MSE News: Was your car affected by the VW emissions scandal? You could claim £1,000s

JustAnotherSaver

MSE staff makes post
MSE members complain & pull it apart.

Don't often see that.

Johno100

mjm3346 wrote: »

Fair enough, if they can pass a "lifestyle" test that shows the owner was "green" at the time of purchase and since - as in always recycles, every appliance they have is top rated for energy efficiency, insulation measures (double glazing, loft, cavity walls etc) are the best available, they try to use public transport or walk whenever possible - that would be a start in convincing that "actual" emissions were the main reason for purchase.

And also promise not to spend any windfall they might receive on a long haul foreign holiday. It's quite amazing the number of people who bang on about green matters and try to dicate to others, who seem to have no issue with flying away on holiday a couple of times a year.

LesU

Shouldn't all of the compensation go to asthma charities or the like? Or this cash to help the drivers when they are sued for polluting the cities they have driven through.;)

Johnmcl7

wakeupalarm wrote: »

What about all the extra pollution caused by these cars? Shouldn't a claim be made by the Government to recover the lost higher road tax?

No, because pretty much every car in Europe is polluting far worse than it's supposed to be and there's plenty cars polluting much more than VW as you can see from the link above. They may not have fitted cheat devices but they were bending the rules so far that in the real world, their cars are far above the limits they were supposed to have passed.

This is the difference between the European and US situation which is why they shouldn't be compared, in the US the VW cars were the only ones polluting above the limit hence the massive fines. There's far less diesel cars in the US (petrol cars generally have much lower Nox emissions than diesels) and rival diesel cars in the US had SCR systems fitted which meant they were running within the Nox limits.

VT82

I was looking at the Harcus Sinclair class action yesterday with a view to joining it. What the article doesn't address is whether or not everyone affected would be eligible for a payout if the lawsuit is successful (i.e. for starters everyone who has received a letter about going in for a fix), or just those signed up to the class action. It also doesn't say what cut Harcus Sinclair would get out of it if they win, and nor does their website. Does anyone have this information?

FWIW, my sister was in the process of replacing her Audi A3 with a company car when the emissions scandal broke, and it wiped thousands off her resale value in the short term, which was crystallised as a loss to her.

I was affected by the NOx scandal, but still have my car. I want a piece of the pie because I was never dumb enough to be mis-sold PPI, ID theft protection, packaged bank accounts etc. And because having to sort out taking the car in for the fix will be a ball ache however much they are claiming they are making it straightforward, plus who knows what it will really do to my car.

oldhand

Hope MSE towers are not in bed with the ambulance chasers?...

Slipperyjim_2

VT82 wrote: »

I was looking at the Harcus Sinclair class action yesterday with a view to joining it. What the article doesn't address is whether or not everyone affected would be eligible for a payout if the lawsuit is successful (i.e. for starters everyone who has received a letter about going in for a fix), or just those signed up to the class action. It also doesn't say what cut Harcus Sinclair would get out of it if they win, and nor does their website. Does anyone have this information?

From what I read they will take 30% of any settlement. So that's £1000 for each client they manage to get £3000 for!

steampowered

MSE, this is not a class action!

It is a group litigation order. In the UK, class actions are only available for competition law infringements.

Class actions are really quite different to group litigation!

You don't have to "opt in" to a class action, such as the Mastercard case. But you do have to "opt in" to group litigation, such as the VW case.

Opting in to group litigation means you are at risk of having to pay VW's costs if the litigation fails - although it looks like Slater & Gordon have arranged insurance to cover that.

Stoke

Save the rainforest bro.

Or.... cycle?

steampowered

VT82 wrote: »

I was looking at the Harcus Sinclair class action yesterday with a view to joining it. What the article doesn't address is whether or not everyone affected would be eligible for a payout if the lawsuit is successful (i.e. for starters everyone who has received a letter about going in for a fix), or just those signed up to the class action. It also doesn't say what cut Harcus Sinclair would get out of it if they win, and nor does their website. Does anyone have this information?

Both of these cases are in fact "group litigation orders", not "class actions".

Therefore you would have to opt in if you want to get a pay-out.

If the case is successful I suppose it would be a helpful precedent for other consumers to claim compensation latter, but the same level of compensation is not guaranteed (for example people who don't participate would not necessarily be entitled to any out of court settlement).

I had a quick look at the Harcus Sinclair documents (which are available on their website), and it looks like their costs are based on hourly rates (with an uplift if the claim is successful) rather than on a percentage. So I suppose the legal costs would be calculated and a proportion of that deducted from each person's compensation.