One potential difficulty which not everybody who signs a contract hire or leasing agreement considers is what will happen if for some reason they are unable to keep up the payments.
Some people may adopt the attitude that ''it's not likely to happen to me'', but this is a situation which can affect private owners
as well as business users. Unless
they make suitable arrangements in advance, it may cause major problems for both groups.
Illness, redundancy, accident or death can leave
a financial commitment then difficult to maintain. Depending on circumstances, it may involve the person who signed the contract, or close family members, or perhaps colleagues such as partners in the same business.
Fortunately, this is something against which insurance can be taken out.
Many hire and contract schemes, Saab's being just one example, offer cover of various kinds, tailored to the different requirements of private owners and business users. They generally include not just cover for the repayments on the car, but also life cover and other benefits.
Of course, it is important as with all insurance policies to read the small print. There will almost certainly be exceptions such as the case of a drunk driver being injured in an accident, or the country being involved in any of those upheavals which cause insurers to purse their lips: ''war, riot or civil commotion''.
Saab's Guaranteed Payments Plans are in two categories.
Business users can sign up for (a) Life, Accident and Sickness or (b) Life and Hospitalisation. Private owner plans are (a) Life, Accident, Sickness and Unemployment, (b) Life, Accident and Sickness and (c) Life and Hospitalisation.
Looking at plans of this kind purely from the motoring point of view, they will cover payments due on a car if the original signatory cannot continue them, with exceptions such as previous arrears of payment.
They do involve a certain
extra outlay, over and above the normal contract hire or leasing payments, but with a car being generally regarded as the second biggest investment after a
house, they should certainly be considered.
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