A DROITWICH couple have opened the town's first specialist franchise offering local motorists and businesses a ground-breaking deal on new car prices.

Iain and Jessy Paston own the West Midlands South branch of Vehicle Consulting, a national vehicle financing company with 10 years' experience of supplying cars to fleet managers, executives and individuals.

"Vehicle Consulting has a proven system that's quite different from the traditional routes of new car buying," said Iain.

"Instead of visiting a franchised dealer, with all the visits and price comparisons that entails, we simply source exactly the vehicle specification our customer requires and obtain the best lease, contract hire or purchase deal from our network of major financing houses. The car is then delivered straight to their doorstep.

"This means we can offer our customers 100 per cent attention and secure them the right car or fleet option at a great price."

Mrs Paston added that customers were often surprised to learn that leasing and contract hire can be better options than purchasing a new vehicle outright.

"If you lease a new car you effectively use it but don't own it - which means it's the leasing company that takes the risk on the future of your vehicle," she said.

"Because cars depreciate so quickly, that's like throwing hard-earned money out of the window. With a lease you can affordably drive a new car every few years; or even acquire the car you've always longed for but otherwise couldn't afford.

"In general, the monthly payments for leasing a new car cost less than financing it with a personal loan - sometimes as much as 60 per cent less each month."