Motorists who bought a new car between 2007 and 2021 could claim “billions” in reimbursement following an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) highlighted by Martin Lewis.
The Money Saving Expert raised awareness of the inquiry on his BBC Martin Lewis podcast and on the social media site X earlier this month.
He claimed that “millions” of other people who bought a car under a PCP or investment agreement could be affected.
He also admitted car finance payouts could be on PPI levels once the FCA has concluded their probe.
The watchdog has since said it would review deals made between 2007 and 2021.
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It has led financial experts to increase the total cost of the bill with lenders likely to be forced to cough up much more.
According to the Financial Times, analysts at Jefferies estimate that total prices for the sector could reach around £13 billion.
This is higher than previous estimates, which put total bills at almost £4 billion.
Martin Lewis has promised to update followers with more information “in 10 days” as he works on crushing the most accurate information.
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However, last week he analysed the scale of the scheme by admitting that a “backwards” calculation would return tens of billions of pounds to road users.
Explaining the situation, he told the BBC: “What was happening at the time was that the lenders who were arranging the financing were telling car dealers ‘the commission is discretionary’.
“In other words, if you want more commission on these finance products – which is why they were being more heavily sold – you can simply increase the cost of the finance and you will get more commission.
“Many of them did so and it wasn’t declared so the consumer was not aware quite what enormous sums were being paid in commission to car dealers for this type of finance.”
The FCA will examine the issues following the “large number of complaints” from car finance companies about the reimbursement of commissions.
Companies have rejected most court cases because they believe they have acted unfairly or caused losses to their customers.
However, the Financial Ombudsman Service has ruled in favor of motorists in two recent cases which the FCA says are likely to lead to a “significant increase” in the number of additional complaints.