THE deadline for the BMW emissions claim is rapidly approaching.
The major manufacturer, among others, is defending group legal action over allegedly manipulated emissions tests.
Thousands of Brits are believed to have been potentially affected by the scandal.
Here’s everything you need to know about what has happened so far and how to make your claim.
The Diesel emissions scandal, often known as Dieselgate, kicked off in 2015 when the world’s largest car manufacturer, VW Group, was served a Notice of Violation by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The EPA alleged that VW had used “defeat devices” in its diesel models to manipulate legally required emissions tests.
The agency claimed that the devices had been used to make the cars seem more eco-friendly than they actually were.
VW would admit that it had provided dishonest test results, with CEO Martin Winterkorn saying: “I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public.”
Mr Winterkorn resigned from his role in September 2015 and, since then, VW has confirmed that around 11 million cars worldwide were potentially affected.
The scandal has led to legal action from customers who claim that they were mis-sold their motors based on unreliable emissions data.
The BMW Group categorically rejects accusations that Euro 6 diesel vehicles sold by the company do not provide adequate exhaust gas treatment
BMW statement
Find out if your car is eligible to make a claim
After the initial action against VW Group, claims arose against a number of other major manufacturers, including BMW.
While the use of defeat devices is disputed in these cases, lawyers allege that the affected models produced more nitrogen oxide emissions than advertised by the brands.
The claimants argue that these cars were consequently mis-sold as knowledge of the true emissions would have affected whether or not they would buy the vehicle or how much they would pay.
Claims can also be made if the driver has had to pay for remedial work to make the car compliant with its advertised emissions, for example to qualify for a ULEZ exemption.
Find out if your car is eligible to make a claim
BMW Group has strongly denied any allegations of manipulating emissions tests.
When the company’s headquarters were raided by EU officials in 2017, it said: “The BMW Group wishes to make clear the distinction between potential violations of antitrust law on the one hand and illegal manipulation of exhaust gas treatment on the other.
“The BMW Group has not been accused of the latter.”
An earlier statement added: “The BMW Group categorically rejects accusations that Euro 6 diesel vehicles sold by the company do not provide adequate exhaust gas treatment due to AdBlue tanks that are too small.
“We compete to provide the best exhaust treatment systems: unlike other manufacturers, BMW Group diesel vehicles employ a combination of various components to treat exhaust emissions.
“Vehicles which use urea injection with AdBlue (SCR) to treat exhaust emissions also employ a NOx-storage catalytic converter.
“With this combination of technologies, we fulfil all legal emissions requirements and also achieve a very good real-life emissions performance.
“This means there is no need to recall or upgrade the software of BMW Group Euro 6 diesel passenger cars.”
However, legal action has been allowed to continue, with the High Court granting a set of 40,000 claimants a Group Litigation Order in November 2023.
The order means that BMW will face litigation over the allegations in the form of a single class action claim.
Find out if your car is eligible to make a claim
As a broad rule, diesel cars first registered between September 2009 and July 2016 could potentially be affected.
Investigations into which specific models could be involved are ongoing.
However, Thompson’s Solicitors have produced a list of BMW cars which may have been impacted.
They are:
Some petrol models were involved in the initial VW scandal, but the majority of affected cars were diesel.
This is in part due to the fact that petrol and diesel cars usually make use of different technology in their exhaust systems, while diesel is also considered the more harmful fuel in terms of emissions.
The best way to find out if your car was affected is to use a registration checker tool.
CheckMyVehicle allows drivers to check if their motor is eligible to make a claim online.
The level of compensation will depend largely on individual circumstances and any potential damages awarded by a court.
In the VW case, the firm settled out of court with a total of 91,000 claimants, with the average compensation package coming to £2,100.
However, experts at CheckMyVehicle estimate that subsequent claims against other manufacturers could yield payouts of up to £10,000 per affected vehicle.
Most law firms have already closed sign-up for BMW claims, with deadlines passing in May and June.
But CheckMyVehicle has extended their cut-off for emissions claims until September 7.
Drivers can use their online tool to check eligibility and join the claim on their website.
Their unique system can return your vehicle check in under 30 seconds and the firm has a “100% no win, no fee” guarantee.
Find out if your car is eligible to make a claim
In short, no it does not matter if you’ve sold the car.
Drivers can still make a claim if you previously owned an eligible vehicle, especially if emissions data later affected the sale price when they parted with it.
Brits can also apply for compensation on more than one vehicle, but they should avoid registering claims on the same vehicle with multiple law firms.
Yes you can still claim if you bought your BMW on finance.
This includes second-hand purchases and lease agreements like PCH.
As with a non-financed car, you can still claim even if the vehicle has now been sold or traded in.
Company car drivers can still make claims but face an extra hoop to jump through in order to do so.
While you can claim on a company car, it’s only possible if the contract for it was in your name.
If not, only the contract holder can apply for compensation regardless of who drove the vehicle when it was in use.
As usual with high-value legal action, claims could take a long time to progress through the court system.
BMW is completely disputing the allegations of emissions tampering and appears determine to fight the case all the way.
For reference, initial murmurs about BMW surfaced in 2017 and the case only received its Group Litigation Order in 2023.
And in the VW case, claims first arrived in court in May 2018 but were only due to reach trial last year before VW settled in 2022.
One law firm has even suggested that it could take up to five years for the result of the action against BMW to arrive.
Find out if your car is eligible to make a claim
