How we make money

We don't earn commission on finance clicks

Most car finance comparison sites make money when you click through and apply for a loan. That's the business model that makes them rank high-commission lenders above low-cost ones. It's why a site will show you a 19.9% APR broker before a 4.1% bank loan.

We don't do that. When you click "View deal" on a listing, it takes you straight to the manufacturer or lender's own page. We don't get paid for that click. We don't get a cut of your loan. We're not a broker, and we're not regulated by the FCA, because we don't need to be.

So what keeps the lights on?

Advertising. The boring kind - banner ads. The same way newspapers and blogs have worked for decades. Advertisers pay us to show ads on our pages. That's it.

The ads have nothing to do with how we rank deals. A lender can't pay to appear higher in our tables. They can buy a banner ad on the page, but it'll be clearly marked as an ad, and the deal table below it won't change.

What about sponsored listings?

We might, in future, accept paid listings from lenders who want to appear in our comparison tables. If we do, they'll be clearly marked with a "Sponsored" or "Ad" label. You'll always be able to tell the difference between a listing that's there because the numbers earned it, and one that's there because someone paid for it.

But here's the thing - even a sponsored listing will show the same data. The same APR, the same total cost, the same cost of borrowing. We won't hide the numbers to make a paying lender look better. If Moneybarn pays for a sponsored listing and their APR is 30.7%, it'll say 30.7%. Right there, same font size as everyone else.

Why this matters

The UK car finance market is worth over £40 billion a year. The comparison sites that dominate it make money by sending you to whichever broker pays them the most per lead. That's not a comparison - it's a sales funnel with a search bar on top.

We think there's a better way. Show every deal, rank by total cost, let the maths do the talking. If a bank loan at 4.1% beats a PCP deal at 9.9%, say so. Even if the PCP broker would've paid us £50 for the click.

Banner ads aren't glamorous. But they mean we can show you the cheapest deal without worrying about whether it's the most profitable one for us.

The rules we follow

• Deal rankings are mathematical. Total cost, lowest first. No overrides, no boosts, no exceptions.
• Ads are labelled. If something is paid for, it says so. Always.
• We're not a broker. We don't handle applications, we don't take your details, we don't call you.
• We don't provide financial advice. We show data. You decide.

If you've got questions about any of this, you can reach us at [email protected].