Currently reading: Volkswagen reaches £698 million Dieselgate settlement in Germany

More than 260,000 owners of VW Group models will receive payout after car giant settles class action lawsuit in its home country

Volkswagen has agreed an €830 million (£698 million) payout to settle a class action lawsuit in Germany relating to the Dieselgate scandal.

The German car giant’s agreement with the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (VZBV) was reached after discussions between the two sides brokered by courts in Braunschweig, where the case had been logged.

The VZBZ organised the class action for German buyers of Volkswagen Group vehicles fitted with the ‘defeat device’ that enabled the machines to beat emissions tests. It is estimated that around 260,000 members of the class action will be eligible for a share in the payout. The amount each will receive will range from €1350 to €6257 (£1140 to £5300), depending on the age and model of their car.

To date, the scandal, which broke in 2015, has cost VW more than £25 billion in fines and costs. The VW Group previously reached settlements with American and Australian owners, and had previously said it would defend European claims, citing different regulations that it says it did not breach. 

Volkswagen still faces a number of class action suits in other countries, including the UK, where court proceedings began late last year.

READ MORE

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James Attwood

James Attwood, digital editor
Title: Acting magazine editor

James is Autocar's acting magazine editor. Having served in that role since June 2023, he is in charge of the day-to-day running of the world's oldest car magazine, and regularly interviews some of the biggest names in the industry to secure news and features, such as his world exclusive look into production of Volkswagen currywurst. Really.

Before first joining Autocar in 2017, James spent more than a decade in motorsport journalist, working on Autosport, autosport.com, F1 Racing and Motorsport News, covering everything from club rallying to top-level international events. He also spent 18 months running Move Electric, Haymarket's e-mobility title, where he developed knowledge of the e-bike and e-scooter markets. 

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Citytiger 28 February 2020

Meanwhile in an alternative universe

Sheeple still buy these by the boatload and media outlets such as this give them fantastic reviews instead of taking them to task. 

fadyady 28 February 2020

Britain next

Hopefully
seljon 28 February 2020

Now then, let's see how much

Now then, let's see how much the UK government can get from VW for tax evasion on a massive scale. When you think how the cheat devices artificially put the cars in lower tax bands it must be hundreds of millions. What's that you say, the UK government has taken no action against VW? Surely some mistake?
catnip 29 February 2020

seljon wrote:

seljon wrote:

Now then, let's see how much the UK government can get from VW for tax evasion on a massive scale. When you think how the cheat devices artificially put the cars in lower tax bands it must be hundreds of millions. What's that you say, the UK government has taken no action against VW? Surely some mistake?

This is the real issue for me, here in the UK. Why do owners need compensating anyway? They got away with paying less tax for years, and have the resale values really been affected that much?

Peter Cavellini 1 March 2020

A few months.

catnip wrote:
seljon wrote:

Now then, let's see how much the UK government can get from VW for tax evasion on a massive scale. When you think how the cheat devices artificially put the cars in lower tax bands it must be hundreds of millions. What's that you say, the UK government has taken no action against VW? Surely some mistake?

This is the real issue for me, here in the UK. Why do owners need compensating anyway? They got away with paying less tax for years, and have the resale values really been affected that much?

When leaving the Eu becomes noticeable, foreign cars will get dearer to fix because import duty will be higher and the extra costs will passed on to the customer, what the UK settles for is debatable, it should be the same for all no matter where the car was sold on the Planet.