The Nissan Note, a popular car model known for its affordability and practicality, was commonly sold on
Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) and
Hire Purchase (HP) finance agreements during the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) investigation period from 6 April 2007 to 1 November 2024. The FCA found that 12.1 million eligible agreements (FCA, March 2026) had been affected by
discretionary commission arrangements, resulting in an estimated £7.5 billion (FCA, March 2026) total overcharge and an average of £829 per customer (FCA estimate).
## How the Nissan Note was Typically Financed
During the period under investigation, customers purchasing a Nissan Note often opted for PCP or HP finance agreements to manage their car payments more effectively. For a typical new Nissan Note, financed through lenders such as
Black Horse, Barclays Partner Finance,
Close Brothers Motor Finance,
MotoNovo Finance, and
Santander Consumer Finance, the common financing amount ranged from £15,000 to £30,000. PCP agreements often had terms of 36 to 48 months, with a balloon payment (or Guaranteed Minimum Future Value) at the end of the agreement.
## The FCA Motor Finance Investigation
The FCA launched an investigation into motor finance practices in 2017 and uncovered widespread issues related to discretionary commission arrangements. These arrangements allowed lenders to pay car dealers additional fees based on the type of finance contract chosen by customers, which often led to higher interest rates for PCP agreements compared to HP contracts. The investigation found that this practice resulted in an estimated £7.5 billion (FCA, March 2026) overcharge across 12.1 million eligible agreements (FCA, March 2026), with an average individual loss of £829 per customer (FCA estimate).
## How to Check Your Agreement Look for any mention of additional fees or commissions paid to dealers based on the type of financing chosen. The relevant dates are from 6 April 2007 to 1 November 2024. If your agreement includes a "Discretionary
Commission Arrangement" (DCA), it is likely that you were overcharged and may be covered by the FCA redress scheme.
## How to
Complain Directly to Your Lender for Free
If you suspect that your Nissan Note finance agreement was affected, you can complain directly to the lender who provided the financing. Common lenders include Black Horse, Barclays Partner Finance, Close Brothers Motor Finance, MotoNovo Finance, and Santander Consumer Finance. These lenders have dedicated teams to handle complaints related to motor finance mis-selling.
When contacting your lender, provide them with a detailed explanation of why you believe your agreement was affected by the discretionary commission arrangements. Include any relevant documentation such as your original contract and correspondence from the dealership. you do not need a
claims management company to assist you in this process; many lenders can handle complaints efficiently without additional intermediaries.
## Sources and References
- Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) estimates
-
Financial Ombudsman Service (
FOS)
- On-the-ground industry practices and reports
Nissan Note [MOT Pass Rate](https://mlj.org.uk/tools/mot-statistics)
Based on 151,407 MOT tests conducted in 2024 (source: DVSA anonymised test data), the Nissan Note has a pass rate of 76.2%. This is below the national average of 79.6%, meaning the Note has a higher-than-average failure rate in MOT testing.
The Note pass rate is in line with the overall Nissan average of 77.7%. The average mileage at MOT for this model is 78,256 miles.
- MOT pass rate: 76.2%
- MOT failure rate: 23.8%
- Tests analysed: 151,407 (2024 DVSA data)
- Average mileage at test: 78,256 miles
- Nissan average pass rate: 77.7%
- National average pass rate: 79.6%
Data source: DVSA anonymised MOT test results 2024, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.