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If you took out car finance with a partner and have since divorced or separated, you may still be able to claim compensation, but who can claim depends on whose name is on the agreement. A sole agreement is yours to claim. A joint agreement is more complicated, because the FCA’s rules expect all joint borrowers to consent. Divorce does not remove your name from the contract or your right to complain.
This guide explains how joint and sole agreements work after a split, what the FCA scheme requires, where the court process fits in, and how to find out which agreements you have had.
Many people assume a decree absolute draws a line under shared debts. It does not. MoneyHelper explains that on joint agreements you are jointly and severally liable. The lender can chase either of you for the whole amount, and if your ex stops paying, the lender will expect you to cover it. A private deal between the two of you does not bind the lender.
The same logic applies to the claim side. If the agreement was in joint names, the right to complain about how it was sold belongs to both of you. It is the mirror image of the debt: you share the obligation, and you share the potential redress.
There are three common situations:
| Situation | Who is on the agreement | What it means for a claim |
|---|---|---|
| You financed the car alone, before or during the relationship | You only | You can complain on your own, whatever happened to the car later |
| You and your ex signed together | Both of you | Both usually need to consent, or one needs a valid assignment of the right to complain |
| Your ex signed alone but you paid the instalments | Your ex only | The agreement and the right to complain are your ex’s, not yours |
That last row catches people out. MoneyHelper’s guidance on dividing possessions on separation makes the point that paperwork decides a lot. Paying the monthly bills does not make you the legal customer.
The FCA says that if you used finance to buy a car, motorbike or van between 6 April 2007 and 1 November 2024, you may be owed compensation. The regulator confirmed the redress scheme on 30 March 2026.
Two practical points for divorced readers:
This is the part that stalls most divorced claimants. The FCA’s further information for firms explains that the scheme requires consent from all joint borrowers. The aim is that one eligible person should not lose out because another has claimed. The rules do not stop a firm from helping individuals, but the consent requirement is the default, and the alternative is evidence that the right to complain has been assigned to one party.
In practice, that means:
We cannot give legal advice on a financial order, and this guide is not a substitute for it. If your consent order is unclear, or you are still in proceedings, a family solicitor can tell you what your order says about shared assets and liabilities.
If proceedings are live, car finance is part of your financial disclosure. The court’s Form E financial statement asks you to list finance payments on vehicles bought on credit. Leaving a liability out breaches your duty of full and frank disclosure, and the same form warns of serious consequences for it.
A possible compensation claim is worth mentioning to your solicitor. It is not a debt, but it may be a financial resource linked to an asset, and how it is handled can affect your settlement. Raise it before the final order, not after, so it can be dealt with in the agreement rather than argued over later.
MoneyHelper also advises contacting your lender when you share loans with an ex, especially if the split is not amicable, in its guide to protecting your finances during divorce or dissolution. It is also worth telling them early if you are worried about missed payments, because both of your credit files are at stake.
A car claim often sits next to a car problem. Three things come up repeatedly after a split.
You do not own a car on hire purchase until you have paid in full. Citizens Advice explains that under HP you hire the goods and pay by instalments. The finance company owns the car until the end. So you cannot simply sell or part-exchange it; the balance has to be settled with the lender first.
Voluntary termination is an option, but check the sums. Carplus explains that you can end a regulated HP, PCP or conditional sale agreement early, return the car and owe no more than half the total amount payable. On a PCP, the total includes the final balloon payment, so the threshold can be higher than monthly payments alone suggest. For a joint agreement, one person cannot assume they can act alone, so speak to the lender about who needs to sign.
Settlement does not cancel a claim. Paying off or returning a car does not by itself extinguish a complaint about how it was sold, provided the agreement falls inside the scheme’s dates. Carsa’s guide to ending a car finance agreement early covers the practical routes if the payments no longer fit your life.
The timing is the frustrating bit. According to MoneySavingExpert, the legal challenge to the scheme will be heard between 16 and 26 February 2027, and while firms must still deal with complaints now, payouts are on hold. The FCA also lists the legal challenge documents on its site, last updated 13 October 2026.
The FCA’s consumer page says firms have until 18 January 2027 to contact complainants about agreements from before 1 April 2014. A judgment is expected in the months after the hearing, so nobody can honestly promise you a payment date.
For a divorced claimant, the pause is useful. It gives you time to sort out consent, find the paperwork and talk to your ex without a payment deadline hanging over you. It is not a reason to do nothing: getting a complaint in the queue and your joint-borrower position settled now means you are ready when payments restart.
Divorce often means lost folders, a changed address and a car that went with someone else. You do not need the registration number or any lender documents to start.
This is where we come in. Our site finds your car finance agreements for free in under 60 seconds, so you can see which agreements are linked to you and which lenders they involved. For a divorced reader, that is useful in three ways:
If you want a general walkthrough of the claims process first, our guide on how to claim car finance compensation in the UK covers it step by step.
We do not decide who is entitled to compensation. The lender, the FCA’s rules and the law do. What we do is make the first step easy and the rest hands-off, through the law firm we work with, which has a record of successful UK Supreme Court cases and above-average claim awards.
What we would say to anyone who has divorced:
We are a claims management service that refers you to a partner law firm; we are not your family solicitor, and we will not tell you how to divide your assets.
— Jake
If you had finance on a car between 2007 and 2024, run our free check. It finds your agreements, you do not need your registration or lender paperwork, and our service is hands-off from there. You can start the free check here.
Yes, divorce does not remove your right to complain about an agreement in your name. If the agreement was joint, the FCA’s guidance expects all joint borrowers to consent, or for the right to complain to have been assigned to one party. A sole agreement is yours to claim.
The FCA’s firm-facing guidance says consent is required from all joint borrowers, so a claim made behind your back should not proceed on that basis. The intent is that one eligible person does not lose out because the other has claimed. If you think a claim was made without you, tell the firm handling it and get legal advice.
Not automatically. A financial order may say who keeps the car and who pays the finance, but it may not mention a potential claim. Ask a family solicitor whether your order covers it, ideally before the order is finalised.
Nobody can say for certain. The legal challenge to the scheme is due to be heard between 16 and 26 February 2027, and payouts are on hold until it is resolved. You can still complain now, so you are in the queue.
Not to start with us. Our check locates your agreements for free in under 60 seconds, which helps if documents were lost during the split.