Should I join the VW Class action - Slater & Gordon - January 2017

meremarvin

I too got about 3/4 of the way through registering for the class action suit then thought "is this a scam?", so aborted. I have Seat Leon which hasn't been converted and I don't want it doing. I bought the car for its' low fuel consumption and free road tax, didn't care about the environmental impact.. I don't want to lose the 55-60 mpg and I don't believe that the emissions are any worse than diesels & petrol engines were years ago. Think back to the 80's - diesels without particulate filters or turbos to dilute the muck; uncatalysed petrol engines running on leaded petrol - the pollution being chucked out then must have been much worse!
Of course this could be just because engines are MORE efficient so create more pollution, using more oxygen and generating NOx. If that is the case then petrol engines should be more polluting
NOW the big question - do I HAVE to have my car converted? Can I still continue to drive it on the road? Answers on a Postcard please:eek:

neilmcl

Headancer wrote: »

Just as an aside I had re fix and im convinced I've lost about 10% on fuel consumption .

Has anybody else had similar issues ?

That could simply be simply down to the time of year. My MPG drops considerably during the cold months.

neilmcl

meremarvin wrote: »

NOW the big question - do I HAVE to have my car converted? Can I still continue to drive it on the road? Answers on a Postcard please:eek:

The simple answer is no, you do not have to have it done.

Goyley

I'm affected by this and also thought should I sign up today to the solicitors lodging the legal action? But I think not... the firm will take a 30% cut from any compensation.. Surely if the firm wins against VW, and VW have already had to pay compensation in the US and Spain I believe, then VW will automatically have to compensate all affected car owners anyway? And those consumers who haven't signed up to these no win no fee firms will be 30% better off without doing anything? What do you think?

Nautilus432

I'm also affected by this and still waiting for the modification on a Skoda 1.6. Also got most of the way through signing up today, but stalled on reading all the legal stuff.
The original posting from smipx013 and the later one from Goyley look for advice on whether or not to sign up. I guess the decision is not urgent, but any advice would be helpful.

hanfrangipane

welfayre wrote: »

The environmental impact of your car was such a big factor that you've waiting well over a year to even book your car in for the fix....;)

You don't get a choice! I've had about 6 letters from VW via the DVLA in the last 12 months, each one saying that they still hadn't established a fix for the issue on my particular engine and that they would be in touch when they had and each letter pushed the expected timeframe out by months. It was only the letter I've had in the last week that has said I can now contact a local dealer to schedule the work

hanfrangipane

motorguy wrote: »

So what has changed? Its the same car as you bought and its still doing the same MPG that it ever has for you, so why should you personally be compensated for the perceived impact on the environment of your car?

If I don't get the fix yes, my MPG will remain the same but if I want to sell the car nowhere I've been so far is interested until you've had the fix so it's impacting the resaleability and whilst I know you can't rely on resale values at the time you purchase something I'd say enough people are having issues with selling on cars that are involved to see that this is having an adverse impact

If I do get the fix then there's plenty of people saying performance and efficiency is impacted in which case no, it's not the same car I thought i purchased.

Wizzbang

Interested to know thoughts as well, as I've just been reading the legal documents and thinking the chance of any compensation reaching the poor car owners is next to nothing which such a huge cut being taken. Would we better to pursue our own claims? And as you say, surely the compensation could be mandated by Government, like it was in the USA.

After I don't know how many letters of grovelling from VW and some from the DVLA as well, my car got 'fixed' the week before Christmas. Of course, it's not fixed at all and we can only hope the readings are now accurate. Got some stupid VW box containing branded mints, umbrella, pen. Wish I'd refused it, they made it seem like it was vital to the running of my car and it was only when I got outside I realised what utter crap they think is a suitable apology. Probably cost them £1 and they give it out routinely when you buy an executive car anyway, apparently.

Wizzbang

motorguy wrote: »

Loving all the hand ringing being done about how people only bought their VW because of its environmental impact "think of the children", therefore VW needs to be punished - by putting cash into THEIR pockets!

In all the years i sold cars, not once ever did anyone tell me they were buying a specific car because of its environmental impact - great fuel economy, cheap road tax, residuals, etc, - yes all the time, but never because of its impact on the environment. Now all these "tree huggers" are coming out of the woodwork saying they were thinking of the environment when they bought a brand new £25K oil burner.

If you can see the com-pen-say-shun at least be honest enough to say you want to jump on the cultural bandwagon - lets not pretend its for the children, or for the trees, or for the little bunny rabbits or whatever.

I don't know how else you suggest they are punished? You can't throw a company in jail or smack their bottom. You have to hit a big corporation where it hurts and that's in Director's bonuses, both now and in the future. They should have thought about the potential consequences of their joint actions beforehand and the way of the world, is that they have to take what's coming to them.

welfayre wrote: »

Exactly, if the environmental aspect was an actual concern they would contact the dealer.

I contacted my dealer many times and there was no fix available apparently. I bet that was another lie because they couldn't cope with the sheer volume of cars they needed to get in, alongside normal servicing etc.

As always, some really nasty people on this forum. I bought my car new, only because the scrappage scheme was invented by the UK government. They apparently wanted my old, polluting Rover off the road and getting £2000 for a car that was only worth scrap value was one of the most sensible 'money-saving' decisions I've ever made! 3 years warranty on top and that's some years of trouble-free motoring. These haters can stand here and lambast owners as much as they want, but they can't pretend they wouldn't have made similar decisions had they been able to.

Ironically it seems that my old petrol Rover was probably a more environmentally friendly choice. Once again, the haters can't understand how some people would want to make a decision based on the environmental side of car ownership because they don't share the same values. True as it may be, a car is not the greenest transport option. However since Beeching got rid of the option of a train for the majority of the UK and buses are being cut constantly, they hardly have an argument. Just because someone owns a car, that doesn't say how much they use it - they could cycle half the week or more. But these know-it-alls can't see past their next snide comment.

The fundamental point here surely is that VW have committed fraud in any country where these vehicles were sold and that is punishable in any jurisdiction. Jealousy really does show itself in many forms. It would be nice if the actual owners of affected VW's, SEAT's and Skoda's could be left alone to have an intelligent discussion without these children butting in.

Norman_Castle

Wizzbang wrote: »

I don't know how else you suggest they are punished?

Large donation to the NHS.