Bought or leased a NEW car or van between 18 Oct 2006 and 6 Sept 2015? You may be due a share of £55.87m

This article covers a new area, and doesn't constitute legal advice. If you've feedback or questions we've not answered below, email news@moneysavingexpert.com.

Cars, vans and other vehicles manufactured abroad are often brought to the UK in large container ships, run by shipping companies. That means a small part of the price you pay when buying or leasing a new vehicle goes towards these shipping costs.

But a legal claim alleged that consumers had been indirectly charged too much in shipping costs – and the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT – which handles competition and regulatory cases) has agreed. It means you may soon be able to claim compensation – and over 25 million vehicles are eligible.

Check if your vehicle is eligible

You are eligible if you:

1. Were based in the UK and bought or leased a NEW car or van between 18 October 2006 and 6 September 2015 – even if you've since sold or returned the vehicle. This includes those who've used the Motability Scheme.
   
   You could get even more compensation if you bought or leased a subsequent new vehicle between 7 September 2015 and 31 December 2019. However, if you only bought or leased a vehicle between these dates, you won't qualify.

2. The vehicle was manufactured by an affected brand – it doesn't matter where your vehicle was made or shipped from. Use our tool below to quickly check whether your car's manufacturer is included.

You may be due a small payout of £25 or more

A total of £55.87 million in compensation will be made available. Payouts will start at:

• £25 for the first vehicle;

• £5 for each of the next two to six;

• £2.50 thereafter.

Payouts may increase if fewer people than expected make a valid claim. This would be determined at a later hearing. A proportion of any unclaimed funds may also be paid out to the Access to Justice Foundation.

How to get the money

You can't apply for compensation yet, but here's what we know about how it'll work:

• You can register your interest now at cardeliverycharges.com/register. This means you'll be told when the window to apply for compensation opens.

• The window to claim will be open for six months, but compensation will be available on a first come, first served basis – once it's gone, it's gone.

• The claims process is expected to take about 10-minutes.

• Claiming for six or fewer vehicles? You will NOT need to provide supporting documentation. You should only need to supply the brand of your vehicle/s and sign a legal "Statement of Truth" confirming that you owned or rented the vehicle/s.

• Claiming for seven or more vehicles? You will need to provide additional verification. This might include vehicle registration numbers or extracts from accounts.

• Compensation will be paid on a rolling basis, and you should get your money within days or weeks.

• You can claim on behalf of someone who's since passed away. So long as 1) you're managing their estate, 2) they meet the eligibility criteria, and 3) the person died AFTER 20 February 2022.

There shouldn't be any risk joining the claim

Because the group claim is on an opt-out basis, it means you're automatically eligible to claim compensation if you match all of the criteria and you haven't already opted out – the deadline by which to do so has already passed.

So you're unlikely to be able to bring your own separate claim.

Campaigner Mark McLaren – who sits on the Consumer Panel of the Legal Services Board and is a director of the Property Ombudsman – brought this class claim and is therefore liable for all costs, along with a third-party funder.

Why you may have overpaid

• In 2018: the European Commission found that five vehicle shipping companies were operating what it called a "cartel" between 2006 and 2015. This meant they were sharing confidential information with one another, skewing prices and artificially limiting the number of vehicles they could ship, meaning they could hike prices even further.

• In 2020: Mr McLaren, alongside law firm Scott + Scott, brought a case to the CAT. They argued that these shipping firms passed their inflated delivery pricing onto UK car manufacturers, who then (through no fault of their own) passed these prices onto consumers.

• In September 2026: The CAT formally approved a compensation scheme, with £55.87 million made available to millions of affected motorists. This came after after settlements totalling £92.75 million with all five firms. Some of this will go to legal and administrative costs.