INTRODCUTION
The agency problem describes the information asymmetry where the agent knows more than the principal, who accordingly is vulnerable to the agent taking advantage. It is the central issue in the motor finance litigation, where the basic facts are that a consumer buys a car on credit from a dealer who takes a secret commission from the lender or hides other salient facts from the buyer. Hopcraft v Close Brothers Ltd sets out how the unfair credit agreement provisions of sections 140A–140D of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA 1974) deal with this problem, and how fiduciary law, on these facts, does not. The fiduciary claims all ultimately failed. This case note examines how the rules for when the fiduciary duty of loyalty arises in novel situations has narrowed and the nature of the ‘undertaking’ of loyalty now required …
Derek Whayman, The motor finance litigation, Legal Studies. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2026.
Leave a Reply