Mercedes was founded in Germany in 1926 and has been associated with high-performing, luxury automotives for almost a century. The Mercedes headquarters are based in Stuttgart, and notably in 2018, Mercedes-Benz was the largest brand of premium vehicles worldwide. Back in 2018, Mercedes-Benz delivered a whopping 2.31 million customers across the globe. According to the brand’s official media site, Mercedes-Benz has had some notable achievements, milestones, and statistics so far this year, including great success at the What car? awards including:
Mercedes PCP Claims
Did you have a Mercedes car finance agreement before January 28th 2021? If so, you may be able to claim compensation in light of a new FCA announcement concerning hidden commissions.
Claim NowA background on Mercedes
- Mercedes-AMG A 45 S 4MATIC+ is awarded Hot Hatch of The Year
- Mercedes-Benz E 300 e is named Best Hybrid in the Executive Car category, while the
Mercedes-Benz E 300 e Estate is named Best for Comfort in the Estate Car category - Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 e is awarded Best for All-Electric Range in the Plug-In Hybrid category
What are Mercedes PCP claims?
In January this year, big news from The Financial Conduct Authority made headlines when the independent body announced they will be conducting an investigation into customer PCP and HP agreements to determine whether brokers were earning hidden commission payments. The popularity of both PCP and HP agreements means this investigation has a huge scope and may potentially implicate millions of customers who bought their cars on one of these forms of finance. The FCA will decide whether or not discretionary commissions were being pocketed by brokers as a direct result of being financially incentivised to offer customers higher interest rates in their agreements.
The FCA has highlighted how it had been receiving customer complaints concerning motor finance firms potentially unfairly rejecting their otherwise legitimate mis-selling claims. Complaints from car finance customers are based around the belief that contracts were made more costly due to the dealership/broker earning a significant secret commission from the policy. Since January 2021, the FCA has prohibited secret commissions of this very nature, however, despite this, they also stated that they have been contacted by over 10,000 car finance clients who believe they may have been overcharged in this manner.
Who has a Mercedes PCP claim?
If you have purchased a Mercedes in the past on finance and are wondering whether or not you may have a claim against them in the not-too-distant future then keep reading. In keeping with the deadline that banned hidden commissions, complaints need to be made only for car finance agreements that were sold before the 28th of January 2021. In addition to preceding the deadline, the car sale must have been financed by a personal contract purchase or a hire purchase offering. Unlike a PCP agreement, a hire purchase agreement means the customer pays the value of the car in specific monthly installments.
You will not be able to make a complaint If you bought a car on finance after the deadline or without PCP or Hire Purchase agreement. If you did purchase your car with the aid of car finance but it was on or after the 28th of January 2021 deadline, you will not be eligible for compensation. Secondly, a personal contract hire agreement complaint in which the car was leased will not be included. If you do not fit the hidden commission criteria, you may still have a car finance unaffordablity claims if you can provided evidence that necessary background checks were not carried out by the lender or dealership who offered you the loan.
How to claim Mercedes PCP compensation
For the next eight months firms have been asked to stop responding to complaints by the FCA. The exact period began after 17th November 2023 and will end on the 25th September 2024 to allow the whilst FCA to conduct their investiagtion. Whilst the investigation is underway, it is a good idea to lodge any complaints to the firm as soon as you can as there is often a limitation period to be observed. With regards to misselliing, you are generally required to make your complaint to your provider within six years of the issue, or within three years of you becoming aware of the problem.
We can help you get kickstart your complaint in order to see if you may be eligible for a payout, click here to get going.
Mercedes Secret Hidden Commisions
It has been unveiled that lenders tend to conceal the existence of commission offered to their brokers. A mystery shopping exercise carried out back in 2018 reviewed the processes followed by 122 retailers in their provision of Motor Finance. Of those 122 retailers, only 11 chose to disclose to the customer that commission may be received by the broker for arranging the finance. This violates CONC requirements as it creates an unfair relationship between customer and lender.
Mercedes Difference In Commisions
It has been found that lenders often incentivise a broker to charge a higher interest by compensating them with a commission proportional to the interest the sell. The estimated cost of this behaviour for the customers is £300m annually. An FCA consultation entitled : ‘Motor Finance discretionary commission models and consumer credit commission disclosure,’ found that Difference in Charge models are the most damaging to the customer which unnervingly consist of 95% of the 1000 agreements the FCA looked into.
Mercedes Inadequately Explained Contracts
The mystery shopper exercise mentioned earlier which was carried out by the FCA also wanted to investigate whether or not lenders fully disclosed all the necessary information regarding the Motor Finance agreements to be made. The shoppers found that the concept of ownership of a car under PCP was frequently brushed over or poorly explained. 69% of the mystery shoppers were not made aware by the broker that they would not fully own the vehicle until they had payed the final ‘balloon payment.’
How much is a Mercedes PCP claim worth?
Not even the FCA currently knows the amount of financial compensation that may be available to car finance customers in the future. In fact, The FCA has simply stated that it will “identify how best to make sure people who are owed compensation receive an appropriate settlement in an orderly, consistent and efficient way”.
Examples Of PCP Misselling
A list of real-life scenarios to demonstrate how you may have
been mis-sold a car on finance:
It takes just a few moments
If you'd like to get your compensation claim in before the FCA investigation is concluded to have it lodged in advance you can do so now