Mark Standish, CEO at Carlyle Finance, has criticised U Switch for claiming motorists were “set to throw away £174 million by not driving a hard bargain on car finance”.

Standish said: “U Switch’s assault of dealer finance is full of inaccuracies.

It was designed to scare customers who might otherwise source a finance package designed around them from their local dealership”.

U Switch claimed a dealer price was £1,094 higher than its best offer but, said Standish, the transaction was between a bank (Carselect, part of Lloyds TSB) and a loan provider (Moneyback).