In the United States the involved group has been reimbursing customers who were affected by the diesel emissions scandal. In Germany however, customers who drive a manipulated diesel-car only rarely raise a claim against the car dealers or manufacturers. Yet, they are generally entitled to multiple claims.

Are you driving a manipulated diesel-car? Then you may have a case against car dealers and manufactures.

I. Your rights against the car dealer

Your car that contains a manipulated emissions software is afflicted with a material defect. § 439 BGB (German Civil Code) enables you, to demand a subsequent fulfillment in the form of an update of the software. If it isn’t reasonable to let you have a repair of the software done, for reasons such as a disturbed confidential relationship between you and the dealer, you may declare your withdrawal from the contract according to § 323 BGB.  The contract will then be reversed – in exchange for the manipulated car you’ll get your money back. If you have been driving the care for a while, there will simply be a compensation of use for the driven kilometers.

II. Your rights against the car manufacturer

Those who installed the manipulated software in your vehicle were not the car dealers though, but the manufacturers. That’s fraudulent conduct that violates the accepted principles of morality as the district court in Dortmund has decided in June 2017. Therefore, you may hold the right to claim compensation from the car manufacturer because of “immoral deceit” as it states in § 826 BGB, if the deceit has led to your decision to enter the contract.

As the driver of a manipulated car you may be subject to various risks and uncertainties. For instance, the resale value of the car will be considerably lower than the one of a proper car. Your environmental awareness may have also kept you from buying a car that emits too many pollutants.

So, if you are able to convincingly demonstrate, that you wouldn’t have bought the car, if you had known about the higher levels of air pollution, the car manufacturer may owe you compensation.

Do you still have questions? Do not hesitate to contact us!