Car Finance Claims
Like high-cost lenders, many companies offering car finance have been guilty of irresponsible lending. If your PCP loan was unaffordable, you could be due a refund. On top of this, there has been a mis-selling scandal due to hidden commissions.
In January 2024 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed that it's looking into whether a compensation plan is necessary for addressing alleged large-scale mis-selling in the £50 billion per year motor finance sector. This followed the Financial Ombudsman Service's recent ruling in favour of complainants for hidden commissions in car finance.
An FCA investigation discovered widespread evidence of mis-selling on all motor vehicle types, including new and used cars and vans under all vehicle financing options such as personal contract purchase (PCP), hire purchase (HP), Contract hire or a car loan. PCP mis-selling has been especially prevalent. PCP claims also tend to be the most valuable, as capital is generally paid back more slowly, so more interest accrues.
Unknown to customers buying vehicles, lenders systematically incentivised brokers and car dealers to charge their customers higher interest rates so they could receive higher commissions themselves. As one car dealer openly admits in a recent article, “frankly, we were getting away with murder. We weren’t treating customers fairly and were, in effect, charging them to earn us money.”
The FCA estimated that hundreds of thousands of motorists might have been mis-sold finance packages. In some cases, customers are being overcharged by over £1,000 in interest for the dealership to obtain a higher commission pay-out. The FCA estimates this could have cost consumers £300 million annually.
Reports have shown that the car finance industry is rife with these secret payments and hidden commissions, meaning you could have been mis-sold your finance deal.
You need to act quickly as there are statutory deadlines, known as limitation periods, that apply to mis-selling claims. Start your claim today for professionals to guide you through the process.
For Hassle-Free Refunds
A claims specialist
can do all the hard work so you don't need to!
Simple Process
Making a claim is simple. With just a few details you can start your application.
No Win, No Fee
You are only charged after the claim has been won and you have your refund!
You do not need to use a claims management company to make your complaint to your lender. If your complaint is not successful you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service yourself for free.
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Maximise Your Compensation
After obtaining a credit report, we will review your previous borrowing and can help you claim from an extensive list of lenders.
Your complaint is handled by professionals
Your claim will be handled by an experienced team, who will complain to your lender on your behalf.
Reclaimed funds to be Transferred
After a claim is successful, the redress money is transferred straight to you.
Was My Car Finance Mis-sold?
There are many reasons why a loan has been mis sold and a borrower may be eligible for a refund. This includes irresponsible lending. Irresponsible lending means the person borrowing the money doesn’t have enough income to pay back the loan as well as their other basic living expenses and pre-existing loans. This can often be the case with subprime lenders like Moneybarn. In these cases, the claimant can receive a refund on all interest and fees they have paid on their loan.
If any of the below statements describe your experience with Car Finance, including personal contract purchase (PCP) contracts, you could be eligible to claim compensation.
The loan was unaffordable or the lender did not perform proper affordable ability checks - A Daily Mail investigation has found that people on low incomes or unemployed are being offered PCP deals
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The car salesperson did not explain they would receive a commission (Hidden Commissions) on the sale of the car
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The lender/bank did not fully explain the commission
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The salesperson skipped through the car finance agreement Terms & Conditions
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The customer felt pressured into the finance deal and was not given a range of options including explaining all of the differences in each type of product
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The salesperson did not make it clear who was financially responsible for the repairs to the vehicle
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The salesperson did not offer the best interest rate available
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The salesperson did not present, with complete transparency, the interest rates charged for all loan options and how they may differ
Don’t worry if you can’t find the agreement or remember who the lender or dealership was. You just need the name of the company you made the payments to. You should be able to find this information on your old bank statements.
You need to act quickly as there are statutory deadlines, known as limitation periods, that apply to mis-selling claims. Start your claim today for professionals to guide you through the process.
No Win, No Fee
You are only charged after the claim has been won and you have your refund! The success fee is calculated as a percentage of the total compensation you receive. If we are not able to obtain an offer you will not be charged. You can read more about fees here.
If you cancel your agreement with us or break your agreement with us before the end of the process we will charge you a cancellation fee.
FAQs
How long do PCP claims take?
The rules state that a lender has 8 weeks to reply to a complaint, however sometimes they go over this deadline. If the complaint needs to go to the Financial Ombudsman because the PCP lender is disputing it, the case could take anywhere between 12 to 18 months to conclude. Some people are lucky and get a claim accepted, and their refund paid, after only a couple of months. Others take over a year.
Why Use The Claims Guide For My Claim?
Help Maximising Claims - We will go through your previous borrowing and help you claim from an extensive list of lenders. Other claims companies will more likely turn you away if you are not claiming against one of their few approved lenders.
We Make It Easy - Claiming a refund can be a daunting task. We make it easy and ensure everything you need is included so you don't have to spend much time on it.
Professional - Each claim is different and specific circumstances that are relevant to the claim should be explained by a professional. The Financial Ombudsman has previously been unable to progress some complaints that involved a “template” or “standard letter”.
How Much Will I Receive If My Claim Is Successful?
If you successfully claim a refund from a lender, you can claim back the interest and charges on your loans, plus, typically, 8% statutory interest. For more information on how this is calculated click here.
What Information Do I Need to Provide?
You just need to provide the name of your lender and your personal details including the address that you lived at when registering with them. Once you have given these we can obtain details of any loans where a refund may be due.
How much will I be charged?
Claiming through us always works on a no win no fee basis, meaning you won't pay a thing unless you win compensation. You will have the right to cancel the agreement within 14 days with no penalty. If you cancel after 14 days you may be charged for work done up until the time of cancellation. We use multiple partners to ensure we are able to offer claims against all lenders, from whom we receive payments. The exact fee structure will depend on which lender you are claiming against, as this decides which of our partners is most suitable for your claim. A breakdown of our fee structure can be seen here. The fees for Diesel Emissions Claims are calculated differently due to it being a group action lawsuit.
How Do I Submit My Claim?
Simply complete our online application form by clicking on the "Get Started" button. This is the first stage of your complaint to the payday lender where you could receive compensation. For more information on the process please click here.