Vauxhall cars were commonly sold on
Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) and
Hire Purchase (HP) finance agreements during the period covered by the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) motor finance mis-selling investigation, which ran from 6 April 2007 to 1 November 2024. This investigation found that certain
discretionary commission arrangements between lenders and car dealerships may have influenced sales practices, potentially leading to customers being sold agreements they did not need or could not afford.
## How Vauxhall Cars Were Financed
Vauxhall cars were often financed through major financial institutions such as
Black Horse, Barclays Partner Finance,
Close Brothers Motor Finance,
MotoNovo Finance, and
Santander Consumer Finance. These lenders typically offered PCP and HP finance agreements that included upfront fees, interest rates, and balloon payments at the end of the contract for PCP deals. Common terms for these agreements ranged from 12 to 60 months, with varying levels of monthly payments based on the car model and deal structure.
## The FCA Motor Finance Investigation
The FCA's investigation uncovered that discretionary commissions given by lenders to dealerships could have been used as incentives to push customers towards certain finance deals, rather than offering them the most suitable or affordable options. As a result, an estimated 12.1 million eligible agreements (FCA, March 2026) during this period (FCA estimate), leading to total consumer losses of £7.5 billion (FCA estimate) with an FCA-estimated average of £829 per eligible agreement.
## How to Check Your Agreement If it falls within the FCA's investigation period (6 April 2007 to 1 November 2024), and if you were sold a PCP or HP agreement through any of the mentioned lenders, your deal may be covered by the FCA redress scheme. Key indicators include high upfront fees, inflated interest rates, or a balloon payment at the end of a PCP contract that was not clearly explained.
## How to
Complain Directly to Your Lender for Free
If you believe your Vauxhall finance agreement is affected by this issue, it is important to contact your lender directly. Common lenders such as Black Horse, Barclays Partner Finance, Close Brothers Motor Finance, MotoNovo Finance, and Santander Consumer Finance all have customer service departments where you can raise concerns about your finance agreement. You do not need a
claims management company; the process of complaining directly to your lender is free and straightforward.
## Sources and References
- Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- Office for National Statistics Census 2021
FCA Compensation: FCA Scheme Figures
The FCA confirmed on 30 March 2026 that 12.1 million motor finance agreements are covered by the FCA redress scheme. The FCA-estimated scheme average of £829 per eligible agreement per agreement, with a total of £7.5 billion set aside for consumers. The scheme covers PCP and HP agreements entered into between 6 April 2007 and 1 November 2024.
Two separate schemes apply: post-2014 agreements (implement by 30 June 2026) and pre-2014 agreements (implement by 31 August 2026). The final deadline to complain is 31 August 2027. You can complain to your lender directly for free. You do not need a claims management company.
Across 3,083,506 MOT tests in 2024, Vauxhall vehicles have an overall pass rate of 76.6%. This is close to the national average of 79.6%. DVSA data covers 296 Vauxhall models with sufficient test volume.
- Overall pass rate: 76.6%
- Total MOT tests (2024): 3,083,506
- Models with data: 296
- National average: 79.6%
Best Vauxhall models for MOT pass rate
- Vauxhall Corsa Se Edition: 94.6% pass rate (500 tests)
- Vauxhall Mokka Sri Premium Turbo: 94.2% pass rate (659 tests)
- Vauxhall Mokka Elite Nav Turbo: 93.8% pass rate (1,279 tests)
- Vauxhall Mokka Sri Nav Premium Turbo A: 93.4% pass rate (530 tests)
- Vauxhall Corsa Elite Edition: 93.3% pass rate (2,877 tests)
Vauxhall models with lowest MOT pass rate
- Vauxhall Astravan: 70.1% pass rate (7,537 tests)
- Vauxhall Vectra: 69.5% pass rate (29,055 tests)
- Vauxhall Vivaro: 69.4% pass rate (226,265 tests)
- Vauxhall Corsavan: 69.2% pass rate (4,197 tests)
- Vauxhall Tigra: 67.9% pass rate (8,106 tests)
Vauxhall MOT Reliability Trend (2022-2024)
Vauxhall pass rates have remained stable: 77.0% in 2022, 76.5% in 2023, and 76.6% in 2024.
- 2022: 77.0% pass rate (3,792,079 tests)
- 2023: 76.5% pass rate (3,730,301 tests)
- 2024: 76.6% pass rate (3,083,506 tests)
Based on 10,605,886 MOT tests across three years (DVSA open data).
Data source: DVSA anonymised MOT test results 2024, Open Government Licence v3.0.