Millions who bought a car pre-2021 could be due a payout as mis-selling investigation launched

Griffindog

I hadn’t heard about this claim until I saw the show this week and there is very little information available. We bought a van 4 years ago, what am I looking for on the paperwork to see if I have a claim? (Motor claims for Dummies level in words of one syllable please.)

Nearlyold

Griffindog said:

I hadn’t heard about this claim until I saw the show this week and there is very little information available. We bought a van 4 years ago, what am I looking for on the paperwork to see if I have a claim? (Motor claims for Dummies level in words of one syllable please.)

New or used? Dealer Finance or cash?

facade

LightFlare said:

There must be something in the announcement by Martin -- or are people saying that there is absolutely no substance to this and he's totally wrong and just headline grabbing ?

people asking genuine questions of if they may be eligible or how to set up a complaint/query -- yet the stock response seems to be "nothing to see - move along"

I'm confused

Having read past the clickbaity hype, I now understand.

• Some people took out car finance through the selling dealer, and the dealer was free to offer them the highest interest rate that the dealer thought they would accept and received an incentive, in the form of a higher commission payment to do so.

(Financial products are strictly regulated in the UK, and everything has to be "fair" and "transparent" to consumers, which results in us being treated as if we were utterly witless- e.g. "An equivalent product may be available cheaper elsewhere." )

• In 2021 this practice was specifically forbidden.

• For whatever reason, it has been decided to pursue the finance companies because of something they did that wasn't wrong when they did it, but would be now.

Now the Ambulance chasers are out and the headlines are screaming "Ever bought a car? You were mis-sold, FREE MONEY!!!!"

People have the impression that they are entitled to all their money back on every car they have ever bought!

Most people cannot see what was "wrong" with this in the first place, Tesco don't have to refund me because I bought something from them that they had raised the price of (and I could have got cheaper in Asda) it is only because it is a financial product that there is any case.  (I'd obviously like Tesco to refund me the difference between what I pay and the cheapest I could have paid....... )

As it is virtually impossible for a consumer to know how much their interest rate was hiked, the most efficient, lowest cost for all solution is to simply compel lenders to crunch the figures again for every car finance deal between some start date and 2020 and then automatically refund customers any interest that they overpaid due to a discretionary dealer set rate/commission deal.

Not Com-pen-say-shun but a simple refund (most likely with interest).

This may well be what actually happens, what I interpret Martin as saying is "sit tight and see what is going to happen"

However, the Ambulance chasers want their cut of our money and are pushing to get people to sign up with them to give some of it away.

With the current skyrocketing prices of everything, people are desperate for extra cash, and any hint of a possible payout to pretty much anyone who asks will obviously generate mass hysteria, so I think this could have been handled an awful lot better.

It doesn't help that "mis-selling" implies people were somehow tricked into buying the wrong car rather than simply not given the cheapest deal (which they happily accepted anyway)

Some people were "mis-sold" because proper affordability checks were not carried out, even though they could actually afford the payments and it made no difference, "mis-sold" just means the transaction didn't meet all the rules.....

Nearlyold

facade said:

LightFlare said:

There must be something in the announcement by Martin -- or are people saying that there is absolutely no substance to this and he's totally wrong and just headline grabbing ?

people asking genuine questions of if they may be eligible or how to set up a complaint/query -- yet the stock response seems to be "nothing to see - move along"

I'm confused

Having read past the clickbaity hype, I now understand.

• Some people took out car finance through the selling dealer, and the dealer was free to offer them the highest interest rate that the dealer thought they would accept and received an incentive, in the form of a higher commission payment to do so.

(Financial products are strictly regulated in the UK, and everything has to be "fair" and "transparent" to consumers, which results in us being treated as if we were utterly witless- e.g. "An equivalent product may be available cheaper elsewhere." )

• In 2021 this practice was specifically forbidden.

• For whatever reason, it has been decided to pursue the finance companies because of something they did that wasn't wrong when they did it, but would be now.

Now the Ambulance chasers are out and the headlines are screaming "Ever bought a car? You were mis-sold, FREE MONEY!!!!"

People have the impression that they are entitled to all their money back on every car they have ever bough!

