What a 14 Percent Rise in Motor Ombudsman Disputes Means for Every Car Buyer

• The Motor Ombudsman logged 18,570 used car disputes in 2025, up 14 percent on the 16,317 recorded the year before, out of roughly 7.8 million used car transactions across the year.
• Customer service complaints made up 40 percent of all cases, ahead of engine and powertrain failures at 35 percent, with the remainder split between bodywork, fuel and emissions systems, electrics, and tyres and brakes.
• Second-hand vehicles accounted for 88 percent of every dispute raised under the Vehicle Sales Code, the industry standard that most major dealer groups have signed up to.

One in 420 used car sales in Britain now ends in a formal dispute

Buying a used car in Britain carries a small but rising chance of ending up in a formal complaint against the dealer who sold it. The Motor Ombudsman, the industry’s main dispute resolution body, logged 18,570 used car cases in 2025, a 14 percent increase on the 16,317 recorded in 2024. Set against roughly 7.8 million used car transactions completed across the year, that works out at close to one dispute for every 420 cars sold, up from one in 468 the year before. It is a small percentage on paper, and a large number of frustrated buyers in practice.

Bill Fennell, the Motor Ombudsman’s Chief Ombudsman, said the used car market carries a significant level of spend for most households, and that a high standard of customer service remains essential given how much buyers are putting on the line with a single purchase. Used cars accounted for 40 percent of every case opened with the Motor Ombudsman across all vehicle types in 2024, and second hand sales alone made up 88 percent of disputes raised specifically under the Vehicle Sales Code, the code of practice most major dealer groups sign up to.

What drivers are actually complaining about

The breakdown of complaint categories tells its own story. Customer service issues, covering everything from how a dealer communicated after the sale to how a complaint itself was handled, made up the largest single category at 40 percent of cases. That is a notable finding on its own terms: the single biggest source of formal disputes is not usually the car breaking down, it is how the dealer behaved once something went wrong. Engine and powertrain failures followed at 35 percent, the category most buyers would expect to dominate given how expensive that kind of fault is to put right. Exterior and roof problems accounted for 5 percent, fuel and emissions systems for 4 percent, electrical faults for another 4 percent, and tyre and brake issues for 3 percent.

Read together, those figures suggest a large share of disputes could be avoided entirely with better communication rather than better engineering. A faulty part is frustrating but often fixable under warranty without a formal complaint ever being raised. A dealer who goes quiet, disputes a clear fault, or fails to explain what happens next turns a mechanical problem into a standoff, and a standoff is what ends up logged as a case.

Why the rise is happening now

Rising used car prices are part of the explanation. As the average transaction value climbs, so does what a buyer stands to lose from a car that turns out to be faulty, and the incentive to pursue a formal complaint rather than simply walk away rises with it. A used car bought for a few hundred pounds a decade ago rarely justified the time cost of a dispute; a used car now regularly costing well into five figures is a different calculation entirely. Cost of living pressure on households more broadly is also likely playing a part, as a buyer with less financial slack has far less room to absorb an unexpected repair bill without pushing back.

What the Vehicle Sales Code actually guarantees

Dealers who sign up to the Motor Ombudsman’s Vehicle Sales Code commit to a set of minimum standards covering how cars are advertised, how faults are disclosed before a sale, and how complaints are handled afterwards. A buyer dealing with a Code-accredited dealer has a formal route to the Motor Ombudsman if a dispute cannot be resolved directly, and that route is free to use. A buyer dealing with a dealer who has not signed up to the Code has no equivalent formal escalation route through the Ombudsman at all, and is instead limited to their statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, pursued directly with the dealer or, if necessary, through the small claims court.

The gap between independent and franchised dealers

Not every dealer carries the same level of risk. Franchised dealers tied to a manufacturer brand are far more likely to be signed up to a formal code of practice, as it is often a condition of their dealership agreement, and tend to have dedicated complaints handling teams for that reason. Independent dealers and smaller used car specialists vary widely: many run to a high standard and are proud members of accreditation schemes, but a meaningful share operate entirely outside any formal code, leaving a buyer with statutory rights only rather than an independent Ombudsman to call on if talks with the dealer break down. A buyer comparing two similar cars at a similar price, one from an accredited dealer and one from a dealer with no formal accreditation, is taking on materially different risk even before a fault appears.

Warranty cover adds another layer. A used car sold with a dealer warranty on top of statutory rights gives a buyer a second route to a repair, but warranty terms vary hugely between providers, and some exclude the exact components, like electrics or infotainment systems, that generate a rising share of complaints as cars become more software dependent. Reading the list of exclusions before signing, not after a fault appears, is the difference between a warranty that pays out and one that turns out to be decorative.

What to do if a used car goes wrong

Check whether the dealer that sold the car is signed up to the Motor Ombudsman’s Vehicle Sales Code before a dispute even starts, as this determines which route is available if something goes wrong later. The Motor Ombudsman’s own website carries a searchable list of accredited dealers. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a car bought from a dealer must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described, and a fault that appears within the first 30 days generally entitles a buyer to a full refund or rejection of the vehicle. Faults appearing between 30 days and six months are presumed, in law, to have been present at the point of sale unless the dealer can prove otherwise, shifting the burden of proof onto the seller rather than the buyer.

Keeping every piece of correspondence with a dealer in writing, rather than relying on phone calls, gives a complaint far more standing if it eventually needs to go to the Motor Ombudsman or to court, and with customer service failures now the largest single category of dispute, a dealer’s paper trail of how it responded can count for as much as the fault itself. A buyer who raises an issue by email, keeps copies of every reply, and notes the date a fault first appeared has a far stronger case than one relying on memory of a phone call six months earlier. If a dealer refuses to engage at all, a formal letter before action, giving 14 days to respond before a complaint is escalated, is often enough to bring about a resolution on its own, simply by showing the buyer knows their rights and intends to use them.

Sources:

• The Motor Ombudsman: TMO reports 14 percent rise in used car disputes in 2025
• The Motor Ombudsman: Annual Reports