Not necessarily the case actually. It's down to terms and conditions/discretion of the finance provider and, from a financial rules point of view, they'd have to make it very clear before you took out the finance if, for example, you'd be expected to pay the finance off in full in the event of a write-off. It's a messy area, but generally speaking customers have a lot more rights in these situations than they realise (hence why people pay money for GAP Insurance when they don't necessarily need it). If you can get a good price for a proper 'return to invoice' product then it at least gives peace of mind that you can get things sorted quickly without having to argue the toss.