If you bought a car, van, or motorbike with a personal contract plan (PCP) or Hire Purchase (HP) between April 2007 and January 28, 2021, you might be owed thousands of pounds in compensation.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which oversees the vehicle finance industry, launched a major investigation into hidden, and unfair car & motor finance commissions, as some vehicle dealers were often paid a commission by the finance companies. The higher the interest rate on the finance, the higher the commission the dealer would be paid, leading many buyers to overpay without knowing it. This mis-selling practice, known as ‘discretionary commission arrangements’ is now banned, and means millions could get refunds.

The FCA’s investigation is likely to finish by May 2025, and December 2025 for lender responses, which means there will be a delay in finding out if your claim is successful. However, it’s still important to act now and file your claim to avoid missing out on potential compensation.

Yes, you can also claim for any used vehicle where you had finance in place.

Many of the claims will be against the banks or lenders who have agreements with the vehicle dealerships. It is thought that ‘discretionary commission arrangements’ were commonplace and may involve a variety of finance providers including:

• Black Horse Ltd
• BMW Financial Services (GB) Ltd
• CA Auto Finance UK Ltd
• Close Brothers Ltd
• Clydesdale Financial Services Ltd
• FCE Bank PLC
• FirstRand Bank Ltd (London Branch)
• Hyundai Capital UK Ltd
• Mercedes-Benz Financial Services UK Ltd
• Moneybarn No. 1 Ltd
• MotoNovo
• NIIB Group Ltd
• PSA Finance UK Ltd
• RCI Financial Services Ltd
• Santander Consumer (UK) PLC
• Startline Motor Finance Ltd
• Toyota Financial Services (UK) PLC
• Vauxhall Finance PLC
• Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Ltd

If your finance provider is not listed above, don’t worry, we’ll check your finance agreement to establish whether if you have been affected.

Typically, you could make a claim if you took out a vehicle finance agreement between April 2007 and January 28, 2021. You need to ACT NOW and submit your claim as soon as possible.

You have a maximum of six years from the ‘event’ being complained about, or three years from when you become aware that you had a cause to complain. The ‘event’ being complained of, is the ‘discretionary commission arrangement’, i.e. the start of the finance agreement. So, you would have six years from the start of your agreement. 

If your agreement is older than this, then you can still claim providing you only became aware of the right to complain within the last three years. As there has been widespread media coverage of this type of mis-selling since January 2024, it could be reasonably argued that you should have been aware from this time, and therefore you would have up to three years in which to bring your claim.

You can claim if the finance agreement is already paid off, or if it’s still active. We can check any car & motor finance agreements you had from April 2007 to 28th January 2021, which is when the discretionary commission model was abolished.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to make a claim if you took out a loan as it’s a different type of finance. A loan is provided directly by your bank for purchasing a motor vehicle, unlike PCP (Personal Contract Purchase) or HP (Hire Purchase) agreements, which are secured against the motor vehicle and typically arranged through the dealership, involving different terms regarding ownership and repayment.

No, lenders cannot blacklist you, and it will not adversely affect your credit rating.

Yes, you can claim for any separate finance agreements you may have had at any time between 2007-2021.

Yes, you can still make a claim. This is a typical situation for many people, so don’t worry, our law firm partner will still be able to act on your behalf to pursue compensation.

Yes, you can still submit your claim to us as we can locate finance agreements using vehicle and dealership details. Our claim specialists will investigate and identify any finance agreements you may have had.

Once it’s been identified that you are eligible to claim, our law firm partner will submit the claim to your lender.

Ordinarily, your lender would have 8 weeks in which to respond however, due to an ongoing investigation by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority), scheduled to complete in May 2025, lenders have been allowed to pause responses until December 2025.

However, it’s important to act now and file your claim to avoid missing out on potential compensation. Lenders will be chased as soon as possible, and our law firm partner will keep you informed of any progress.

Our checking service is free of charge. If we find you may be eligible to make a claim, we will refer you to one of our law firm partners who will liaise with your lender(s) on your behalf. If your claim is successful, the law firm will charge a fee of between 18% and 36% (inc VAT) of the amount recovered. The law firm may charge a fee if you cancel after the 14-day cooling off period. Their fees and cancellation policy will be included in the information we will send to you, and you can find further information in our Key Facts and Terms & Conditions.

You can shop around or make a claim yourself for free and, if not successful, you can refer your claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service. However, we believe our service is good value. We will refer all potential claims to one of our law firm partners who will manage the claims process on a no-win, no-fee basis. This will include the preparation of claims documentation, proactively liaising with lenders on your behalf and, if necessary, liaising with the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The compensation you could potentially receive depends on several factors including:

– Loan amount: Typically, the greater the loan, the more you will be owed.

– Agreement duration: Longer repayment periods often mean you’ll be owed more.

– Discrepancy in Interest rates: Compensation is influenced by the variance between the quoted rate and the rate you should have paid.