Volkswagen have had their $1.21 billion settlement to their dealers approved by a U.S. district judge.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer has given his approval for 625 Volkswagen dealers to be paid a fixed sum over 18 months for the negative impact of the VW emissions scandal has caused on their businesses.

Split between the hundreds of dealerships, each one will receive around $1.85 million over the year and a half period. Dealers have reportedly been hit by a mountain of complaints and abuse by disgruntled vehicle owners, and their sales have dropped dramatically due to the huge impact of the scandal on VW’s reputation. Therefore an initial sum of $270 million will be provided for prior payments and an extra $175 million will be given over 18 months for ongoing sales incentives.

The diesel gate scandal goes back to September of 2015 when Volkswagen were found to have been installing so-called “defeat devices” in their cars to “cheat” official emissions testing.

Their actions meant that millions of VW vehicle owners found their cars to have depreciated in value. Due to this, some owners have found it incredibly hard to sell their cars, and some who managed it say they’ve lost value. Meanwhile, the huge amount of Nitrous Oxide emissions previously undetected by testing has continued to spew out of the cars; no doubt causing human and environmental damage.

New pay-out on top of previous ones

Volkswagen have already agreed to pay out a total of $22 billion in fines, settlements, and compensation. Last October, VW announced a buy back scheme to repurchase affected vehicles from owners at their pre-scandal trade in value, plus an additional $5,000 to $10,000 as restitution for all the trouble.

Some $10 billion was used on this buy back scheme, along with owner compensation.

In response to the outcries over the environmental damage the Nitrous Oxide pollution caused, Volkswagen also committed $4.6 million on scientific programs aimed at rectifying emissions, as well as to invest in zero emissions vehicle projects.

Still no compensation in the U.K.

The amount of money Volkswagen has been paying out is absolutely monumental, yet one can’t help but wonder: ‘what about the U.K.?’

It’s not like the U.S. is the only one affected by the emissions scandal. Of the 11 million vehicles affected worldwide, we have 1.2 million. So where is our generous buy back scheme? Where is our financial commitment for the environment?

This is where we – the Car Emissions Lawyers – come in. We don’t think it’s fair that the giant car maker who can pay billions and billions to U.S. consumers can simply deny liability in the U.K. and ignore the fact that VW has deceived millions of U.K. owners. We demand that VW be accountable for their actions, and through financial compensation, justice be found.

We are currently involved in the U.K.’s largest ever Group Action Claim with thousands of claimants joining to claim what’s due to them.

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