Do I buy another VW?
February 14, 2023, 8:29 am , by Richard Lutz
Richard Lutz reports from the end of a long road
I’ve won.
Or rather my lawyers have won.
They’ve successfully forced Volkswagen to hand over a whack of cash for allegedly faking emission test results.
It’s taken a long time. The scandal broke back in 2015. The VW Group didn’t admit guilt. They just agreed a pay-out. And since it’s more than 7 years since the so called Dieselgate affair blew up, it is at least progress to know claims have been settled.
My case was raised in a Scottish court. It wasn’t part of the £193m settlement in England. That’s because my car was registered north of the border where I bought my Passat a decade ago. So it’s been a successful but slow route. And to be fair, my Glasgow lawyers always did more or less say: ‘Don’t book that world cruise yet. It’ll take time.’ And they were right.
But now the money has been handed over. And press reports say other companies, such as Volvo, Mercedes and Nissan, are in the frame and may also have to cough up. Mercedes, for one, has 330,000 claimants chasing it through the courts.
So, how much dosh do I get? Legal restrictions stop me from telling you. But an agreed press release from lawyers mentioned that £11.9m was paid out to a total of 7800 Scottish VW owners. The full statement is below.
What will I do with my settlement? Well, a ten year old car with 90,000 miles on the clock always needs a bit of tender care. If not garage bills.
There’s the dicky sensor lights that suddenly go haywire, some nasty bodywork that resembles the remains of a dinosaur attack, a windscreen washer reservoir that continually needs a re-fill, a blown exhaust valve and…well, not much else.
So, I have to say that despite the dubious VW practices, my car is a good machine. It’s comfortable for long trips. It gets 65mpg on the open road. Its back hatch gobbles up baggage, junk on the way to the tip and furniture that needs to be wrestled inside. And that’s the problem. VW, whatever its behaviour, makes decent cars. And that begs the question: Do I buy another Volkswagen?
Here’s the statement in full:
The Volkswagen Group and the pursuers have today reached an out of court settlement in the VW Group NOx Emissions Group Proceedings in the Court of Session. That group action concerns those claims, which first became public in September 2015, made in respect of the two mode software installed in certain Volkswagen Group vehicles with EA189 diesel engines.The terms and conditions of the settlement are confidential.
No admissions in respect of liability, causation or loss have been made by any of the defenders in the group action as part of the settlement. In Volkswagen’s view, the legal costs of litigating this case to trial in Scotland, and then in relation to any further appeals by either party, were such that settlement was the most prudent course of action commercially.
The agreed settlement resolves circa 7,800 claims that were being brought against various Volkswagen Group entities in that group action in Scotland. These claims were brought on behalf of consumers by the law firms Thompsons Scotland, Slater & Gordon, Lefevres, Drummond Miller, and Jones Whyte.
As a consequence of the settlement, a payment of £11.9M is being made to the pursuers by the Volkswagen Group in respect of the claims relating to the two mode software.
The Volkswagen Group is not participating in the distribution or allocation of the above sums, which will be allocated between the pursuers in proportions agreed amongst the various pursuers’ solicitors’ firms and those from whom they take instructions.
The settlement applies only to claims in the Group Proceedings. It has no bearing on any other claims relating to other engines in Scotland or any other jurisdiction
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Alan Holland
You now face a dilemma. Current thinking suggests you should run your old car into the ground rather than buy a new one with its attendant carbon cost of construction but you are presumably outraged by the true amount of NOX that your car emits. Why else take action against VW?
So. To pollute with CO2 in a new car or NOX in an old one? What price principles, eh?😉
Chris Truesdale
A definite maybe – we’ve heard that a lot! Nice one.
David Syme
What the lawyers getting?
Scott Ferguson
Well, that’s good news
Abi Tenby
Enjoy the dosh
Naz Q
Good to see VW have paid up, at last, but I guess m’learned friends got a fair slice of the pie?
Ken Howe
Don’t book the world cruise yet- ha!
Anne Turley
I sent this to a friend who is a VW nut. He appreciated it.
Y.I. Mann
Wow, I used to own a VW diesel but it was a 2007 model, so too early to make the cut. Enjoy your windfall!
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