Motor Finance

Welcome to the motor finance pages.

The FLA is the leading trade association for the motor finance sector in the UK. In 2010, FLA members completed £72.5 billion of new business. This included £19.0 billion of motor finance. Around half of all new car registrations in the UK were financed by FLA members.

How can I finance my car?

Buying a car is the second biggest purchase most people make. Choosing the right finance is as important as getting the right make and model.That’s why we have launched a new online resource www.financingyourcar.org.uk, dedicated to helping consumers understand the breadth of finance and insurance options available to them.It’s not intended to be a comprehensive guide to buying a car - there are plenty of sites that do that already – but it does provide an impartial, informative and easy to use source of advice and information.

Best practice

The FLA promotes best practice in the motor finance industry for lending and leasing to consumers and businesses. You may wish to view our business guidance pages that look at specific hire purchase and leasing issues.

OFT Guidance for Credit Brokers and Intermediaries

The FLA is in discussion with its members, the OFT and with bodies representing the credit broker and intermediary markets, about the practical implementation of recently-published OFT Guidance on credit brokers and intermediaries, with the aim of producing relevant, practical and non-binding implementation guidance.

On 31 January 2012, a Working Group of FLA member finance companies met to discuss the content of the Association’s non-binding guidance. It was agreed that the guidance should focus on the following main areas in order to help industry meet the OFT’s requirements.

Scope of the OFT guidance.

The definition of credit brokers and intermediaries.

The status and independence of credit brokers and intermediaries.

Marketing and promotional activity.

Commission disclosure to potential borrowers.

Specialist Automotive Finance (SAF)

In 2007, the FLA launched a competence test as part of our Specialist Automotive Finance (SAF) campaign to raise consumer awareness of finance sold in motor dealerships. The competence test identifies the training needs of individual staff and supports compliance with consumer protection regulation. Staff certification offers the reassurance consumers need to have confidence in the information and advice they receive on motor finance in dealer showrooms.

Recent news

Updated Lending Code provides new rights and protections for borrowers: 1 Feb 2012
The FLA Lending Code, which has been protecting borrowers for twenty years, has been relaunched today with a range of new protections for borrowers in financial difficulty, and new rights for users of store cards and short-term credit.
Finance House Base Rate (FHBR) is 1.5% for February 2012: 27 Jan 2012
The FHBR will be 1.5% for February 2012, which represents no change compared with January 2012.
Dealer motor finance still growing as 2011 drew to a close: 12 Jan 2012
November;s figures showed that dealer motor finance remained UK consumers' first choice for new cars. The Finance & Leasing Association's latest figures show that 61.5% of consumers buying a new car in the year to November used motor finance provided through dealers, almost ten percentage points up from November 2010.