0% APR car finance deals: March 2024

If you want to finance a brand new car with low monthly payments but want to avoid interest charges, check out the best car finance 0% APR deals

By Tom Phillips Mar 5, 2024

Getting a car with 0% APR finance - also known as interest-free credit - is one of the most attractive ways to pay for a new car.

The cost of the car is split across a deposit, a series of monthly payments and, in the case of PCP finance, an optional final payment that you make at the end of the contract if you choose to keep the car. This means that whether you opt for PCP finance or Hire Purchase, the purchase price of the car is cut into bitesize chunks, with nothing charged for the finance.

Unlike most car finance offers, there are no interest charges associated with 0% APR deals. This means the sum total of your payments should add up to no more than the full cash price of the car.

Just remember that with PCP finance you have to pay the deposit, all monthly payments and the large optional final payment to take ownership. Even with 0% APR PCP finance, though, the total amount you pay, including the optional final payment, equates to no more than the car's retail price.

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Alfa Romeo

  • Alfa Romeo Giulia, Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Alfa Romeo Tonale models are available with 0% APR when you put down a minimum 35% deposit on PCP

Citroen

  • Citroen e-C4 and Citroen e-C4 X are available with 0% APR and zero deposit over 48 months, starting at £399 or £359 per month respectively

Cupra

  • Selected Cupra Born, Cupra Formentor, Cupra Leon and Cupra Ateca models are currently available with 0% APR for three years when you purchase with Solutions PCP

Ford

  • Ford Focus, Ford Puma and Ford Kuga models available with 0% APR on 24 month Ford Options PCP. Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium AWD available with 0% APR on 26 month Ford Options PCP

Hyundai

  • Hyundai Ioniq 5, Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Hyundai Kona Electric are all available with 0% APR on PCP. There's no minimum deposit required, and deal terms are up to 36 months

Jaguar

  • Jaguar I-Pace EV currently available with 0% APR and a £3,000 deposit contribution through Jaguar PCP

Mazda

  • Mazda MX-30 is available on 0% APR hire purchase with a minimum 40% deposit. A £2,255 saving and home charging point are included

Mercedes-Benz

  • Mercedes EQA, Mercedes EQB, Mercedes EQE Saloon and SUV and Mercedes EQS Saloon are available with 0% APR and get £2,000-£5,000 discounts on Agility PCP

MG

  • MG4 EVs, except the X Power model, and MG ZS EVs are available with 0% APR when you put down a minimum 20% deposit PCP. MG ZS petrols are available with 0% APR with 30% deposit

Nissan

  • Nissan Leaf models are all available with 0% APR and £1,000 deposit contribution when you put down a 25% deposit

Peugeot

  • The electric Peugeot e-208 and Peugeot e-2008 get 0% APR, no deposit and £5,000 discounts on PCP if you buy online
  • The Peugeot e-308 gets 0% APR, no deposit and £2,500 off

Renault

  • The Renault Clio E-Tech, Renault Captur, Renault Arkana and Renault Austral are available with 0% APR on 24 month PCP agreements

SEAT

  • SEAT has 0% APR deals across the range. The SEAT Ibiza, SEAT Ateca, SEAT Tarraco, SEAT Arona and SEAT Leon are all 0% over three years on Solutions PCP

Skoda

  • Skoda Enyaq 60 includes a £1,500 deposit contribution and the Skoda Enyaq 85/vRS have an £800 contribution, plus 0% APR on PCP

Suzuki

  • Suzuki S-Cross available with 0% APR on a 25-month PCP agreement with a minimum 20% deposit

Toyota

  • Toyota bZ4X electric SUV available with 0% APR and a £2,000 deposit contribution on PCP

Volvo

  • All Volvo models but the new Volvo EX30 and EX90 can be bought with Volvo Loan hire purchase at 0% APR with a 50% deposit over 24-48 months

Best new cars with 0% finance

Ford Puma 0% APR finance deal

Right now, the Ford Focus, Puma and Kuga models are available with 0% APR on 24 month Ford Options PCP, and the Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium AWD is available with 0% APR on 48 month Ford Options PCP. As Ford's most popular car in the UK, we've picked the Puma as our choice below.

Ford Puma ST-Line X 0% APR offer
Monthly payment: £290
Customer deposit: £5,746
Length of agreement: 24 months
Optional final payment: £15,659
Total payable: £28,365
Annual mileage limit: 9,000
See this deal

Hyundai Ioniq 6 0% APR finance deal

All Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 models are available on both PCP and Hyundai's Personal Motor Loan hire purchase agreements with 0% APR finance up to 37 months with no minimum deposit required. The Hyundai Kona Electric is also available with 0% APR finance but on a 25 month deal and with a minimum 10% deposit.

Hyundai Ioniq 6 Premium 77.4kWh 2WD 0% APR offer
Monthly payment: £501.10
Customer deposit: £5,000
Length of agreement: 37 months
Optional final payment: £24,000.56
Total payable: £47,040
Annual mileage limit: 10,000
See this deal

Mercedes EQE Saloon 0% APR finance deal

Mercedes is currently offering 0% APR on the Mercedes EQA, Mercedes EQB, Mercedes EQE Saloon and SVU, and the Mercedes EQS Saloon electric cars. All of these models benefit from between £2,000 and £5,000 towards your deposit, too. If you opt for PCP, neither deal requires you to pay a deposit, although the monthly payments are higher as a result.

