How to Check If You're Eligible for a PCP Refund

With an estimated 14.2 million affected motor finance agreements and £8.2 billion in potential compensation, you might assume that eligibility checking is complex. In most cases, it is surprisingly straightforward. MotorRedress (www.motorredress.co.uk) walks you through the complete eligibility checklist — and explains what to do if you are uncertain about any of the criteria.

---

The Core Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for a PCP or HP refund under the FCA's motor finance DCA redress scheme, you generally need to satisfy five criteria:

1. Your agreement was signed between 6 April 2007 and 27 January 2021
2. Your finance was arranged through a car dealership (not directly with a bank)
3. The agreement was PCP or HP (not leasing/PCH)
4. You were a retail consumer (not a business borrower)
5. A discretionary commission arrangement existed between the lender and the dealer

Criteria 1–4 are straightforward to check. Criterion 5 requires a little more investigation — but in practice, the vast majority of finance arranged through dealerships during this period used DCA structures.

---

Criterion 1: Agreement Date

The six-year FOS time limit, running from 6 April 2007 (the date FSMA consumer credit provisions took full effect for motor finance), creates the lower boundary. The upper boundary is 27 January 2021, when the FCA's ban on DCAs came into force.

How to check: Your original finance agreement will show the agreement date. If you do not have it, look for:

• Bank statements showing the first direct debit payment to the finance company
• Welcome letters or account statements from the lender
• Your email inbox (many lenders sent email confirmations)
• The V5C logbook for the car, which shows when it was first registered to you

If you know the approximate date and lender but have no documentation, request a Subject Access Request (SAR) from the lender. Under UK GDPR, they must provide all records within 30 days.

---

Criterion 2: Finance Arranged Through a Dealership

The DCA redress scheme applies specifically to credit brokering by car dealers. The conflict of interest at the heart of the scheme — a dealer with discretionary control over your interest rate and a financial incentive to set it high — only arises when the dealer is acting as an intermediary between you and the lender.

You were financed through a dealership if:

• You walked into a car showroom and the finance was arranged by the salesperson or finance manager there
• You purchased from a car supermarket (Cargiant, CarShop, etc.) that offered in-house finance
• You bought online from a dealer who directed you to their preferred lender
• You bought from a franchise dealer (Ford, BMW, Toyota, etc.) and the finance was arranged at the dealership

You were NOT financed through a dealership if:

• You took a personal loan from your bank and used it to buy the car for cash
• You used a credit card to pay for the vehicle
• You arranged a bank overdraft or fixed-rate loan directly with a lender (no dealer involvement)

In cases of uncertainty — for example, if you used a broker comparison website — the key question is whether a car dealership received a commission from the lender. A SAR to the lender will reveal this.

---

Criterion 3: PCP or HP Agreement

As discussed in our separate article on PCP vs HP claims, both product types are covered. Excluded products include:

• Personal Contract Hire (PCH) / leasing — you had no option to purchase the vehicle
• Finance leases — similar to PCH, no purchase option
• Pure personal loans — if you took an unsecured personal loan, the car purchase and the credit arrangement are legally separate

If your agreement was labelled "Contract Hire" or "Operating Lease", it is outside the scheme. If it was labelled "Personal Contract Purchase", "Hire Purchase", "Conditional Sale", or similar, it is within scope.

---

Criterion 4: Retail Consumer

The FCA's consumer protection framework applies to individuals acting outside the course of their trade, business, or profession. Business finance is excluded.

You are a retail consumer if:

• The finance agreement was in your personal name
• The vehicle was primarily for personal use
• You did not claim VAT on the finance payments

You may be excluded if:

• The agreement was in a company name
• The vehicle was on the company's balance sheet
• You claimed the vehicle as a business expense and reclaimed the finance interest against business income

If you used the vehicle partly for business and partly personally — for example, as an employee using their own car for work — you are likely still a retail consumer for these purposes, because the agreement was in your personal name.

---

Criterion 5: Was a DCA in Place?

This is the only criterion that requires external verification, because you would not have been told at the time whether the lender-dealer relationship used a DCA structure.

The good news: DCAs were the dominant commission model for the major motor finance lenders throughout the 2007–2021 period. The following lenders are confirmed or strongly indicated to have used DCAs:

• Black Horse (Lloyds Banking Group)
• Santander Consumer Finance
• Close Brothers Motor Finance
• MotoNovo Finance (FirstRand)
• Aldermore (FirstRand)
• BMW Financial Services (GB)
• Volkswagen Financial Services (UK)
• Mercedes-Benz Financial Services
• Toyota Financial Services
• Honda Finance Europe
• Barclays Partner Finance
• Creation Consumer Finance
• Secure Trust Bank (V12 Retail Finance)

If your finance was with any of the above lenders, a DCA almost certainly applied. For smaller or less well-known lenders, a SAR will reveal the commission structure.

How to verify via SAR:
Request from the lender: "All records of any commission arrangement between yourselves and the dealership that arranged my agreement, including details of whether the commission was fixed or discretionary."

---

What If You've Lost All Your Documents?

Many people financed their cars 10–15 years ago and have no paperwork. This is not a barrier to claiming. Here is how to reconstruct your eligibility:

Step 1: Bank Statements

Your bank statements will show direct debit payments to car finance companies. The reference will often include the lender's name and your account number.

Step 2: The DVLA

The DVLA holds records of all vehicles registered to your name. A V888 application (available for £5 from GOV.UK) will tell you the make, model, and date of registration for all vehicles you have held.

Step 3: Credit Reference Agencies

Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion hold records of all credit agreements associated with your name and address. A statutory credit report (available free under UK GDPR) will show the lender and opening date of all finance agreements from the past six years. For agreements older than six years, the lender can still be identified from bank statements.

Step 4: SAR to the Lender

Once you have identified the lender and approximate agreement date, submit a SAR to obtain the full documentation.

---

Eligibility Checklist: Quick Reference

Question	Answer Needed
Was the agreement dated 6 Apr 2007–27 Jan 2021?	Yes
Was it arranged through a car dealership?	Yes
Was it PCP, HP, or Conditional Sale?	Yes
Was it in your personal name?	Yes
Was the lender one of the major motor finance providers?	Yes (or verify via SAR)

If you answered "Yes" to all five questions, you are very likely eligible. If you are unsure about any answer, a free eligibility assessment can clarify your position.

---

What Happens After the Eligibility Check?

Once eligibility is confirmed, the process is:

1. Register a complaint with the lender — by phone, post, or email
2. Provide identification — so the lender can locate your account
3. Await scheme opening — lenders are currently under a complaint handling pause until at least December 2025
4. Receive lender's assessment — once the scheme opens
5. Accept or challenge — if you disagree with the lender's calculation, escalate to FOS or seek specialist advice
6. Receive compensation — typically by bank transfer

---

Conclusion

Checking your PCP or HP eligibility takes less time than you might think, and the potential return justifies the effort. The eligibility criteria are designed to be straightforward, and in the vast majority of cases, anyone who financed a car through a dealership between 2007 and 2021 will qualify.

Start your free eligibility check today at MotorRedress.

---

This article is for educational purposes only. Compensation amounts vary. Eligibility criteria apply.

Originally published on MotorRedress