% gave the business full marks, meaning there was little to nothing to complain about. In addition, only 2% of people gave Carmoola 1-star rating, meaning that it’s doubtful that the brand is going to disappoint you.
There’s a very small sample size for Carmoola at the current point in time, so there are barely any negative reviews to look for complaints.
In fact, there are only four 1-star reviews, and from those, it’s hard to see a consistent issue pop up among them. Although these reviews represent the minority, it’s still useful to see what was complained about.
One thing that was mentioned is that some people were annoyed about how they got an initial agreement for car finance to then only be asked for additional information, such as a bank statement.
Carmoola is a responsible lender, meaning they need to make sure that everyone can afford the car finance they offer, hence the checks that could take a few days if your account shows any issues. If you’re looking for quick approval, this may irritate you.
Another thing mentioned is that Carmoola does not accept benefits as income, with one reviewer calling this discriminatory. Most finance and loan providers do not accept benefits as a form of income, so this is an issue that most people in this situation will come across.
As Carmoola have a lot of good reviews, it can be worthwhile to look deeper into the specifics to see if any common phrases and points of strength appear in them.
Knowing what Carmoola does well can give you a better idea of what you can expect from the brand. It’s clear that there’s a lot to like about Carmoola, but here’s a look at some of the most common areas of praise.
One big thing that people like to point out is that the app and web browser you use to apply for car finance are really easy to use and very responsive, and many people get accepted applications within a few hours.
Another thing that people bring up is that the deals are very well priced, making car finance a much more affordable thing to try for most people.
Another thing praised is that Carmoola seems very personal and gets invested in your car finance journey for your benefit.
It feels that they’re on your side, as there have been many instances where team members from Carmoola have contacted dealerships and car sellers themselves to ensure that everything goes smoothly and efficiently without any hassle.
The staff are also great if you have any questions, and many people have said they’re accessible from multiple channels, including Whatsapp and email.
This availability is a significant plus, as it can make customers feel much more confident when using Carmoola.
When getting finance from an online platform, you need to weigh the various pros and cons to help you ensure that the brand and finance options they offer are suitable for you.
Thankfully, it should be clear by now that Carmoola is a fantastic place to get car finance and comes with many benefits and positives that make it one of the best places to get a good deal. That said, there are some minor negatives that you should be aware of when considering this dealership.
Pros
Cons
When you get car finance from Carmoola, it allows you to buy various types of cars from multiple dealerships online and in person. That said, you need to be aware of a couple of restrictions to ensure that you're not trying to do something you can't with car finance.
The biggest thing you need to be aware of is that you can only use car finance to buy a car. If you use the loan that Carmoola has given you for any other type of purchase, you could get into trouble as you've broken the terms of service.
In addition, you're also unable to buy a brand-new car with a loan from Carmoola, and you're instead restricted to used vehicles. Plus, you can only get cars that are under 100,000 miles and cannot buy vehicles that are over £40,000.
When you're paying off your car loan, you are not allowed to modify your car or sell it. This is because until the loan is paid off, the car technically belongs to Carmoola, not you. So, make sure to wait before the car is all paid off before you make any changes to it.
Carmoola does all it can to make car finance straightforward. They offer a service that is simple to understand and quick to do, meaning that you can get finance sorted in just a few hours on average.
For most people, you can get approval within 60 seconds, and because of the digital card that Carmoola offer, it's easy to spend that loan at any location.
The only challenge when getting car finance from Carmoola is that you may need better credit history to get approved. This means that to increase your chances of getting car finance, you must first take steps to improve your credit file. Some steps you can take include:
No method of purchasing a car is categorically better than the other. Instead, your circumstances and priorities will dictate the way that's best for you.
For those that want to own a car straight away and have the freedom to make adjustments to the car or even sell it on in quick succession, buying a car in one lump sum is a good option, providing that you have the money saved up and can afford the car.
This option is also good for those who may need a better credit score and thus will be less likely to get accepted for finance.
However, if you still need to get the capital to pay for a car all at once, paying for it in instalments could be the best option for you.
It makes the car more affordable, and it's also easier to budget around as well. Plus, if you've managed credit well in the past, you may also get a good rate, making it an even better option.
These examples should illustrate that finance is excellent in certain situations, so take stock of where you're at and figure out if car finance is the best option for you.
Because Carmoola has not been around for a long time, it has had less time to build trust and credibility, meaning that many people could still be sceptical about the business and its longevity.
When you get car finance from a company, you want to ensure that it's stable so that it doesn't go bust while you're still paying off the loan, as that can cause many headaches.
Thankfully, Carmoola is in a great position and has multiple investors, including Land Rover, meaning it has the capital to last. Plus, it's also authorised by the FCA, so your money and loan are protected if the business does go bust.