Car finance is a way for you to buy a new or used car by spreading the cost over a period of months. So, instead of having to pay everything upfront, you can split the cost into manageable amounts that are paid in regular monthly instalments.

There are four main types of car finance available through Zuto, the most popular of which is Hire Purchase, or HP as it's more commonly known. The other financing options are Personal Contract Purchase or PCP, Conditional Sales and personal loans.

Another term you may see when you start to look at buying a car is Car Leasing. However, Zuto doesn't offer this option.

If you see the term 'guaranteed finance', it's important to remember that no one can guarantee your application will be successful until they've taken your personal details, noted which car you want and checked your credit file. All of these things will make a difference to your likelihood of being accepted or not, so when you see the words ‘guaranteed finance', it's usually a good reason to be cautious.

Yes, we can help people with a less-than-perfect credit history. You may find that you're not offered the great rates that someone with excellent credit history might get, but we may still be able to help you find a finance option to suit your circumstances.

Zuto is a broker, not a lender, so any charges we incur are covered by the fees we receive from the lenders for arranging your car finance with them. This means we can offer our services to you totally free of charge.

Our panel of lenders will finance cars, motorcycles, vans and touring caravans.

We can also provide finance for more specialist vehicles, so whatever you're thinking of buying, give us a call on 01625 619 944.

If you don't have a car in mind, but you've already been pre-approved for finance, you can use the stock search tool in your online account area - My Zuto. This allows you to search for cars that you think you might like to buy from any reputable dealer. When you find something, you can add it to your Shortlist and we'll carry out the vehicle checks and provide a finance quote specifically for that car. Again, you can also give one of our car buying experts a call on 01625 619 944.

The traditional way of arranging car finance is to take out a finance plan from the dealer when you buy the car. But if you sort things out with Zuto before you get that far, you give yourself three big advantages:

• You know exactly what you can afford before you get to the dealer - you're negotiating from a position of strength
• You've had the chance to make sure you've got a deal that's right for you. Dealers usually offer only a limited number of deals from one finance provider
• You save time. We can deliver a lending decision quickly, often within seconds of submitting your application. Then we can help you with the admin, paperwork and negotiations with the dealer. That way, you can drive straight off in your new car rather than spending hours in the dealer's office