Oxford economics prof not allowed to pay cash for new car.

I’m still scratching my head over this.

Simon Wren-Lewis (Oxford economics prof) says he has enough cash to buy a new car. But when he tried to buy one, the car dealer said new cars could only be acquired via an interest free loan.

I suspect this is plain old trickery. I.e. I suspect if you look at the small print in the “interest free loan” agreement, you’ll find something like the rate of interest suddenly jumps to 10% after two years, but is not charged to car buyers immediately. That is, after three or four years, the car dealer can send car buyers a stonking great bill for interest and if there are any complaints, he just says that was all in the small print.