Response from Vauxhall Finance

DoogieH

I've had a response (of sorts) from Vauxhall Finance. My finance agreement dates from 2005. The response reads:

After making a reasonable and proportionate search of our records (and making due enquiries with appropriate third parties), we've not yet found out if we paid a commission to the dealer and, if so, whether it was a discretionary commission. This is due to the historic nature of your agreement with us.

We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause you. Should you wish to raise a formal complaint, you are able to do so by sending an email to GBCAR-CSC-Complaints@vauxhallfinance.com. 

Should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the Customer Service Centre on 03448 712222.


Despite the "yet" in the first paragraph, this reads as if it is the final response I will get from them. There is no indication that they are continuing to look. I do have a paper copy of the agreement - would it be worth scanning and sending to them? Any thoughts on next steps?

Thanks.

Nasqueron

DoogieH said:

I've had a response (of sorts) from Vauxhall Finance. My finance agreement dates from 2005. The response reads:

After making a reasonable and proportionate search of our records (and making due enquiries with appropriate third parties), we've not yet found out if we paid a commission to the dealer and, if so, whether it was a discretionary commission. This is due to the historic nature of your agreement with us.

We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause you. Should you wish to raise a formal complaint, you are able to do so by sending an email to GBCAR-CSC-Complaints@vauxhallfinance.com. 

Should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the Customer Service Centre on 03448 712222.


Despite the "yet" in the first paragraph, this reads as if it is the final response I will get from them. There is no indication that they are continuing to look. I do have a paper copy of the agreement - would it be worth scanning and sending to them? Any thoughts on next steps?

Thanks.

The issue isn't the agreement as that doesn't show commission, all that shows is that you had finance and they know you did. As MSE themselves point out, DCA is only likely to have been an issue they can look into after April 2007 so yours predates this. Given you had finance in 2005 even if we assumed it was a 5 year deal, that was still 14 years ago that it finished, so 2024 is well after the 6 year guidance for destruction of old finance documents both under DPA and GDPR i.e. around 2016. It's (legally speaking) not reasonable to expect them to hunt in the basement of some old office building on the off chance they could find an internal record for your case. They are looking still and if they find it, presumably they will contact you, if not, then they won't. Per previous point though, it's very likely you would not be able to make a complaint anyway as it pre-dates the FOS regulation and the FCA may well agree it's out of scope. 

dunstonh

Despite the "yet" in the first paragraph, this reads as if it is the final response I will get from them. 

Its a holding letter.   The FCA have suspended complaints on DCA until September and it has been suggested it could be pushed back into the new year as firms are having problems finding historic data.   So, there is no hurry.

Any thoughts on next steps?

Keep your records and wait until after the FCA publishes its report and instructions to firms and consumers on what happens next (assuming they find there is an issue as that is still not clear cut - rumour has it that the FCA is focusing on used car sales and not new car sales).

DJH3

i received the same response from Vauxhall but my agreement is within date, i.e. it started in 2010. They say it’s possible to make a complaint and I am wondering whether it is worth putting in a protected claim or is the fact that I have raised this with them enough?

DullGreyGuy

dunstonh said:

Despite the "yet" in the first paragraph, this reads as if it is the final response I will get from them. 

Its a holding letter.   The FCA have suspended complaints on DCA until September and it has been suggested it could be pushed back into the new year as firms are having problems finding historic data.   So, there is no hurry.

Any thoughts on next steps?

Keep your records and wait until after the FCA publishes its report and instructions to firms and consumers on what happens next (assuming they find there is an issue as that is still not clear cut - rumour has it that the FCA is focusing on used car sales and not new car sales).

Their finance agreement pre-dates the FCA's involvement and is outside the scope of their investigation. The FCA may well opine on older finance agreements but only time will tell on that. 

Nasqueron

Just wait, they have registered your interest, nothing will happen until after the review

[Deleted User]

I agree that pre April 2007 is highly unlikely to bear fruit for you unfortunately. The CCA elements for unfair relationship (one of the elements being considered in the review) didn’t come in until 4/2007-4/2008 and your sale predates this. Additionally it predates the main CONC rule from 2014 being considered. They have invited you to make a formal complaint if you wish too, if you send one and they acknowledge it you can then chill until September to see the outcome and they have you queued. Part of the guidance needed is how to deal with incomplete records tbf. PPI became ‘average redress’, this could go the same way, just really not pre 2007 imo sorry 🤷‍♂️

[Deleted User]

Forgot your last question OP.  The agreement won’t help as the commission was never stated or disclosed in your paperwork. It would help if they couldn’t find you, yet it sounds like they have found your info just not the linked commission info. This is not personal data so they would likely be stored separately with different rules around retention. Lots of this happing atm even for finance taken only a few years ago.

Geordiesandman

I had a car finance agreement with Santander that predates 2007 by over a year and they responded that it did have DCA and that my complaint is lodged.

it can happen even if things suggest otherwise.