How Car Finance Claim Calculator Makes Money

1. Display advertising

We do not show adverts yet, so the site earns nothing today. The operator plans to fund it with display adverts in future. Before any advertising is added, we will update this page, our cookie policy and our privacy policy, and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent before any advertising cookies are set.

When adverts are added, these rules will apply:

• Adverts will be labelled. Every advert will be marked as an advert and kept separate from our guides and the calculator.
• An advert is not a recommendation. If an advert is for a claims firm or law firm, seeing it here does not mean we endorse it. If you are thinking of using a claims firm, check it on the FCA's firm checker or the SRA's Solicitors Register first.
• Advertisers will not see your calculator figures. The calculation runs in your browser. What you enter is not sent to us or anyone else, and it does not appear in page addresses or page titles.
• Advertisers will have no say in our content. No advertiser will review, approve or pay for our guides or the calculator, or be able to change what they say.

If you ever see an advert on the site that you think is misleading, for example one that exaggerates how much you could get or hides that you can claim for free, please tell us at contact@carfinanceclaimcalculator.uk. You can also complain to the Advertising Standards Authority.

2. What we do not earn from

• Referral fees. We do not refer anyone to a claims firm or law firm, and no firm pays us for introductions.
• Your data. We do not sell, rent or pass on your personal data to claims firms, lenders, data brokers or marketing lists.
• Paid content. Nobody pays to be mentioned, ranked or recommended in our guides.
• You. The site is free. We never charge you, and we never ask for bank details.

3. The free route, step by step

1. 1
   Find your lender. The FCA's list of lenders gives contact details and a template complaint letter or email.
2. 2
   Complain to the lender. It costs nothing.
3. 3
   If you disagree with the lender's answer, take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The Ombudsman's service is free for consumers. For complaints that fall within the FCA scheme, it can look at your case once your lender has sent you a redress decision, or once the deadline for that decision has passed, and you generally have six months from the lender's decision to refer it.

Using the calculator first is optional. It gives you a rough idea of the size of a possible claim before you decide what to do.

4. If you are thinking of using a claims firm

You do not need one, but if you choose to, it helps to know what they charge. Claims firms usually take a share of any compensation, and the FCA says this can be up to 36% including VAT.

Claims management companies must keep to a fee cap set by the FCA. The cap below excludes VAT.

Source: FCA Handbook, CMCOB 5.2.

An example. The FCA's average estimated redress is £829 per agreement. A fee at the top rate of 30%, plus VAT at 20%, would be £298.44, leaving you £530.56. Complaining yourself, you would keep the full £829.

We have not found an equivalent statutory cap on what solicitors can charge for these claims. Ask any law firm for its fees in writing before you sign.

If you sign with a firm and change your mind, claims management companies must let you cancel within 14 days with a full refund. After that, any exit fee must be reasonable and reflect the work done. Law firms typically offer a 14-day cooling-off period, and can only charge reasonable fees for work they can show they have done.

5. Our regulatory status

We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. We do not handle, refer or advise on claims, and we do not collect or pass on anyone's claim details. We are not connected with, or endorsed by, the FCA, the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Solicitors Regulation Authority or any government body.

6. If this changes

We may in future offer an optional referral to a firm that can handle claims. That would only start after the operator of this site holds its own permission from the Financial Conduct Authority for claims management activity. We would not do it before then, and we would not do it through another firm's permission.

Before any referral starts, we will update this page to say:

• the name of the firm and its FCA or SRA registration number;
• how much the firm pays us, and on what basis;
• that we receive payments from the firm to whom we pass customers' details;
• what the firm charges you;
• our FCA firm reference number, so you can check our permission on the FCA Register.

We will also update our privacy policy and terms before any claim form goes live. The free route above will stay first on every page, and the calculator will give the same result whether or not anyone uses a referral.

7. If something goes wrong

If you are unhappy with us, see our complaints page. It also explains where to complain about a lender, a claims management company or a law firm.

8. Changes to this page

We update this page before any change to how the site earns money. The date at the top shows the latest version.

By using Car Finance Claim Calculator you acknowledge that you have read how the site is funded.