Toyota Finance - silence so far

thebostonbox

dunstonh said:

I’m not sure now how to handle their denial? 

Wait until the FCA has completed its consultation and reported on it.    It is understood that lenders are being required to bring archived records back onto systems but that will take some time.   Now, that doesn't mean your data is will be in the archived recordsd as lenders don't disclose that but we will se in due course.  There is no hurry at this stage.

I also now have bank records showing DD payment to TFS for the dates in question, along with an email from the local dealer ( quoting my registration number at the time ) 

Those don't matter as they won't help identify the agreement.  

Appreciate the comments…
I have a letter headed Toyota Financial Services with my agreement no. and car registration no and the agreement start date. This letter outlines the settlement figure. Yes, I don’t have the original paperwork but the fact that this letter exists surely goes some way to provide ‘proof’ of a claim. 

Bank statements surely do help because they show the amount of monthly payment in the above referenced settlement letter?
This paragraph of their reply I found a bit perplexing, since the agreement did exist otherwise why quote it in the settlement letter?

4. You do not have any right to make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (the Ombudsman Service)

Because we do not have any record of any agreement, you cannot refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. 

However, if you are able to provide additional information that may help us identify the agreement/s you believe you have taken with Toyota Financial Services, we can review this further under a new complaint. 

Additional information that we can consider is as below: 

• DOB
• Previous addresses
• Previous names
• Previous email addresses
• Vehicle registration number/s
• Agreement number/s
• Financial agreement or other Toyota Financial Services documentation quoting the agreement number/s together with your information

mamabuddah

traceyr said:

I received the following reply from Toyota today, not too sure what it means though.

Your complaint about any commission paid to the dealer by us for your introduction

Thank you for your email. We understand you're complaining about the commission that you believe was paid to the dealer for introducing you to us. This is our acknowledgment of your complaint. We wanted to assure you that we've received your complaint and are dealing with it.

We can tell you that (a) we paid a commission to the dealer for your introduction and (b) this commission was not a discretionary commission (meaning the dealer couldn't influence the rate of interest where this would affect the amount of commission they received).

We normally have eight weeks to send you a final response letter, but the pause introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA) means the period starting on 11 January 2024 and ending on 4 December 2025 is not counted when calculating this eight-week period. This means we expect to be in touch with you after 4 December 2025. You can find out more information about the pause, and the reasons for it, by visiting the FCA's website https://www.fca.org.uk/carfinance.

If you have any questions, please contact us by emailing us at commissioncomplaints@toyota-fs.com.

I got the same email, but surely that means the dealer got commission for selling their  (Toyota) ”product” and if that’s the case does it not mean if there were other “products” available at different rates…possibly lower or more advantageous terms financially via another scheme…the dealer obviously pushed a product making them more money?

Morphaniel

So I purchased a new Toyota Prius in April 2010 and replaced it with a new Avensis in October 2012 - both with PCP and both dates fall within the claim span. The cars were bought from main dealers who are still trading as Toyota suppliers. The latter agreement was paid off in October 2015.

Having used the MSE form to make a claim in October 24, I received a holding reply from Toyota in July 25(!) and have today received a final reply telling me that they have no record of me, the car sales or the agreement and that therefore my claim fails unless I can provide them with additional information.

I was unable to provide the agreement number as I have long since destroyed that paperwork myself  - for similar reasons to Toyota - so I'm shrugging it off but it seems to me that the advice being given is not dealing with this situation properly. Too much advice is being blase that if your deal is long since over and you don't have the paperwork then you are likely to still receive compensation. This appears to be highly unlikely in my case and I imagine most of the mainstream car finance groups will have robust record retention policies similar to Toyotas...

Nasqueron

mamabuddah said:

traceyr said:

I received the following reply from Toyota today, not too sure what it means though.

Your complaint about any commission paid to the dealer by us for your introduction

Thank you for your email. We understand you're complaining about the commission that you believe was paid to the dealer for introducing you to us. This is our acknowledgment of your complaint. We wanted to assure you that we've received your complaint and are dealing with it.

We can tell you that (a) we paid a commission to the dealer for your introduction and (b) this commission was not a discretionary commission (meaning the dealer couldn't influence the rate of interest where this would affect the amount of commission they received).

We normally have eight weeks to send you a final response letter, but the pause introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA) means the period starting on 11 January 2024 and ending on 4 December 2025 is not counted when calculating this eight-week period. This means we expect to be in touch with you after 4 December 2025. You can find out more information about the pause, and the reasons for it, by visiting the FCA's website https://www.fca.org.uk/carfinance.

If you have any questions, please contact us by emailing us at commissioncomplaints@toyota-fs.com.

I got the same email, but surely that means the dealer got commission for selling their  (Toyota) ”product” and if that’s the case does it not mean if there were other “products” available at different rates…possibly lower or more advantageous terms financially via another scheme…the dealer obviously pushed a product making them more money?

