- FOS INTRODUCES £250 FEE TO BRING CASES
- JLR WARNS GOVERNMENT OF ZEV MANDATE RISKS
- 9 IN 10 BUSINESSES STRUGGLING WITH SKILLS GAP
- FCA IN FAKE COMPANY REGISTRATION ROW
- JORDAN WORKMAN SCOOPS INAUGURAL BUNNY ENNIS FUND AWARD
- WEEK AHEAD: XPeng UK launch
- VERTU SHARES FALL ON PROFIT WARNING
- BYD LEADS TESLA FOR FIRST TIME
- EU OFFERS TO LOWER TARIFFS ON US CARS
- FLORIDA VW, AUDI RETAILERS FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST SCOUT
- OPINION: The turmoil is real
FOS introduces £250 fee to bring cases
Claims management firms pursuing commission disclosure and other financial cases through the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) will be charged a £250 fee from April. The new fee will apply to “professional representatives” bringing more than 10 cases per year. Individuals and charities will not be charged.
James Dipple-Johnstone, FOS interim chief ombudsman, said: “We’ve seen more cases brought by professional representatives, but fewer of these cases leading to a better outcome for their clients. Currently there is little commercial incentive for representatives to ensure the complaints they bring are well-founded or have merit.
“As a not-for-profit service, we expend our finite resources handling thousands of withdrawn or abandoned cases, which can lead to longer wait times for other customers.”
The move is expected to level the playing field between banks and claims management companies and was welcomed by the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA), although it called for a higher fee.
FLA director general Stephen Haddrill said: “The introduction of charging is a most important step forward. CMCs are major businesses that should not have a free ride, not least because they have driven a compensation culture that damages investor confidence in the UK and threatens growth. However, today’s decision on the level of the charge is unsatisfactory and we will continue to call for it to be increased.
“Professional representatives should be charged on the same basis as lender firms to deliver a fair and equitable approach. And the suggestion that lenders must pay the lion’s-share of the case fee (£475) even when they are not at fault runs counter to FOS’s aim of applying a ‘polluter pays’ principle.”
JLR warns government of ZEV Mandate risks
JLR CEO Adrian Mardell privately warned ministers that pushing ahead with the ZEV Mandate without changes would hit the car industry, correspondence obtained by The Sunday Times has revealed.
Mardell emailed business secretary Jonathan Reynolds in October to highlight consumer EV demand “currently falls far short” of quotes imposed on OEMs.
He described the negatives effects as “immediate” and urgent changes to the scheme were needed to ensure “UK investment is maintained at current levels”.
It was of “paramount” importance that the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) worked with OEMs to ensure regulations did “not damage the domestic automotive industry”.
His email was headed “Urgent Meeting Request”.
Mardell and his team had spent months trying to secure a meeting with Reynolds, without success. This was despite Reynolds accepting a meeting with Mardell on 29 July. He said his private office would arrange it.
The story has come to light in the same week Vertu Motors issued a profit warning, blaming the ZEV Mandate rules for harming the new car market.
Consultation on the ZEV Mandate closes on 18 February.
9 in 10 businesses struggling with skills gap
A Department of Education study has found nine in 10 English businesses are struggling to fill skills gaps. Entry-level positions accounted for the largest holes, with one in three small and medium-sized businesses struggling.
Despite this, fewer companies in 2025 are considering offering training and employment skills such as apprenticeships. 33% of those blamed the associated costs.
The 2017 apprenticeship levy, a 0.5% tax on all companies with a pay bill of over £3m, can help fund apprenticeships. The government is proposing reforming the levy to give businesses more flexibility.
FCA in fake company registration row
The FCA has been accused of registering a business controlled by an “obviously fake” company “pretending to be a financial institution”.
Dan Neidle, founder of campaign group Tax Policy Associates, said AR Worldwide Services was registered despite its links to a company the regulator had previously turned away.
