Leigh Day is investigating a potential group claim against Nissan & Renault over an alleged ‘defeat device’ fitted on some of their cars in order to artificially reduce emissions to pass EU tests.

Monitoring shows that when the vehicles are driven on the road, they emit many times more levels of toxic Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) gases than under test conditions. This is extremely damaging, as increased levels of NOx contribute to air pollution, which is reported to be the largest environmental risk to UK public health and is linked to as many as 64,000 early deaths a year.

Leigh Day believe that defeat devices are unlawful under UK law and they are planning on bringing legal claims for compensation on behalf of consumers who purchased those vehicles that were affected. The claims are being investigated on behalf of people who leased or owned Nissan or Renault diesel vehicles. The claims could be worth up to 75% of the purchase price of the vehicle for each owner.

If you bought or leased a diesel Nissan or Renault vehicle, your vehicle may be affected and you may be able to apply to join the claim. Please click the ‘CHECK NOW’ button to see if you’re eligible.

Leigh Day are fighting for compensation on behalf of owners of BMW vehicles who we believe were deliberately misled over the environmental performance of their vehicles.

This concerns BMW’s use of alleged ‘defeat devices’ in some of their diesel cars, aimed at artificially reducing NOx emissions to levels which pass regulatory tests.

A number of tests have found that some BMW vehicles were producing NOx emissions that were higher than the permitted levels.  

Leigh Day believe that the ‘defeat devices’ used in the vehicles are unlawful under UK law and consequently, there are potentially hundreds of thousands of unlawfully polluting vehicles still on the roads in the UK.

Leigh Day believe that owners of the affected vehicles should be compensated because they were mis-sold these vehicles, which were advertised as being more environmentally friendly with lower NOx emissions.

Increased levels of nitrogen dioxide emissions are harmful to the environment and to the health of children and adults.

This case is in its early stages, but we expect it to follow the trajectory of the other emissions cases, including VW and Mercedes.

Leigh Day have  secured funding from a litigation funder to ensure they have the resources available to instruct the best experts and barristers and to have a large enough legal team to ensure that our clients get the best service possible.

Please complete our online vehicle registration checker to confirm if your vehicle is eligible to join the claim. Please note that the claims are still in the early investigation stage. It may be that following receipt of further evidence, we do not consider your particular vehicle to be affected by the emissions issue. If this is the case we will explain this to you fully.

Complete our form as fully as possible. We will need you to provide us with your vehicle registration number so that we can confirm whether your vehicle is affected.

There are a number of deadlines that may apply to each claim. These will vary depending on the type of claim you are eligible to bring.

Claims have strict time limits and you cannot make a claim once the relevant time limit has passed. We would suggest  completing our form as soon as possible.

You do not need to have any documents to start your claim with Leigh Day.

At some stage they will ask you to provide them with documents regarding the purchase of your vehicle, including, for example, the contract of sale or other proof of purchase, finance agreement and/or lease agreement. If you have these documents, please place them somewhere safe until we request them. Do not worry if you no longer have these documents, Leigh Day will be in touch with details about how to request them.

These vehicles are not covered by the current sign up process. However, to register your interest in bringing a claim in relation to these models, please contact us directly on NissanRenault@leighday.co.uk

If your vehicle is eligible Leigh Day will offer to act for you on a “No Win-No Fee’ basis. This means that they’ll deduct up to 35% (inclusive of VAT) of your damages if the claim is successful. They provide two worked examples below to assist your understanding:

Awarded compensation: £7,500

After deductions, the minimum amount you will receive: £4,875

Awarded compensation: £2,500

After deductions, the minimum amount you will receive: £1,625

If the claim is unsuccessful you will not have to pay anything. Their Success Fee, the insurance premium and any funder’s fees will never be more than 35% of your damages, irrespective of the number of claimants within the group.

Once you have checked that you are eligible to bring a claim, Leigh Day will ask you to read through our funding agreement and sign the same. You will then be a client of the firm.

If you lose (that is, you get no money back from the Defendants), then you do not have to pay us anything.

We will arrange insurance to protect you against the risk of losing and having to pay the Nissan/ Renault Group’s legal costs.

Yes, if the contract is in your name and the vehicle is affected, you are able to bring a claim.

Yes, if the contract is in your name and the vehicle is affected, you are able to bring a claim.

Provided you are able to confirm that your vehicle is affected, yes. You will need to check your vehicle registration number and we will ask you to provide us with your vehicle purchase documents.

Provided all the vehicles you want to claim for are affected, yes. We need you to complete a separate questionnaire for each of your vehicles.

No, it does not matter where you bought your Nissan/Renault vehicle as long as it was bought in England or Wales. You are eligible to bring a claim against the manufacturer whether you bought your vehicle from a Nissan/Renault showroom, from a private seller or from a third-party dealer, or if you bought the car for business purposes.

Yes, you will still be able to claim regardless of whether your vehicle was bought new or second hand.

At this early stage, it is impossible for us to give an accurate prediction of timescale. As with any legal claim, there are some things within Leigh Day’s control and some things outside their control. Much will depend on the Defendants’ response to the legal claim.

In Leigh Day’s experience, group claims of this type may take two to five years to progress through the Court, but it could take longer. As a client you will be provided with regular updates, particularly in relation to the timescale for next steps, which can be predicted more accurately than for the case as a whole.

The types of legal claims we would recommend you bring will depend on your individual circumstances (such as when you bought your vehicle, whether you bought it from an authorised dealer and whether it was paid for using finance). As such it is impossible to say that all claims will be worth a certain amount.

For those clients who are eligible to bring a claim under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (“CPUT”) (those being people who bought their vehicle on or after 1 October 2014, via an approved dealer or using approved finance and for non-business use) are entitled to recover a discount on payments made ranging from 25% to 100%. The compensation recoverable under other types of claim is more dependent on proving loss and a lower amount may be recoverable than under CPUT.

This is the first time that these types of claims are being brought against Nissan and Renault in the English courts. Leigh Day is one of the country’s leading law firms and bringing group actions on behalf of consumers is one of our key areas of speciality. Leigh Day are joint-lead lawyers in a similar emissions litigation on behalf of Volkswagen owners and recently won the first round of the case against Volkswagen in the UK High Court.