Car & Van Insurance Expert
Sarah Tooze
Sarah Tooze has been a motoring journalist for more than 15 years, specialising in company cars and vans, and has won a number of awards during her career, including the Newspress ‘Automotive Business Journalist’ award in 2017.
She is passionate about making the automotive industry more diverse and is a member of Deloitte’s Women at the Wheel networking group.
For three years she was a judge for the Cox Automotive Barbara Cox Award, which recognises an inspirational female leader and role model in the automotive industry.
As a freelance journalist she now writes regularly for Fleet News, Fleet&Leasing.com, and Smart Transport.
Her work has also appeared on AM-online, the prime source of news, insight and best practice information for senior executives in the UK automotive retail sector.
When she’s not writing about motoring, Sarah likes to write about travel and history, and her work has previously been featured in Mail on Sunday and BBC History magazine.
The base rate or 'Bank Rate' is the official interest rate set by the Bank of England that guides banks and lenders.
The base rate is currently 3.75%, following a .25% cut in December 2025.
An early repayment charge (ERC) is a fee for ending a mortgage deal before the term ends. Typical ERCs range between 1% and 5% of the remaining loan amount if you want to end it early.
ERCs often also apply if you attempt to pay back more than 10% of the outstanding loan amount in a single year.
Find out more in our guide to early repayment charges.
