Newspaper headlines car finance complaints
06 December 2021
The Times has highlighted some motorists’ car finance complaints in a lengthy feature piece headlined ‘Dodgy motors and hidden fees: claims pile up against car finance firms’. The newspaper points out car finance is the second most popular type of household borrowing, after credit cards, and is held by 6.8 million people.
It states car finance is the sixth most complained about financial product, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service figures; 44% of assessed complaints are upheld, compared to an average of 38% across all financial products.
The FOS received 1,491 complaints between July and September this year.
Most complaints are about the state of financed cars themselves, concedes the piece. “Drivers usually complain to the dealership first, then the car finance company if their grievance is not dealt with.”
An industry source told the newspaper that “dealerships have improved over the last five years and have become more professional. Some still don’t do the industry justice, but it is a whole lot better. The difficult for car finance companies is that we can’t be there in every dealership for every sale.”
The FLA said the market is well regulated and points out the arrears rate is 1.3%. A rise in complaints reflects more people using motor finance and is “a tiny percentage” of people who have a finance agreement, said director Adrian Dally.
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