LONDON, 11 October 2023: A settlement has been agreed between Mark McLaren, class representative in the Car Delivery Charges claim on behalf of UK consumers and businesses who purchased or leased new cars and vans, and CSAV, one of the five defendant shipping groups.

Scott+Scott, the law firm instructed by McLaren, and Wilmer Hale, the law firm instructed by CSAV have made a formal application to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) to seek approval of this settlement.  The application explains why the proposed settlement is just and reasonable. This will be followed by a hearing at the CAT on 6 December 2023 where McLaren and CSAV will ask the CAT to approve the proposed settlement.

Class members may apply to make submissions either in writing or orally at the hearing to approve the proposed settlement. Applications should be filed with the Tribunal by 30 October 2023.

The value of the proposed settlement is £1.5m. CSAV is the smallest defendant in the cartel, with 1.7% market share of the cartel. This will not settle the claim against the other 4 defendant groups, which is expected to proceed, with a trial due to be listed in early 2025.

Over 17 million cars are said to have been affected by a price-fixing scheme run by international shipping firms MOL, “K” Line, NYK, WWL/EUKOR and CSAV. Those affected are consumers and businesses who bought new vehicles from many of the leading brands including Ford, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, Peugeot, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota, Citroen and Renault between October 2006 and September 2015. Anyone who wishes to register their interest in receiving updates about the clam can do so here: Register | Car Delivery Charges

This legal action follows the European Commission’s (EC) ruling on 21 February 2018 that the above shipping companies had violated EU competition law and were made to pay fines of over €395m. The EC held that the shippers had coordinated rates, allocated tenders, coordinated reductions of capacity in the market and exchanged commercially sensitive information to maintain or increase the price of intercontinental shipping of new vehicles.

The Notice of Settlement Application can be found here.