Car makers and two trading bodies have been fined a total more than £77m by the Competition and Markets Authority after admitting to breaking competition law in relation to vehicle recycling and advertising claims.

BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot Citroen, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall and Volkswagen, as well as trade associations the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) and the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) have been fined a total of £77,688,917.

The car manufacturers admitted agreeing not to compete against one another when advertising what percentage of their cars can be recycled and colluding to avoid paying third parties to recycle scrap cars.

Mercedes-Benz was also involved in the agreements but, under the CMA's leniency policy is exempt from paying a fine after it alerted the authority. 

Manufacturers are required to include details on recyclability in their advertising material. The CMA found all 10 illegally agreed that they would not advertise if their vehicles went above the minimum recyclability requirement of 85%, even if the actual percentage was higher. All except Renault also agreed not to share information with their customers about the percentage of recycled material in their vehicles.

The agreement was set out in an 'ELV Charta' and was referenced in emails, internal documents and meeting minutes. 

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From April 2004 to May 2018, BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot Citroen, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall and Volkswagen were involved in a ‘buyers’ cartel’ in which manufacturers agreed they would not pay companies to handle the recycling of their customer’s old or written-off vehicles, the CMA said. The ACEA, SMMT, Nissan and Mitsubishi joined the agreement in 2006 and in 2016 Jaguar Land Rover also joined.

All of the car manufacturers and industry bodies have settled with the CMA. In doing so, they have admitted to taking part in illegal behaviour.

Ford received the highest fines, totalling £18,541,929, while Volkswagen’s total fines reached £14,755,900.

Lucilia Falsarella Pereira, senior director of competition enforcement at the CMA, said: ‘Agreeing with competitors the prices you’ll pay for a service or colluding to restrict competition is illegal and this can extend to how you advertise your products. This kind of collusion can limit consumers’ ability to make informed choices and lower the incentive for companies to invest in new initiatives.’