The Mercedes-Benz E-Class was commonly sold on
Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) and
Hire Purchase (HP) finance agreements during the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) investigation period, which ran from 6 April 2007 to 1 November 2024. The FCA found that many dealerships offering these financing options may have engaged in mis-selling practices involving
discretionary commission arrangements.
How the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Was Typically Financed
Mercedes-Benz E-Class vehicles were often financed through Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) agreements, with typical finance amounts ranging from £15,000 to £30,000. The standard term for these PCP agreements was 36 to 48 months, and they typically involved a final balloon payment, which is the remaining value of the car at the end of the agreement.
Common lenders providing finance for Mercedes-Benz E-Class vehicles during this period included
Black Horse, Barclays Partner Finance,
Close Brothers Motor Finance,
MotoNovo Finance, and
Santander Consumer Finance. These lenders were known to offer various financing options to cater to different customer needs, but the FCA investigation revealed that some of these agreements may have been mis-sold.
The FCA Motor Finance Investigation
The FCA's motor finance investigation uncovered widespread issues with discretionary commission arrangements within the automotive industry. These arrangements allowed dealerships to receive additional payments from lenders if a customer was successfully upsold more expensive finance options, such as PCP with higher interest rates or larger balloon payments. This practice led to an estimated 12.1 million eligible agreements (FCA, March 2026) being affected (FCA estimate), involving a total of £7.5 billion (FCA, March 2026) in mis-sold finance (FCA estimate). On average, each affected customer could have been overcharged by around £829 (FCA estimate).
The FCA's investigation highlighted that many customers were not fully informed about the true cost and terms of their financing agreements, leading to significant financial harm.
How to Check Your Agreement First, review your finance agreement documents for any mention of "Discretionary Commission Arrangement" (DCA). If your agreement includes this term or similar language indicating that the dealer received additional payments based on the type of finance package selected, it may be a red flag.
check the dates when you entered into the finance agreement. If these fall within the FCA investigation period and if you noticed any unusual charges or fees beyond what was initially disclosed, your agreement might have been affected.
If you suspect that your Mercedes-Benz E-Class finance agreement has been mis-sold, it is important to contact your lender directly. Common lenders for the Mercedes-Benz E-Class include Black Horse, Barclays Partner Finance, Close Brothers Motor Finance, MotoNovo Finance, and Santander Consumer Finance.
When contacting your lender, provide them with a detailed account of how you believe you were affected by the mis-selling practices. Include any relevant documentation such as finance agreement papers and correspondence from dealerships or lenders. You do not need to engage a
claims management company; you can complain directly to your lender for free.
You can also seek further assistance through the
[Financial Ombudsman](https://mlj.org.uk/guides/financial-ombudsman-service) Service (
FOS) if your complaint is not resolved satisfactorily by your lender.
Sources and References
- FCA estimate: 12.1 million eligible agreements (FCA, March 2026) (FCA, 2024)
- FCA estimate: £7.5 billion (FCA, March 2026) total mis-sold finance (FCA, 2024)
- FCA estimate: £829 average per eligible agreement overcharge per customer (FCA, 2024)
Based on 375,769 MOT tests conducted in 2024 (source: DVSA anonymised test data), the Mercedes-Benz C has a pass rate of 81.1%. This is close to the national average of 79.6%, meaning the C performs about average in MOT testing.
The C pass rate is in line with the overall Mercedes-Benz average of 82.3%. The average mileage at MOT for this model is 86,936 miles.
- MOT pass rate: 81.1%
- MOT failure rate: 18.9%
- Tests analysed: 375,769 (2024 DVSA data)
- Average mileage at test: 86,936 miles
- Mercedes-Benz average pass rate: 82.3%
- National average pass rate: 79.6%
Data source: DVSA anonymised MOT test results 2024, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.