Hi Christopher,

You essentially have two choices when it comes to car finance from a dealer now: Hire Purchase (HP) and Personal Contract Plan (PCP). 

HP is a very good way to buy a car, and pretty simple. Yes, you’ll need a deposit (often whatever car you’re trading in will cover most, if not all, of that) and most plans run for three or for years. Different dealers and different brands will indeed have different interest rates, and in fact some individual models will have different interest rates as sometimes manufacturers subsidise the rate to promote a specific model. Shop around is the best advice of course. Once you’ve finished paying the payments (and, depending on the deal, the deferred or ‘bubble’ payment at the end) the car is yours. 

PCP is a little more complicated. You can usually get a lower monthly repayment cost on a PCP, but you never actually own the car - you’re effectively leasing it. At the end of the agreement you either hand the car back, clearing the cost; pay the final ‘bubble’ payment and own the car; or roll it over into a new deal for a new car. 

Of course there are also old-fashioned bank or credit union loans and these shouldn’t be ignored as although the repayments are usually higher, they’re simpler and you own the car right away.