Mercedes EQE 300 Luxury Saloon 0% APR offer
Monthly payment: £980.10
Customer deposit: £0.20
Length of agreement: 48 months
Optional final payment: £35,300
Total payable: £82,245
Annual mileage limit: 10,000
See this deal

Renault Austral 0% APR finance deal

Renault asks for big upfront deposits but then extremely low monthly payments on its PCP agreements. This includes the Clio from just £32 per month, the Austral from £33 per month, the Captur from £41 per month, the Arkana from £44 per month all at 0% APR over 24 months.

Renault Austral Techno E-Tech 0% APR offer
Monthly payment: £36
Customer deposit: £11,643
Length of agreement: 25 months
Optional final payment: £21,691
Total payable: £34,695
Annual mileage limit: 6,000
See this deal

Skoda Enyaq 0% APR finance deal

The Skoda Enyaq is available with 0% APR on PCP with a maximum 36-month term. The deal is covers Enyaq 60, 85 and vRS models, and you also get a deposit contribution and a free home charger thrown in, too. The Skoda Scala and Skoda Kamiq have both just been facelifted, so pre-facelift cars from stock are all 0% APR and £1,000 off while they last.

Skoda Enyaq 60 0% APR offer
Monthly payment: £375.35
Deposit contribution: £2,500
Customer deposit:
£7,014.85
Length of agreement: 36 months
Optional final payment: £16,317.90
Total payable: £39,970
Annual mileage limit: 10,000
See this deal

Are there any drawbacks to 0% APR car finance deals?

Before you dive into the list of new cars available with 0% APR finance, it's worth taking a moment to consider your other options in case there's a better way to get behind the wheel of your chosen car for less. 

For a start, getting this rock-bottom rate often requires a large deposit, so you may need to spend a chunk of your savings to access a 0% APR deals. Interest-free agreements aren't usually available with no-deposit finance.

0% finance offers may not include savings available with other finance deals (like deposit contribution discounts), so you could end up paying more overall. To find out which offers you the best value, get like-for-like quotes with the same deposit, contract length and mileage allowance to see which has the lowest monthly payments and costs you less overall.

0% APR car finance is generally only available for new cars. Where it is available on used cars, this typically means you'll be paying an artificially high cash price, as dealers often inflate the price to cover what they lose by not charging interest. Consequently, 0% APR used car finance can actually be more expensive than equivalent finance deals on similar cars that charge interest but offer much lower cash prices. Once again, remember to get like-for-like finance quotes to find out which offers you the best value.

What types of finance are available with 0% APR?

It’s possible to find deals on multiple types of finance with 0% APR. The most common is Personal Contract Purchase (PCP). This offers affordable monthly payments, as these only cover the amount of value the car is expected to lose over the contract, rather than its whole price. At the end of the contract, you can either return the car to the finance company, or buy it for a pre-agreed optional final payment.

Another potential option is Hire Purchase (HP), which ends in you owning the car once you've made all the monthly payments. Because there is no large optional final payment, monthly payments are a little higher with HP than with PCP, since you have to pay for the entire value of the car through the monthly payments.

This also means that you don't need to find many thousands of pounds to pay off that large final payment if you want to take ownership, though you are able to refinance this into another finance contract, should you wish. Do bear in mind that you are very unlikely to be able to refinance a PCP deal with 0% APR, so you are likely to have to pay interest on the money borrowed on the second finance contract if you choose this option.

Meanwhile, if you're after the best value option and are happy to consider a nearly new or used model, you can kickstart your car finance journey with BuyaCar to see how much you can afford to borrow and find a great deal among thousands of used cars currently available now on our search pages.

How do 0% APR finance deals work?

APR stands for annual percentage rate. It’s a standard way of calculating the full cost of finance and takes into account the interest charged on borrowing, as well as any fees. This makes it easy to compare the cost of finance between different providers.

If finance is advertised as 0% APR, then it means you won’t be charged any interest or fees. This should mean that the overall amount you pay is no greater than if you had bought the car you’re considering outright in cash.

A 0% APR offer often doesn’t take into account the discounts available in other forms of new car deals, however. For example, a manufacturer 0% APR offer may not include a deposit contribution or other discount incentive, so you’ll repay the full retail price of the car as advertised in the brochure.

If you’re buying in cash, you might be able to get a discount off the price, making the car cheaper, but bigger discounts are typically available if you opt for a finance deal that charges interest. If you are able to keep the contract length short, then this can work out to be the cheapest option overall.

What do I need to get a 0% APR finance deal?

Many 0% APR deals require a large deposit. This is to give the lender a greater chance of getting their money back if the customer misses payments close to the start of the agreement.

Lenders increase interest rates for customers with poor credit ratings, as they are seen to be at higher risk of missing their payments.

This means that the lowest 0% APR rates are often only available to drivers with a good credit score.

 

Can you get used cars with 0% finance?

Used cars aren't generally available with 0% finance because they don't benefit from the same manufacturer finance discounts that new cars do. However, the used car finance industry is competitive, which helps to keep interest rates low.

Some retailers, including BuyaCar, work with several lenders to ensure that you get a competitive quote for your circumstances, along with a good value cash price to begin with - which means you might be able to get more car for your monthly budget than you might expect.

So while you can't typically get 0% APR with used cars - and where you can, it's likely the cash price has been inflated to cover the fact no interest is charged - going for a nearly new or pre-registered car, is typically far cheaper than going for a new car.

That can be the case even where there is a really good new car finance deal on offer, so as always, it's worth getting a couple of like-for-like quotes to find the best car you can get for your budget.