Surely not - you were free to reject their offer and shop around for a loan or finance elsewhere. The seller is allowed to offer a deal and is under no obligation to offer to arrange with other finance providers (they might not even have any such agreements) and they'd have to pay fees to the firm vs in house. Just as Waitrose doesn't have to tell you that you could get beans cheaper at Aldi

Nasqueron

thebostonbox said:

dunstonh said:

I’m not sure now how to handle their denial? 

Wait until the FCA has completed its consultation and reported on it.    It is understood that lenders are being required to bring archived records back onto systems but that will take some time.   Now, that doesn't mean your data is will be in the archived recordsd as lenders don't disclose that but we will se in due course.  There is no hurry at this stage.

I also now have bank records showing DD payment to TFS for the dates in question, along with an email from the local dealer ( quoting my registration number at the time ) 

Those don't matter as they won't help identify the agreement.  

Appreciate the comments…
I have a letter headed Toyota Financial Services with my agreement no. and car registration no and the agreement start date. This letter outlines the settlement figure. Yes, I don’t have the original paperwork but the fact that this letter exists surely goes some way to provide ‘proof’ of a claim. 

Bank statements surely do help because they show the amount of monthly payment in the above referenced settlement letter?
This paragraph of their reply I found a bit perplexing, since the agreement did exist otherwise why quote it in the settlement letter?

4. You do not have any right to make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (the Ombudsman Service)

Because we do not have any record of any agreement, you cannot refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. 

However, if you are able to provide additional information that may help us identify the agreement/s you believe you have taken with Toyota Financial Services, we can review this further under a new complaint. 

Additional information that we can consider is as below: 

• DOB
• Previous addresses
• Previous names
• Previous email addresses
• Vehicle registration number/s
• Agreement number/s
• Financial agreement or other Toyota Financial Services documentation quoting the agreement number/s together with your information

You need to remember that the "claim" is for mis-selling e.g. with DCA, inflated interest rates. If they have no records then there is very little they can do as they have no idea whether your finance was inflated or not. The FCA might make them look at all deals in that era and if say every one they have records for had DCA then they should assume you had it. Equally if none of them did and there are no other records to prove otherwise, there is no claim.

thebostonbox

Morphaniel said:

So I purchased a new Toyota Prius in April 2010 and replaced it with a new Avensis in October 2012 - both with PCP and both dates fall within the claim span. The cars were bought from main dealers who are still trading as Toyota suppliers. The latter agreement was paid off in October 2015.

Having used the MSE form to make a claim in October 24, I received a holding reply from Toyota in July 25(!) and have today received a final reply telling me that they have no record of me, the car sales or the agreement and that therefore my claim fails unless I can provide them with additional information.

I was unable to provide the agreement number as I have long since destroyed that paperwork myself  - for similar reasons to Toyota - so I'm shrugging it off but it seems to me that the advice being given is not dealing with this situation properly. Too much advice is being blase that if your deal is long since over and you don't have the paperwork then you are likely to still receive compensation. This appears to be highly unlikely in my case and I imagine most of the mainstream car finance groups will have robust record retention policies similar to Toyotas...

It seems as if I had the same/similar email, although in my case I have an agreement number. Although I don’t have the original paperwork, I do have a ‘headed’ settlement letter from TFS with enough information, or so I thought, to make a claim.
As @Nasqueron says ( above ) there is wriggle room for TFS  : …no records then there is very little they can do as they have no idea whether your finance was inflated or not…

Let’s all hope that the FCA ‘grow some’ and stand up for the consumer?

dunstonh

Let’s all hope that the FCA ‘grow some’ and stand up for the consumer?

They seem to be going further than the court cases .    But don't worry, the consumer will end up paying more in the future because of this.

Nasqueron

thebostonbox said:

Morphaniel said:

So I purchased a new Toyota Prius in April 2010 and replaced it with a new Avensis in October 2012 - both with PCP and both dates fall within the claim span. The cars were bought from main dealers who are still trading as Toyota suppliers. The latter agreement was paid off in October 2015.

Having used the MSE form to make a claim in October 24, I received a holding reply from Toyota in July 25(!) and have today received a final reply telling me that they have no record of me, the car sales or the agreement and that therefore my claim fails unless I can provide them with additional information.

I was unable to provide the agreement number as I have long since destroyed that paperwork myself  - for similar reasons to Toyota - so I'm shrugging it off but it seems to me that the advice being given is not dealing with this situation properly. Too much advice is being blase that if your deal is long since over and you don't have the paperwork then you are likely to still receive compensation. This appears to be highly unlikely in my case and I imagine most of the mainstream car finance groups will have robust record retention policies similar to Toyotas...

It seems as if I had the same/similar email, although in my case I have an agreement number. Although I don’t have the original paperwork, I do have a ‘headed’ settlement letter from TFS with enough information, or so I thought, to make a claim.
As @Nasqueron says ( above ) there is wriggle room for TFS  : …no records then there is very little they can do as they have no idea whether your finance was inflated or not…

Let’s all hope that the FCA ‘grow some’ and stand up for the consumer?

Stand up how though? Force firms to repay something you have no evidence you paid?

thebostonbox

Nasqueron said:

thebostonbox said:

Morphaniel said:

So I purchased a new Toyota Prius in April 2010 and replaced it with a new Avensis in October 2012 - both with PCP and both dates fall within the claim span. The cars were bought from main dealers who are still trading as Toyota suppliers. The latter agreement was paid off in October 2015.

