You MUST ask these 4 questions when buying car finance or risk losing £1,000s after mis-selling scandal
A LAWYER has revealed the four questions you must ask before buying a car on finance in the wake of the mis-selling scandal.
Brits could be due billions as part of a compensation scheme that could "dwarf" PPI after widespread malpractice was uncovered in the motor industry.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is investigating the unfair use of commission payments that meant motorists unknowingly overpaid interest on their loans.
Just last week, the Court of Appeal issued a landmark ruling in a trio of cases that dealerships could not legally receive commission from finance providers unless they had customers' "fully informed consent" when the deal was agreed.
The judgment also seemingly implied that dealers had not received such consent from many drivers when they signed their finance contracts.
Sam Ward, director of Sentinal Legal (the firm that successfully brought one of the three cases), sat down with SunMotors to explain how motorists could protect themselves from shady practices in the future.
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He said: "I think anyone looking at car finance at the moment should be prepared to shop around.
"There's zero trust in the market.
What is the FCA investigating and who is eligible for compensation?
By Jacob Jaffa, Motors Reporter
What is being investigated?
The FCA announced in January that it would investigate allegations of "widespread misconduct" related to discretionary commission agreements (DCAs) on car loans.
When you buy a car on finance, you are effectively loaned the value of the car while you pay it off.
These loans have interest payments charged on top of them and are often organised on behalf of lenders by brokers - usually the finance arm of a dealership.
These brokers earn money in the form of commission - a percentage of the interest payments on the loan.
DCAs allowed brokers to, to a certain extent, increase the interest rate on a loan, which in turn increased the amount of commission they received.
The practice was banned by the FCA in 2021.
Who is eligible for compensation?
The FCA estimates that around 40% of car deals may have been affected before 2021.
There are two criteria you must meet to have a chance at receiving compensation.
First, you must be complaining in relation to a finance deal on a motor vehicle (including cars, vans, motorbikes and motorhomes) that was agreed before January 28 2021.
Second, you must have bought the vehicle through a mechanism like Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) or Hire Purchase (HP), which make up the majority of finance deals and mean you own the vehicle at the end of the agreement.
Drivers who leased a car through something like a Personal Contract Hire, where you give the car back at the end of the lease, are not eligible.
"This guy or girl [the dealer] is there to sell you something and, clearly now, there to sell you a number of products without you realising.
"Ask the four big questions.
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"If you're happy to proceed on your finance after knowing all the information, that's fair enough.
"But in the vast majority of cases, people ar going to push back.
"Finance is a negotiable product."
The "big four" he referred to is a set of questions outlined in the court case that cover all the aspects of the commission arrangement you need to have "fully informed consent".
Before agreeing to any finance contract, Sam recommends asking:
- What is the nature of the relationship between you (the customer) and them (the dealer) - specifically whether they are aware that they have a "fiduciary responsibility" to you.
- Does the dealer earn commission on the finance not just the car?
- Exactly how is this commission on the finance calculated?
- How much commission will the dealer receive on the finance?
This should tell you everything you need to know about how your payment amount and interest rate have been set.
However, Sam added that this would likely reveal that you could be overpaying either way.
He explained: "When you're well informed, go to your high street bank.
"Most of the time they have products listed on the website so you can log in to your online banking and get pre-approved.
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"I'm 90% sure the bank will always trump the car dealership because they're not charging these massive commissions."
It comes after the FCA extended the deadline for its report into the issue, potentially delaying the compensation payout.