The claims follow previous issues with the regulator’s oversight of the register; in December it apologised for “material” failings that allowed false information to be published on its register for two years.
Jordan Workman scoops inaugural Bunny Ennis Fund award
Jordan Workman, an HR business partner at Aston Martin, has won the inaugural Bunny Ennis Fund award. Created in the memory of Bernard ‘Bunny’ Ennis, it is an annual training bursary to help advance the careers of talented and motivated individuals in the automotive industry. Lynda Ennis presented Jordan with his prize last week.
WEEK AHEAD
Tuesday, XPeng UK launch
Thursday, UK GDP
DATA INSIGHT
Vertu shares fall on profit warning
Vertu PBT forecast, end of 2024: £34.5m. 6 February 2025: “significantly below current market expectations”. Shares closed at 51p last week. Vertu 52-week low: 49.4p; 52-week high: 82.6p.
BYD leads Tesla for first time
BYD January 2025 registrations: 1,614 vehicles. Tesla: 1,458. It is the first time BYD has outsold Tesla in the UK. Tesla has now appointed CBRE to find it a central London flagship store. It has 42 stores, pop-ups and showrooms across the UK.
GLOBAL AUTO
EU offers to lower tariffs on US cars
The EU will offer to cut tariffs on US car imports as part of a deal to avoid a trade war with Donald Trump. Bernd Lange, head of the European parliament trade committee, said it was willing to lower its 10% import tax closer to the 2.5% charged by the US. The EU car industry is supportive of the move, Brussels officials told the FT.
Standard tariffs would also be cut on Chinese cars and other countries under WTO rules. Tariffs of up to 35% on Chinese EVs would remain.
Florida VW, Audi retailers file lawsuit against Scout
A group of Volkswagen and Audi retailers in Florida have filed a lawsuit against Scout Motors over its direct sales retail model. They also allege the startup’s reservation system violates state law – and have challenged the brand’s independence from parent Volkswagen Group, claiming it is not properly licenced as an OEM in the state.
Plaintiffs include Morgan Auto Group, Braman Automotive and Rick Case Automotive Group.
OPINION
The turmoil is real
Vertu Motors has approximately 7,500 staff. This week, in a trading statement, the UK’s largest group (by number of network points) warned profits would be “significantly” lower than expectations for the full year ending 28 February 2025.
Looking ahead, Vertu also revealed its cost base would increase by £10 million due to the NIC and minimum wage hikes starting in April. That’s an average of £1,333 per employee. Interestingly, Vertu added it had put in place cost-cutting actions to offset the £10m, but these came with a one-off £4m exceptional cost.
While both the profit warning and the wage bill increase saw Vertu’s share price drop 12% on the day, the average cost per employee is at the lower end of expectations.
The right-leaning Centre for Policy Studies has estimated the wage bill increase due to the National Insurance rise and National Minimum Wage hike would cost employers £2,367 more per member of staff.
Even within automotive retail, Vertu’s number is impressively low. Speaking to the bosses of other retail groups ever since the Autumn Budget, I’ve been told much higher figures, typically closer to £2,000 per member of staff.
Many groups are including headcount reductions in their cost-cutting measures to counter the higher wage bill.
However, retailers are always looking for an up-side and ways of selling more cars. This was neatly summarised by Mark Busby, Hendy Group’s commercial operations director, speaking to sister publication Auto Market Insight this month. He said: “The National Insurance and minimum wage increases will be a challenge in our sector and we can’t just absorb those, so we’ll have to pass on some of the costs and reduce costs as well.
“However, in the longer term we’d hope there’s ultimately more disposable income in people’s pockets, which could be good for us… as retailers, we’re very good at adapting to changing situations, and if we do the basics well, then we’ll be okay. The car manufacturers supply us cars like they always have, and we always find a market for those cars.”
It’s this kind of positivity that reassures me that while the turmoil is real, retailers will find a way through.
Tristan Young
Editorial Director
Get in touch: tristan@autosunday.co.uk
ISSN 2977-6597