What happened? The FCA published its final motor finance redress scheme on 30 March. It covers 12.1 million agreements from 2007 to 2024. It is free to use. Average payouts are estimated at £829. The scheme is, by the standards of British financial redress, genuinely accessible.

If you have any memory of the PPI scandal, the past few weeks will have felt disconcertingly familiar. A regulatory compensation scheme was announced. And almost before the ink is dry, a well-organised chorus warning the public that the official process cannot be trusted and that a no-win, no-fee lawyer is, perhaps, their wisest friend.

Enter Consumer Voice. The organisation, which presents itself as an independent champion of everyday people, argues that the FCA scheme risks leaving behind the very consumers it was designed to help. Vulnerable people distrust lenders. They find official processes daunting. They need support. Professional support, ideally.

A CMC or law firm normally takes between 18% and 36% of any compensation recovered. On an average payout of £829, that is up to £299 extracted from someone already overcharged on their car loan. The FCA scheme delivers 100% directly. The regulator’s own guidance warns that consumers using a CMC “could lose over 30% of any money they get.” It has required 225 motor finance promotions from claims companies to be amended or withdrawn in the past year alone. The SRA has 89 live investigations into 73 law firms over related rule breaches.

However, this context does not feature prominently in Consumer Voice’s coverage. What does feature is research showing that two-thirds of consumers would have acted differently had they known about dealer commissions — presented as evidence of harm, but also an extremely useful number for any firm whose business model depends on maintaining a large pool of prospective claimants.

“Cui bono” is the first question any person should wonder before engaging with any group. The PPI scandal generated £38 billion in compensation — and an industry. CMCs extracted fees that the FCA eventually had to cap through primary legislation. The motor finance scheme was designed explicitly to avoid repeating that experience. What is happening now is the claims industry working steadily to recreate the conditions that made PPI so lucrative.

Our recommendation: visit the FCA’s Website, check out their offer and decide for yourself, whom you trust most.