DIY or join a group action? Your options for making a car finance claim

Taking the DIY route: What to know about making a claim yourself

For some, making a claim yourself can be a good option, but it is important to understand what this entails. According to the FCA’s proposed redress scheme, lenders will be required to contact affected consumers within six months of the scheme opening.

However, if you’ve already submitted a complaint, you may be among the first to receive compensation. You can make a complaint yourself, and here’s what that involves:

• Identifying your lender and the relevant finance agreement(s) - especially if you’ve had multiple vehicles or agreements over the years
• Submitting a formal complaint to the lender - this is what places you in the first batch of cases to be reviewed under the proposed redress scheme
• Keeping up with the FCA’s consultation, scheme updates, and legal developments - so you understand what’s happening and what to expect
• Monitoring your complaint and any response from the lender - including deadlines, outcomes, and next steps

Finding your finance agreements

This can be present a challenge early doors, since the FCA is currently looking at any agreements made since 2007. This raises two points. Firstly, many people will have had multiple vehicles over this period, which means they could very well have had multiple financial agreements –lenders of which need to be located.

Secondly, the chances are that most people will no longer have the documentation for their earliest agreements to hand, which means which means many consumers might need to dig deep — especially for older agreements — checking bank statements and rummaging through old documents to identify who their lenders were over the years.

Making a complaint to your finance lender

While the FCA’s redress scheme is designed to provide compensation to anyone affected by mis-sold car finance, it’s expected that lenders will be responsible for contacting eligible customers based on the data they hold. But this raises a couple of questions. If you’ve moved house, changed your phone number or email address, or had multiple agreements over the years, it may be difficult for lenders to trace you. It’s not yet clear how far lenders will be required to go to track down affected customers.

For those wanting to raise a complaint to ensure their agreement is flagged early, once you’ve found your lender, the next step is to raise a complaint with your finance provider. You’ll need to submit an enquiry asking them to formally log a complaint if your agreement included a commission arrangement. This should include your contact details and any agreement information you’ve been able to gather.

Keeping up with the FCA’s consultation

The landscape of mis-sold car finance claims has changed dramatically over the past few years, and the dust hasn’t settled yet. The FCA is currently running a consultation on the scope of their redress scheme, what it looks like, and how it should work.

The result of this consultation could have implications on any complaint you’ve raised with your past lender, so it’s important to keep up to date with the latest developments to ensure you’re aware of what’s happening and what you can expect.

Monitoring your complaint and lender response

The work doesn’t stop once you’ve submitted your complaint to the lender(s). You’ll need to make sure that you monitor any response from them, including the details of any investigation they do into your agreements, the outcome, and any next steps.

You should make sure that where needed, you action any requirements on your side in a timely manner to ensure there are no delays or issues when it comes time to receive any compensation you are due.

The result

Making a DIY claim can be overwhelming. It often means digging through years of paperwork to identify the right lender and finance agreement — especially if you’ve had multiple vehicles. You’ll need to submit a formal complaint, track responses, and stay on top of legal updates and FCA developments. Each step comes with its own hurdles, and without guidance, it’s easy to feel lost or discouraged.

No one should miss out on compensation simply because they couldn’t locate their lender or keep up with developments. Fortunately, there’s another way.

Joining a group action car finance claim with Slater & Gordon

Making a car finance claim through a group action with a specialist law firm like Slater & Gordon means you don’t have to take on the process alone. We handle the legal and administrative steps — from identifying the right documents to submitting your complaint and monitoring its progress — so you don’t have to.

With expert help, the process becomes clearer, more manageable, and professionally overseen. We also stay on top of the FCA’s redress scheme and legal developments, so you can feel confident your claim is progressing in line with the latest guidance — without needing to track every update yourself.

Finding old finance agreements

As finance providers and brokers are only required to store agreements for six years – despite the FCA’s investigations going back to 2007, a full eighteen years ago – getting your hands on old agreements can be tough.

At Slater and Gordon, we have a comprehensive research and data analysis tool that identifies the vehicle finance agreements you have had– meaning you can claim for all the vehicles you’re entitled to, even If they are older.

On-hand leading legal expertise

From identifying eligible agreements to handling dispute resolution with lenders, working with a firm like Slater and Gordon means that any delays are handled swiftly and properly, with experienced and award-winning legal expertise fighting your corner and protecting your rights from day one.

Communicating with your old lenders

Depending upon how many vehicle finance agreements you’ve taken out, you could end up speaking to several lenders at the same time about different agreements – or even the same one about multiple vehicles.

Joining our group action means that we do all the hard work for you. We’ll submit a letter of complaint to your lenders, informing them of your intent to claim compensation, and handle any communication thereafter on your behalf. We’ll keep you informed of our progress and let you know if anything changes – so you can sit back, put your feet up, and rest easy knowing your claim is in good hands.

Securing a No Win No Fee claim

You don’t need a lawyer to make a car finance claim — but for those who choose to be represented, we offer No Win No Fee agreements for all our car finance cases.

If your claim isn’t successful or turns out not to be valid, you won’t be charged a penny for our time or legal work. This helps make legal support more accessible to those who want it, without upfront costs for our assistance.

Start your car finance claim today

Instead of needing to find your old finance agreements on your own, our team of car finance claim experts have created a tool to help you find your previous finance agreements. All you need to do is enter your details and we can find the agreements.

For expert advice and legal guidance, look no further than our team of leading experts. Contact us today on 0330 041 5869 or contact us online to arrange a callback.