A well-known motoring personality has warned that drivers who leased their vehicle before the beginning of 2021 could be owed money in compensation.
Abigayle Andre, known to fans as She Talks Cars, regularly posts videos to her TikTok page showing cool features that are hidden in popular cars and sharing how drivers are able to save money on their motoring bills.
In a recent video, Abigayle highlighted that the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) has launched an investigation into unfair compensation on some of the most popular methods of vehicle finance.
She explained: “If you bought a car, van or motorbike on car finance before January 28, 2021, you could be due thousands back, but you’ve got to act quickly if you want to get compensation.
“The FCA has launched a huge investigation into unfair commission on car finance deals, that’s PCP [Personal Contract Purchase] and HP [Hire Purchase].”
The investigation covers finance deals made before January 28 2021 when credit brokers were able to increase the interest rate for vehicle financing to make higher profits.
Whilst the practice is now banned, a number of complaints analysed by the Financial Ombudsman Service has caused the organisation to analyse finance commission arrangements that were made by a number of firms.
According to Abigayle, the FCA believe that 95 percent of car finance deals featured commission, with 40 percent having a hidden additional fee, which is where drivers could be due compensation.
With so many drivers potentially affected by hidden commissions when they financed their vehicle, Abigayle noted that the investigation could be bigger than the Payment Protection Insurance scandal that first unfolded in 2004.
She continued: “Because of the amount of complaints that the FCA have received about this, they’ve re-opened the investigation and this is set to be bigger than PPI [Payment Protection Insurance] has ever been.
“If your car has been paid off it doesn’t matter, you can still claim. If you got an interest-free deal though, for obvious reasons, you can’t claim.”
Abigayle advised drivers who financed a vehicle before the start of 2021 to make a free claim, which they can do on the Money Saving Expert website.
She added: “So, how do you get your money back? Well, Martin Lewis has launched a new tool which means that you can check if you’re eligible, for free, and start the complaints process for free too.
“The tool is on the Money Saving Expert website and is completely free. Don’t be expecting a response anytime soon as the investigation is going on until near the end of September this year [2024].”
