FCA launches £2m car finance ad campaign

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a £2 million national advertising campaign designed to help consumers who may be owed car finance mis-selling compensation to make a complaint for free, after research found 27% lack the confidence to do so without using a claims management company (CMC) or law firm.

“Many people who may be owed compensation aren’t sure where to start or don’t realise they don’t have to pay someone to make a complaint. Our free tools are there to help people feel claim confident – so they can get any money owed back without it costing them a penny.”

Kantor surveyed 1,000 motor finance customers on behalf of the FCA. It found 59% have made or are considering a claim, but a significant group (23%) said they were unsure of their options.

The campaign – running across TV, radio, print, billboards and social media until 6 September – directs people to a free template complaint letter on the FCA website. More than 80% of those surveyed said this would make them more confident complaining directly to their lender.

The FCA said its advertising will reach audiences across the country through video on demand platforms (expected to be seen almost 11 million times), alongside 2,180 outdoor placements, national radio stations, print titles with a combined circulation of nearly 3 million, and social media channels including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Inspired by classic action films, rather than focusing on the mechanics of making a claim, the “Feel Claim Confident” TV ad dramatises the confidence people feel once they’ve successfully completed it. View the TV advert here.

The campaign has been developed by M+C Saatchi Group UK, who said the aim was to “reject the functional approach typically associated with financial services advertising in favour of cinematic, action movie-inspired creative.”

Miten Patel, head of campaigns and events at the FCA, said: “By taking a more entertaining approach, the campaign cuts through a crowded landscape while reinforcing a simple message: you can make your claim directly, safely and confidently.”

The FCA’s industry-wide redress scheme is currently paused pending the outcome of a legal challenge brought by three captive lenders and a consumer group to the Upper Tribunal, which is scheduled for a hearing in either late December or February 2027.

The regulator has been highly critical of the actions of some CMCs and law firms handling motor finance claims, recently telling a Treasury select committee of numerous examples of “really significant misconduct.”

Earlier this year the FCA formed a taskforce, in conjunction with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Information Commissioner’s Office, to crack down on the poor handling of motor finance claims by some CMCs and law firms.