Having used the MSE form to make a claim in October 24, I received a holding reply from Toyota in July 25(!) and have today received a final reply telling me that they have no record of me, the car sales or the agreement and that therefore my claim fails unless I can provide them with additional information.

I was unable to provide the agreement number as I have long since destroyed that paperwork myself  - for similar reasons to Toyota - so I'm shrugging it off but it seems to me that the advice being given is not dealing with this situation properly. Too much advice is being blase that if your deal is long since over and you don't have the paperwork then you are likely to still receive compensation. This appears to be highly unlikely in my case and I imagine most of the mainstream car finance groups will have robust record retention policies similar to Toyotas...

It seems as if I had the same/similar email, although in my case I have an agreement number. Although I don’t have the original paperwork, I do have a ‘headed’ settlement letter from TFS with enough information, or so I thought, to make a claim.
As @Nasqueron says ( above ) there is wriggle room for TFS  : …no records then there is very little they can do as they have no idea whether your finance was inflated or not…

Let’s all hope that the FCA ‘grow some’ and stand up for the consumer?

Stand up how though? Force firms to repay something you have no evidence you paid?

MSE guidance:

“…If you've given it all the info you can, and it can't locate you, it's trickier. The FCA says firms should make serious endeavours to find policies – certainly if you've documentary evidence of a policy ( which I do ) and it doesn't, it'll likely be pushed to settle later (if that's what's ordered) based on 'what happened with others in similar circumstances'.

If not, it depends how long ago it was you took out the finance. If your car finance was active within the last six years, it should have details. If it was longer ago, it could become harder, but it should try. If not, it's another 'wait until the FCA reports' when harder rules on disclosure are likely to come out (we'll update then).

If you do get a request for further info or ID, it's always a good idea to make sure it's definitely come from the provider you complained to – check the email address and that they've correctly noted any details you supplied. And even if you don't have the exact type of ID or info they're asking for, go back to them with what you can supply – as they should work with you to validate your complaint…”
 

Having got a request from TFS for more info as in paragraph 3 above, I’ll be writing to them again.

 

Nasqueron

thebostonbox said:

Nasqueron said:

thebostonbox said:

Morphaniel said:

So I purchased a new Toyota Prius in April 2010 and replaced it with a new Avensis in October 2012 - both with PCP and both dates fall within the claim span. The cars were bought from main dealers who are still trading as Toyota suppliers. The latter agreement was paid off in October 2015.

Having used the MSE form to make a claim in October 24, I received a holding reply from Toyota in July 25(!) and have today received a final reply telling me that they have no record of me, the car sales or the agreement and that therefore my claim fails unless I can provide them with additional information.

I was unable to provide the agreement number as I have long since destroyed that paperwork myself  - for similar reasons to Toyota - so I'm shrugging it off but it seems to me that the advice being given is not dealing with this situation properly. Too much advice is being blase that if your deal is long since over and you don't have the paperwork then you are likely to still receive compensation. This appears to be highly unlikely in my case and I imagine most of the mainstream car finance groups will have robust record retention policies similar to Toyotas...

It seems as if I had the same/similar email, although in my case I have an agreement number. Although I don’t have the original paperwork, I do have a ‘headed’ settlement letter from TFS with enough information, or so I thought, to make a claim.
As @Nasqueron says ( above ) there is wriggle room for TFS  : …no records then there is very little they can do as they have no idea whether your finance was inflated or not…

Let’s all hope that the FCA ‘grow some’ and stand up for the consumer?

Stand up how though? Force firms to repay something you have no evidence you paid?

MSE guidance:

“…If you've given it all the info you can, and it can't locate you, it's trickier. The FCA says firms should make serious endeavours to find policies – certainly if you've documentary evidence of a policy ( which I do ) and it doesn't, it'll likely be pushed to settle later (if that's what's ordered) based on 'what happened with others in similar circumstances'.

If not, it depends how long ago it was you took out the finance. If your car finance was active within the last six years, it should have details. If it was longer ago, it could become harder, but it should try. If not, it's another 'wait until the FCA reports' when harder rules on disclosure are likely to come out (we'll update then).

If you do get a request for further info or ID, it's always a good idea to make sure it's definitely come from the provider you complained to – check the email address and that they've correctly noted any details you supplied. And even if you don't have the exact type of ID or info they're asking for, go back to them with what you can supply – as they should work with you to validate your complaint…”
 

Having got a request from TFS for more info as in paragraph 3 above, I’ll be writing to them again.

 

Your post above says:

Although I don’t have the original paperwork, I do have a ‘headed’ settlement letter from TFS with enough information, or so I thought, to make a claim.

Evidently this is not enough for them to find the agreement, having a settlement letter doesn't mean they can find data that has been deleted and doesn't prove you were affected

MSE is a useful site but it's not the law nor do they have the power of the FCA, they write simplistic, customer friendly articles which imply a lot, but don't always translate to reality