Motor Finance Face Off: Predictions On The Supreme Court's Judgment

In one of the most important cases of the year, the Supreme Court heard the appeal in Hopcraft, Johnson & Wrench earlier this month. The case is all about customers who purchased cars using finance from lenders, and the commissions paid by those lenders to car dealers (often secretly), so as to incentivise the car dealers to recommend certain lenders or finance deals to their customers.

The case engages the tort of bribery, accessory liability for dishonest assistance in a breach of fiduciary duties, and the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

The implications for the motor finance sector are vast: since 2007, over 31 million car purchases have involved commission payments. But the case is also extremely significant for all industries involving the payment of commissions to intermediaries, especially where those commissions are not fully disclosed to the customer.