Many thanks for the reply. So I need to just need to make sure the car is valued at £13,000 on the agreement and not £7,000 in order to make it so I have around £1,500 to pay to hit 50%? Handing the car back after 50% is a nice option to have but wouldn't really apply to me because the car should always remain worth more than the finance owed (because of the £6,000 deposit) as the car will be only do around 8,000 miles a year so shouldn't depreciate too quickly. If I ever wanted to sell the car privately (whilst financed is still owed) could that be done if the buyer was to pay the finance company the whole amount off including interest then pay the remaining amount to me? Again, this is not something I would want to happen, but would like to know it's a choice if ever needed. Thanks

Hi I've read the whole of the thread (I know it's old) but rather than making a new thread I thought I'd ask my question here in hope of some help. I'm thinking of getting a car on finance (HP). The car will be around £13,000. My Plan is to pay a £6,000 cash deposit then finance the remaining £7,000 which (with interest) will be about £8500 to pay back. What's this 50% rule you spoke about? Straight from the off I will have paid almost 50%, so after 50% is it harder / more complicated for the car to be repossessed if payments are missed because over 50% has been paid? I, of course, tend to see out paying the monthly payments but I don't have a crystal ball and can't see into the future in case any unforeseen circumstances pop up financially. I just can't get myself into a position where (if the car was repossessed) I could be in thousands of debt and have no car OR car repossessed, not much debt/no debt but had paid thousands into the car (because of the 6k deposit + monthly payments) and have no car. EDIT - Just read on another site "You've paid half so they can't repossess without court order" - is that correct? When is half way? Half way between the amount financed with the interest or half way between the price the car was bought at? Thanks