Lenders no longer face the prospect of having to pay £30bn to £40bn to aggrieved car buyers, but the industry still faces hefty payouts.

A group of lenders won a partial reprieve in a pivotal UK car finance case, after the country’s top court sought to rein in the spiraling saga that’s set to cost banks billions in consumer payouts.

Britain's highest court Friday largely overturned a lower court's ruling that certain car finance agreements were unlawful, a decision likely to bring a sigh of relief among lenders and limit the scale of compensation payments.