Consumer Duty: compliance is not a tick-box exercise

July 31st and the launch of the Consumer Duty are now racing towards us, and the need to act now is becoming evident to all dealers.

At MotoNovo, we have helped over 2,000 dealers understand what they must do to help dealers and brokers prepare for the launch of the Consumer Duty through our Distributor Readiness Assessments (DRA). It is part of a phased approach to help the dealer community to keep raising the bar to meet the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) expectations. This phase of the programme aims to help dealers/brokers understand and embed the substantive requirements of the Duty as guided by the FCA.

Principally the DRA is about benchmarking a dealer’s current readiness and signpost tools/resources to help them make the significant shift the regulator expects where necessary.

It has gone down well, and I was delighted to be told that our work and approach have been highlighted and shared on a dealer Facebook page to help other dealers.

Delighted as I am, I must stress that meeting the FCA’s expectations is a lot more than a checklist of things that must be done by a dealer when it comes to offering F&I services. The DRA we have developed highlights the steps that need to be completed as a starting point for the Consumer Duty, enabling dealers to establish their readiness.

Everyone in our field team has completed extensive training to help dealers to prepare for Consumer Duty. Training has included a programme by specialist motor, asset finance and leasing law firm Auxillias, and every person is accredited as both *SAF, Expert and Advanced certified.

So if you need support, at MotoNovo, we stand ready to help.

Debbie McKay, Commercial Director of Motor Sales

*SAF (Specialist Automotive Finance) is the dedicated automotive finance professional qualification operated by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA),