Canadians who bought cars between 1998 & 2017 could be owed cash from this $50M settlement

If you bought or leased a vehicle in Canada sometime between 1998 and 2017, there’s a decent chance you’re owed some money — and claiming it doesn’t take much effort.

A new distribution of funds has been approved as part of a series of class action lawsuits tied to an alleged price-fixing scheme involving 45 auto parts. The claim is that manufacturers colluded to inflate the cost of those parts, which in turn drove up the price consumers paid for their vehicles over the years.

Nearly $50 million is now being redistributed to more than one million eligible Canadian vehicle owners.

Who qualifies?

The pool of eligible people is broad. If you purchased or leased a car, SUV, van or light truck from a major manufacturer during the covered period, you may be entitled to compensation. Brands included are Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru, BMW, Hyundai, Kia and several others.

Some people will be automatically considered eligible if they already submitted a claim in a previous round of this settlement. But if your vehicle falls into the newly included category, you’ll need to submit a claim before the May 12 deadline. Those newly added vehicles and their covered purchase windows are:

• BMW and Mini Cooper: December 5, 2014 to May 31, 2017
• Ford, Lincoln and Mercury: August 1, 2015 to May 31, 2017
• Hyundai and Kia: January 1, 2007 to May 31, 2016
• Mercedes-Benz and Smart: November 29, 2004 to May 31, 2017
• Mitsubishi: July 1, 1998 to July 31, 2015
• Suzuki: July 1, 1998 to May 31, 2016

If you’re not sure whether you qualify, it’s worth checking anyway.

How much could you get?

Don’t expect a windfall, but each approved claim is estimated to pay out a minimum of $25 regardless of how many vehicles you owned during the eligible period. The final amounts depend on the total number of claims filed and the value attached to each auto part covered by the individual lawsuits, since each part corresponds to a separate class action.

In some cases, administrators may be able to validate your purchase directly through manufacturer data, meaning your information could already be pre-filled and you may not need to dig up old paperwork.

The deadline is coming up fast

This is the third and potentially final round of fund distribution, which means if you don’t submit a claim by the May 12 deadline for newly included vehicles, you may not get another shot at this.

Claims can be submitted at autopartsettlement.ca.