mines on HP - probably the best decision ive made in ages. have to miss 3 payments in a row and not contact them before they can take a court injunction to have the car removed from your possession - so the same as if you had a loan. as the cars legally theres, there is less risk, so you get a much better APR deal, especially so if your young with no real credit history like myself. i opted for straight payments and no balloon, but if you dont want the car for longer than 3 years and fancy just chucking it in then it can make sense based on the APR charged, and the likely condition of the vehicle.
the other benefit i experienced, is that if theres a serious fault you give the car back to your HP company citing its not as described and they get you a new one off the dealer, or refund your payments to date. for me, this involved them taking up an issue of faulty seats and getting the dealer into court for me.
think its a bit overrated to say hes silly for having HP, as for me a bank loan would have worked out loads more expensive, and doesnt really give you anything.