PCP claims, are they a scam?

jc2022

Hi - new to the forum.

I was wondering if there are any genuine PCP claims out there that have been processed/successful, or are they just a scam. I was contacted a while back and was told that due to my credit score being good at the time and that I was charged 6.3% when it should have been much less I had a case. I was also told that the salesman should have made clear what their commission was too on the finance. As you can imagine, I have not heard anything since from the company who contacted me, nor the law firm that the so called case was going through.

Does anyone else have experience of this or been successful in any kind of claim similar to the above.

Many thanks.

[Deleted User]

The PCP "claims" are just another fishing exercise for CMCs banging on about commission

There is NO requirement for them to tell you what commission they were getting. The CMCs are trying to suggest people were given inflated rates to get more commission for the salesman but what proof do you (or they) have that you could have got a better rate - none at all. Your credit score is meaningless, lenders never see it and no decision on rates is based on the gimmick "score"

It'll likely go nowhere, but if you feel you were miss-sold, then complain directly, don't use a claims firm

Yamyam85

I don’t see any evidence that they are a scam. You can use the form provided by moneysavingexpert to claim yourself if you think you were miss sold or if the finance broker did not explain their commission. If they fail to respond you can take them to the Financial Ombudsman. 

The FCA have been clear that the car sales person has been acting as a finance broker and must declare their commission and incentives under the relevant consumer credit legislation which most had not been doing. In fact they had been adjusting interest rates for customers without disclosing a higher commission. 

When you were taking out a PCP (financial product) the broker was bound to follow consumer credit legislation and FCA rules. It’s not the Wild West and the rules are much stricter than for car sales so a lot of the sharp practices that are allowed in car sales are not allowed for financial products.

brettcta

Very interesting that you felt the need to sign up to post something in defence of PCP CMCs.

You wouldn’t happen to work for one by chance would you?

martinbainbridge1975

The issue that you will come up against is what is called a time bar, any historic claims where the PCP was more than 6 years old fall into this category so any complaint of mis-selling, over inflated interest rates as examples will fall under this.

27th January 2021 saw the rules changed where there was only 1 rate available to everyone, in the past dealers had a band to play with rates between 2 markers so there was practices going on where customers did not necessarily get the lowest rate possible purely for the gain of dealerships.

In terms of commissions paid, more recent documents you will find somewhere in the small print that dealers are paid a commission for introducing you to a finance company.

From my own personal experience of the past year I have found that a lot of main dealer rates tend to 7.9 - 9.9, it was beneficial to shop around and I found a broker with a much lower rate 

MrFrugalFever

FCA regulation changed in January 2021. It was consulted on and agreed in 2020.
The document In relation to this is PS20/8 ‘Motor finance discretionary commission models and consumer credit commission disclosure’.

A dealer is obliged to disclose commission should the consumer request it.
It must be fairer and more consistent across the board.

You are very unlikely to get anywhere unless you were grossly mis-sold which I highly doubt you could prove given the quantity of documents you would have been presented with prior to actually signing a legally binding document.

You’d be surprised at how little commission is made.

[Deleted User]

^ exactly, retrospective complaints about deals done before the regulation was enforced are not going to happen

How is anyone going to prove they could have got a better deal from that sales person at that specific time and that commission was the driving factor? 

martinbainbridge1975

MrFrugalFever said:

FCA regulation changed in January 2021. It was consulted on and agreed in 2020.
The document In relation to this is PS20/8 ‘Motor finance discretionary commission models and consumer credit commission disclosure’.

A dealer is obliged to disclose commission should the consumer request it.
It must be fairer and more consistent across the board.

You are very unlikely to get anywhere unless you were grossly mis-sold which I highly doubt you could prove given the quantity of documents you would have been presented with prior to actually signing a legally binding document.

You’d be surprised at how little commission is made.

a lot of the commission aspect is driven by the amount borrowed, and the % paid to dealers will vary from one lender to another. 

kind of got some inside information on this

MrFrugalFever

martinbainbridge1975 said:

a lot of the commission aspect is driven by the amount borrowed, and the % paid to dealers will vary from one lender to another. 

kind of got some inside information on this

Likewise, I work in the industry and have advanced SAF with London Institute of Banking & Finance.

Yes commission varies by % of borrowed based on what has been agreed largely at board level between broker and lender.

New car commission is laughable.

cmoorejnr83

Yamyam85 said:

I don’t see any evidence that they are a scam. You can use the form provided by moneysavingexpert to claim yourself if you think you were miss sold or if the finance broker did not explain their commission. If they fail to respond you can take them to the Financial Ombudsman. 

The FCA have been clear that the car sales person has been acting as a finance broker and must declare their commission and incentives under the relevant consumer credit legislation which most had not been doing. In fact they had been adjusting interest rates for customers without disclosing a higher commission. 

When you were taking out a PCP (financial product) the broker was bound to follow consumer credit legislation and FCA rules. It’s not the Wild West and the rules are much stricter than for car sales so a lot of the sharp practices that are allowed in car sales are not allowed for financial products.

Tell us you work for a PCP CMC without telling us you work for a PCP CMC…..! 👀

cmoorejnr83

brettcta said:

Very interesting that you felt the need to sign up to post something in defence of PCP CMCs.

You wouldn’t happen to work for one by chance would you?

HAHAHA, That’s exactly what I thought while reading that post 🤣👍🏻