The unstable nature of the motor finance claims market was brought into focus again this week as a claims firm serving this market was placed into administration. A notice in the London Gazette reveals that Swansea-based Fairplane Solicitors Limited, which also traded as The Refund Lawyer, has begun insolvency proceedings.
Administrators from accountancy firm Kroll Advisory Ltd were appointed on 1 October. It is understood that Fairplane is in the process of an orderly closure and that clients are being protected under the firm’s succession plan.
The Refund Lawyer, Fairplane’s sister brand, is exclusively set up to make claims for mis-sold commissions and excessive interest charges on vehicle finance.
Fairplane has worked for 10 years making mis-sold finance claims on a no-win, no-fee basis. Its website claims that success rates for cases handled by the firm ‘reach into the high 90%’.
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According to abridged accounts covering the year to March 2025, the company had total net liabilities of more than £900,000. Assets were assessed as being more than £23m, of which cash reserves were £35,000, but longer-term debts exceeded this figure and had risen by 23% in the space of 12 months. The headcount had grown from 21 to 28 by March 2025.
A spokesperson for the SRA said: 'We are aware of this and are liaising with the firm. It would only be if the interests of clients were at risk that we would consider taking any action.'
Fairplane has an outstanding charge from 2025 with litigation funder Woodville Consultants Limited. Woodville itself was placed into administration in July – its administrators are coincidentally also from Kroll Advisory – and owes hundreds of millions of pounds to private investors who funded its financing of motor finance redress claims.
Administrators for Woodville, which was based in south Wales, expressed ‘significant concerns as to the realisable value of the loan book'. Last month they reported that the funder concentrated its lending to 10 law firms and 'associated entities', primarily based in Wales and northwest England. Funding provided to certain firms may have been used for wider working capital requirements as well as for funding cases, the report states. 'Surprisingly', loans to only one firm appear to be secured.
The motor finance claims market remains in a position of uncertainty as court disputes continue between the Financial Conduct Authority, lenders and consumer groups over the proposed redress scheme for customers who were mis-sold. The FCA has urged people not to use lawyers to make compensation claims but a number of firms have invested large amounts in marketing and signing up clients.
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