Most people cannot see what was "wrong" with this in the first place, Tesco don't have to refund me because I bought something from them that they had raised the price of (and I could have got cheaper in Asda) it is only because it is a financial product that there is any case.  (I'd obviously like Tesco to refund me the difference between what I pay and the cheapest I could have paid....... )

As it is virtually impossible for a consumer to know how much their interest rate was hiked, the most efficient, lowest cost for all solution is to simply compel lenders to crunch the figures again for every car finance deal between some start date and 2020 and then automatically refund customers any interest that they overpaid due to a discretionary dealer set rate/commission deal.

Not Com-pen-say-shun but a simple refund (most likely with interest).

This may well be what actually happens, what I interpret Martin as saying is "sit tight and see what is going to happen"

However, the Ambulance chasers want their cut of our money and are pushing to get people to sign up with them to give some of it away.

With the current skyrocketing prices of everything, people are desperate for extra cash, and any hint of a possible payout to pretty much anyone who asks will obviously generate mass hysteria, so I think this could have been handled an awful lot better.

I wonder what will decide whether a rebate should be paid will it be just whether or not the interest rate could have been lower if the dealer had taken less commision. What if the buyer was given a higher part ex allowance than their existing car was really worth to clear existing finance or a reduced price on the purchase, free extras etc as part of the deal with the dealer using the commission to offset these costs. 

Griffindog

Nearlyold said:

Griffindog said:

I hadn’t heard about this claim until I saw the show this week and there is very little information available. We bought a van 4 years ago, what am I looking for on the paperwork to see if I have a claim? (Motor claims for Dummies level in words of one syllable please.)

New or used? Dealer Finance or cash?

Used with dealer finance.

rufus_t

motorguy said:

rufus_t said:

Hi, Thanks for the info. I've had two cars on finance in the past 10 years. One of which I have the paperwork for and one I don't. Not sure where to start. Do I complain to the dealer or the finance provider? What am I actually complaining about - how do I know if I have a legitimate case? How do I go about the one where I don't have the paperwork? Does MSE have (or plan to have) guides and templates? 

Thanks in advance

If you dont know what you're complaining about, what are you claiming for?

I'm looking to investigate whether I have a 'legitimate' claim for something I have been overcharged or mis-sold. I have not, and will not claim something for which I am not entitled. I do not feel it unreasonable to investigate whether 'or not' I have a legitimate claim based on an investigation by the FCA.

Nasqueron

Griffindog said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Does anyone ever actually get anything from these types of investigations or are they just headline grabbing stories which make people go chasing a false hope? I think of the reports that iPhone customers could get payments for their phones being slowed down and Mastercard users could get payments for having charged excessive transaction costs - I’ve never received anything and don’t really expect to either!

Lots of people benefitted from the PPI claims - me included and also missold endowment mortgages.

PPI was miss-sold, but at the same time, the banks and lenders started rolling over for low value payouts instead of fighting, even in cases where people were blatantly not miss-sold. The volume of complaints generated an industry of leaches moving on from whiplash claims, now with diesel claims (outside VW, all fake), tax on PPI reclaiming, HMRC/tax claiming etc. A whole collection of suckers on CMC lists are now losing genuine tax refunds etc because they saw £££ and signed up for stuff without reading it.

Zambogini

What if you have a PCP from BMW finance  does this still apply? 

facade

Zambogini said:

What if you have a PCP from BMW finance  does this still apply? 

If BMW finance offered multiple interest rates, and the dealer chose only the highest to offer you because they were given an increased commission to do so, then yes. The dealer getting a fixed commission because you took PCP instead of paying cash doesn't matter, they had to make something by steering you to a more expensive like-for-like deal than you could have got from BMW finance.

Or if the dealer somehow neglected to mention that you wouldn't actually own the car without paying the balloon, or they didn't do the prescribed checks on your finances to see if you met the affordability requirements. (and there is proof of this)

tetley7

I think I could be effected by this. 
I bought a car from a dealer in Leeds around 2016 2017, who advised me to go through a PCP deal.

I was told a price that the monthly payment would be, and we agreed. They would work on setting it up. 

A few days later they said the monthly payment was going to be a larger figure, which I was upset about, but had already made arrangements to purchase the car. When I got to the dealership I was told they struggled to get the finance approved and they had to do a split loan through two separate finance providers, which I've always been a little uneasy with.

Upon reading about this news I wonder if this 'deal' needs looking into!