Millions of drivers are set to be paid £25 each following a legal case, entirely separate to the ongoing finance misselling scandal. Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert reports that anyone who bought or leased a new car or van between October 18, 2006 and September 6, 2015 could be due a share of £55.8million, which averages out to roughly £25 each.
Why drivers are owed money
MSE reports: “Cars, vans and other vehicles manufactured abroad are often brought to the UK in large container ships, run by shipping companies. That means a small part of the price you pay when buying or leasing a new vehicle goes towards these shipping costs.”
“But a legal claim alleged that consumers had been indirectly charged too much in shipping costs – and the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT – which handles competition and regulatory cases) has agreed. It means you may soon be able to claim compensation – and over 25 million vehicles are eligible.”
Who is eligible
Those who bought or leased a brand new car (not used) or van between October 18, 2006 and September 6, 2015 could be eligible, even if the car has since been sold or returned, and including those using the Motability scheme.
Those who bought or leased another new vehicle between September 7, 2015 and December 21, 2019 could get ‘even more compensation’, MSE says, but if you only bought or leased between these later dates, then you won’t qualify - it has to be just the earlier dates, or both, but not just the later dates.
The vehicle also needs to have been manufactured by one of 37 brands, including big names like Ford, BMW, Citroen, Honda, Jeep, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Toyota, Suzuki, MG, Kia and VW.
How much you could get
The payout works out at £25 for the first vehicle, £5 for each of the next two to six and then £2.50 for every vehicle thereafter.
The website to make a claim initially crashed after inclusion in the MSE newsletter but is now back up and running at: https://www.cardeliverycharges.com/register/
Posting on the site, lead representative Mark McLaren wrote: “Mark McLaren is representing millions of motorists and businesses who bought or leased a new car or van, in an action against five major shipping companies.
“In Europe, it is a breach of competition law for competitors to agree on the prices to charge, and divide customers amongst themselves. From October 2006 to September 2012, the shipping companies were in a cartel and exchanged commercially sensitive information, coordinated prices and divided customers amongst themselves, to avoid competing with each other.
“The cartel is likely to have made the cost of shipping new cars and vans into the UK and Europe higher than it should have been. If new car and van buyers were the victims of the cartel, they will be part of the claim to recover damages from the shipping companies.”
