02 February 2024 , 13:22
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Around half a million drivers could receive compensation payouts worth up to £16,000 if a legal claim is successful.
The court action, worth £3billion, has been made against Jaguar Land Rover by law firm Milberg LLP, which claims the luxury car brand fitted several of its popular vehicle models with faulty diesel particulate filters (DPFs). In legal papers which were filed to the High Court in March last year, the law firm alleges that the faulty part affects the car's performance and subjects the owners to costly repairs and "potentially serious" safety consequences.
The claim argues that cars with a defective DPF system need to be serviced more frequently than promised at the time of purchase, due to the system causing accelerated oil dilution leading to wear on engine components. It also resulted in the vehicle needing more frequent oil changes and in some cases drivers needed to replace their engine.
The law firm says those who bought their car - either new or preowned - after July 1, 2018 could be eligible to join the case. If successful, drivers signed up could receive compensation payouts estimated to be between £3,000 and £16,000.
The law firm estimates the payouts using the Consumer Protection law which says motorists could recover between 25% and 75% of the price of their vehicle depending on the severity of the "misleading or aggressive practice or the difference between the market price of the product at the time of sale, and the price paid."
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However, how much you receive depends on a range of factors including how much drivers paid for their car and how much harm the Court determines Jaguar Land Rover caused by its behaviour.
The law firm intends to apply for a Group Litigation Order (GLO) and is currently in the "early stage" of the litigation process. The case is being funded by a third party litigation funder which will receive part of the compensation costs if the case is successful - this means those who sign up do not need to pay anything to be part of the claim. If the case is unsuccessful, then the third party funder covers the costs.
Currently, around 10,000 people have registered to claim and the group's focus is recruiting claimants who have been affected.
According to the law firm, drivers with the following model could join the claim:
- Land Rover Discovery Sport (L550)- Range Rover Evoque (L538 and L551)
- Jaguar E-Pace (X450)
- Range Rover (L405)
- Range Rover Sport (L494)
- Land Rover Discovery (L462)
- Jaguar XE (X760)
- Jaguar XF (X260)
- Jaguar F-Pace (X761)
- Land Rover Velar (L560)
You can check whether you are eligible to register and to do this you can enter your vehicle registration into Milberg's official website for the claim which you can find under its current cases here. Milberg said the case would potentially take up to five years to see a result however, it's legal team would be issuing frequent updates on the case every six to eight weeks to those registered.
Commenting on the claim, James Oldnall, managing partner at Milberg and lead litigator said: “We’ve learned that certain models are overly prone to issues with DPF. UK Drivers will be used to seeing DPF warning lights on their dashboard. This is because the DPF systems installed by Jaguar Land Rover were not fit for purpose.
“We are aware of some customers who have even experienced their vehicles switching into ‘Limp Home Mode’, which, at best is inconvenient, at worst dangerous. Yet, Jaguar Land Rover has been happy to continue to sell these cars without disclosing the challenges drivers will meet if they buy one of the affected vehicles. We want to seek redress for those who have not only been misled by Jaguar Land Rover but have been put at risk by the company not admitting affected car models have defective components including faulty exhaust filters."
A spokesperson for Land Rover said: "The safety and quality of our products is our highest priority, ensuring they meet all the regulations and standards of the markets where they are purchased. We vigorously contest any claim related to our diesel particulate filters."