VW owners affected by “Dieselgate” in Switzerland will not receive compensation
The "Dieselgate" scandal refers to a widespread controversy surrounding the illegal use of software in certain diesel vehicles manufactured by Volkswagen Group (VW) that allowed them to emit more harmful pollutants than legally allowed.
Keystone / Julian Stratenschulte
Swiss VW drivers come away empty-handed in the so-called Dieselgate scandal. The class action lawsuit filed in Germany by 2,000 owners of Volkswagen diesel vehicles with manipulated engines will be dropped without compensation.
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Proprietários de VW não receberão indenização na Suíça em caso “Dieselgate”
The French-speaking Swiss consumer protection organisation Fédération romande des consommateurs (FRC) issued a statement on Saturday to Swiss public broadcaster RTS on the matter. The plaintiffs were hoping for compensation of between 1,600 and 5,000 euros (CHF1,530-CHF4,780 at current rates), according to the FRC.
It is a scandal that, given those responsible who have been criminally convicted, the Swiss are practically the only ones who cannot be compensated in the VW affair, Sophie Michaud Gigon, FRC secretary general told RTS.
By the end of 2017, more than 2,000 people had assigned their rights to myRight for a class action lawsuit brought against the car manufacturer in Germany by a Berlin law firm.
After a first failure by a German-speaking owner, the platform decided not to fight for the Swiss because the advance costs were also very high, as Sophie Michaud Gigon further noted.
According to the FRC, the VW Group has already spent almost CHF30 billion on compensation and legal costs. In 2018, the lawsuit filed by the German consumer association VZBV led to a settlement in favor of 260,000 customers. The compensation ranged from 1,350 to 6,257 euros per person.
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