Dieselgate: Volkswagen agrees to compensate Italian consumers
16 May 2024by BEUC -- last modified 16 May 2024
Italian owners of Volkswagen cars fitted with defeat devices will finally get compensation. This is the outcome of a settlement agreed between BEUC’s Italian member Altroconsumo and Volkswagen, in the Italian Dieselgate case initiated in 2015. Volkswagen agreed to compensate 60,000 consumers for a total amount of €50 million.
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BEUC hails this settlement as a victory for Italian consumers and urges Volkswagen to compensate affected consumers in other European countries. The settlement between Altroconsumo and Volkswagen has been coordinated by Euroconsumers, of which Altroconsumo is a member.
Monique Goyens, BEUC's Director General, commented:
"This is a win for Italian consumers, thanks to the relentless efforts of our member Altroconsumo. This announcement gives hope to the thousands of consumers in other European countries still waiting to be compensated for being sold a car more polluting than advertised.
"This is only one step in consumers' long recovery from the Dieselgate scandal which hit over eight years ago. We need Volkswagen to take responsibility for its large-scale fraud and compensate consumers affected in the other European countries."
Background
Wherever possible, BEUC member organisations filed collective redress actions to defend their consumers. However, due to the lack of collective redress tools in some countries, BEUC members were not able to seek justice for all their consumers or had no choice but bring actions on behalf of individual consumers as test cases.
Countries with BEUC members involved in ongoing actions are Austria (Verein für Konsumenteninformation), Belgium (Testachats/Testaankoop), France (UFC-Que Choisir and CLCV), Luxembourg (Union Luxembourgeoise des Consommateurs), Netherlands (Consumentenbond), Portugal (DECO).
BEUC is the umbrella group for 45 independent consumer organisations from 31 countries. Its main role is to represent them to the EU institutions and defend the interests of European consumers.BEUC is the umbrella group for 45 independent consumer organisations from 31 countries. Its main role is to represent them to the EU institutions and defend the interests of European consumers.
European Consumer Organisation (BEUC)