Dieselgate: German court rules Volkswagen must buy back car involved in fake emissions tests
- It is five years since Volkswagen admitted to cheating on emissions tests, but this ruling is the first real legal setback for the carmaker in its home country
- The ruling, which upheld the finding of a lower court, could establish an important precedent for other customers seeking compensation
Judges at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe “effectively upheld” a lower court’s ruling that plaintiff Herbert Gilbert can return his car to VW for reimbursement, but he must also accept a discount from the original purchase price for the time he used it.
“Volkswagen now aims to soon bring these cases to a close in agreement with the plaintiffs,” the company said in a statement, promising “appropriate offers” to affected owners.
“This judgment means legal certainty for millions of consumers and shows once again that even a huge corporation isn’t above the law,” Gilbert’s lawyer Claus Goldenstein said in a statement.
Lead judge Stephan Seiters revisited the familiar story of how VW “for many years systematically brought vehicles onto the market whose software was programmed so that they only met [emissions] limits under test conditions”.
Judges said the mere fact of selling the modified car to the plaintiff harmed him – even though VW has always argued the vehicles were “usable” for their intended purpose.
Monday’s hearing specifically concerned a case brought by 65-year-old Gilbert who bought a diesel-powered Volkswagen Sharan minivan in 2014 – just one of the 11 million cars worldwide fitted with emissions cheating software by the carmaker.