Millions could be owed compensation over mis-sold cars!

If purchased a vehicle that ended up causing more pollution than you were told, you could be owed £12,000 in compensation as the deal may have been mis-sold to you. Lawyers are warning that if claims that are being processed now are successful, the scandal could end up costing manufacturers millions and possibly match the PPI scandal which cost banks so far more than £38 billion.

The Times has reported that 9.6 million cars might be affected, meaning the average pay-out would be £12,000. The news has meant claims firms have received an influx of claims from members of the public who believe they may have been mis-sold their vehicles. It all stems from the ‘Diesel Gate Scandal’ in 2015 when car giant Volkswagen was caught out by The Environmental Protection Agency, who discovered the company had installed ‘defeat devices’ in their cars to cheat emissions testing. It was thought that the device was fitted to around 10.5 million diesel cars worldwide.  Since the scandal other car manufacturers were found to be cheating the emissions tests also by installing similar devices and now lawyers have lodged claims against nearly all the big car firms including BMW, Mercedes, Fiat, Ford, and the list goes on. Last year Mercedes agreed to pay £1.2 billion to the United States government over emissions violations.

Legal firms looking into customer claims say these cheat devices are banned in the UK and European Union under law and if customers did not know their vehicles were more polluting than the law allows, they were mis-sold and could make a claim against the manufacturer.

In May 2020, the German Federal Court rules that Volkswagen car owners are entitled to be paid damages and owners should return their cars and be paid the price they paid minus fee for the time they used the car. The ruling is likely to set president and be followed by other cases across the country. In April 2020 Volkswagen settled 200,000 claims in a class action again in Germany which amounted to 620 million euros.

The scandal put made discussions about transport policies, air pollution and diesel driving bans into the spotlight and more cases against manufacturers are being brought in countries all over the world. Incredibly in was discovered that Diesel vehicles being sold across the world were emitting nitrogen oxide pollution, up to 40 times above the legal limit. It is estimated that there are still 9.6 million diesel vehicles in the UK that emit unlawful amounts of pollution and owners are not always aware of this and could be eligible to make a claim if they purchased a diesel vehicle manufactured between 2009 and 2015.