Treating customers fairly

Policy Overview

At Smooth Car Finance, we place Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) and Consumer Duty at the heart of everything we do. This core principle, which is also a key requirement set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), guides our approach to customer interactions and ensures we deliver positive and fair outcomes. By sharing this policy, we want to give our customers and partners a clear understanding of our commitment to fairness and the values that drive our business.

This policy reflects our dedication to TCF and Consumer Duty, whether or not you have purchased from us. We are committed to:

  • Fostering a company culture focused on fairness and customer care.
  • Providing a framework for our team to make informed, customer-first decisions.
  • Meeting the FCA’s TCF guidelines and the standards set by our partners.

The six FCA consumer outcomes

The FCA outlines six key consumer outcomes that we strive to achieve, ensuring that our customers are treated fairly throughout their journey with us:

  1. Confidence in fair treatment: Our customers can be assured they are dealing with a company where fair treatment is central to our culture.
  2. Products designed with purpose: We ensure our products and services are designed to meet the needs of our target customers.
  3. Clear and accurate information: We provide customers with clear, accurate, and timely information at every stage of their experience.
  4. Appropriate advice: When advice is given, it’s tailored to each customer’s unique circumstances.
  5. Product performance and service expectations: Our products perform as expected, and our service meets customer expectations.
  6. No unreasonable barriers: Customers can easily change products, switch providers, submit claims, or raise complaints without facing unnecessary obstacles.

Our company culture

At Smooth Car Finance, we pride ourselves on being an agile, innovative business. We understand the responsibility that comes with handling sensitive customer information and the importance of building a culture where every team member is empowered to make decisions in the best interest of our customers.

To cultivate a TCF-driven culture, we:

  • Lead by example and champion ethical decision-making.
  • Hire individuals who prioritise customer satisfaction in everything they do.
  • Provide continuous training and support to ensure our team is equipped to make informed decisions.
  • Foster an environment where employees feel confident raising concerns and suggestions with senior management.
  • Regularly review and adjust our processes to keep customer outcomes at the forefront.

Customer experience

We are deeply committed to providing an exceptional customer experience. Our customer experience team focuses on gathering feedback and addressing any concerns to ensure our customers feel valued at every step.

To capture and act on valuable feedback, we:

  • Regularly review customer satisfaction and measure how likely customers are to recommend us through platforms like Trustpilot, Reviews.IO, and Google.
  • Encourage feedback throughout the customer journey.
  • Analyse feedback and complaints to continually refine our processes and improve the service we provide.

Complaints handling

We view complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve. Our customer experience team is dedicated to resolving issues promptly, turning negative experiences into positive outcomes.

To manage complaints effectively, we:

  • Ensure our complaints process is easy to find and clearly communicated on our website.
  • Offer multiple ways for customers to submit complaints — online, via email, phone, or in writing.
  • Encourage all staff to log complaints so we can address them professionally and identify areas for improvement.
  • Employ a dedicated complaint handler trained to resolve issues swiftly.
  • Continuously invest in training, systems, and processes to enhance our complaints handling and customer care.

Leadership & management

Strong leadership is crucial to ensuring that this policy is consistently upheld. Our senior management team is experienced, customer-focused, and fully committed to maintaining high standards.

To support this, we:

  • Maintain a leadership team that exemplifies our customer-first ethos.
  • Invest in our organisational structure to ensure there is ongoing support for staff and high standards of service.
  • Regularly monitor and assess staff performance, providing feedback and coaching as needed.
  • Record telephone calls for training and quality assurance purposes, ensuring TCF standards are maintained at all times.

Quality control & governance

We believe that robust internal systems and quality control directly contribute to positive customer outcomes. Our governance structures ensure regular oversight of all standards, including TCF-related practices.

We:

  • Conduct regular reviews of our compliance practices through external partners like SimplyBiz to ensure we meet FCA standards.
  • Work closely with our panel of trusted lenders to align our policies with theirs and ensure consistency across all finance products.
  • Partner with leading finance providers in the UK, maintaining evidence of TCF compliance as part of our ongoing relationships.

External audits

External audits are a vital part of ensuring we maintain high standards and customer fairness. These audits provide valuable insights into our performance and help ensure that we consistently meet regulatory requirements.

We:

  • Work with our panel of lenders’ compliance teams to ensure alignment with their policies, maintaining consistency in the products we offer.
  • Conduct quarterly compliance reviews with external partners to ensure we continue to meet FCA TCF standards.

Staff incentives

We believe that linking staff incentives to positive customer outcomes is key to ensuring a customer-focused approach. Our sales incentive scheme is designed to reward staff based on the delivery of excellent customer service, rather than simply the sale itself.

To ensure fairness, we:

  • Reward sales staff only after the vehicle is delivered, not at the point of order.
  • Ensure that sales staff meet TCF-related standards before earning their incentives.
  • Avoid incentivising the sale of any particular product over another, ensuring impartiality and customer choice.

Internal systems

To continually improve the customer journey, we invest in developing our internal systems, such as Auto Convert, which streamline processes and enhance communication. These updates ensure that our services remain smooth, efficient, and customer-friendly.

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