Motor retailers

Related information

Treating customers fairly self assessment tool

Assessment tool

Treating customers fairly (TCF) is one the FSA's biggest priorities for motor retailers.

Key points on TCF:

We expect consumers to receive six outcomes when they deal with an FSA-regulated firm.
Six consumer outcomes.

We have set deadlines for all firms to demonstrate how they treat their customers fairly:

  • By the end of March 2008 we expect you to have appropriate management information or measures in place to test whether you are treating your customers fairly.
  • By December 2008 we expect you to be able to demonstrate that you are consistently treating your customers fairly.

The FSA expects all the firms it regulates to have put the concept of treating customers fairly into place in their firm.

Most motor retailers we've met have been totally committed to customer satisfaction, because they know it is good for business. But TCF is not as easy as saying "we have satisfied customers".

TCF is about your firm having a culture in place that ensures the fair treatment of customers throughout all of your processes when you sell insurance. This means taking it into account when you attract customers, during your sales process, and after the sale if there are any complaints.

The challenge for motor retailers is to take their good intention of customer satisfaction and get this to fit with the FSA's TCF principle. If you have not done so already, the first step is to read the TCF pages for small firms to get a better understanding of what TCF is all about. On the pages you'll find a self assessment tool. You can use this to help identify some of the areas your firm needs to focus on to make sure it is treating its customers fairly. Then you need to ensure that your firm meets the two deadlines the FSA has set for 2008.

Treating customer fairly - information for small firms.