Exhaust on a car in Stuttgart
Photo: picture alliance / Franziska Kraufmann / dpa
Diesel plaintiffs who have leased a car affected by the VW emissions scandal do not get the payments back.
Unlike when buying a car, there is no reason for compensation, as the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe decided.
With leasing, you acquire the right to drive a car for a certain period of time, according to the judges.
If use was possible without restriction for the agreed duration, the customer was able to fully realize the benefit for which he had paid.
An exception is only conceivable for the BGH if the later takeover of the car was agreed in advance.
But no decision could be made about this constellation.
In the specific case, the plaintiff from Baden-Württemberg had leased his Audi with the scandal engine EA189 for four years and then bought it.
In addition to the leasing installments, he wanted the purchase price back, minus a compensation for use for the kilometers driven.
But here, too, the man may go away empty-handed, because he had not sued the parent company Volkswagen, but the subsidiary Audi.
The BGH has so far lacked sufficient evidence that Audi officials were entangled in the scandal.
However, the plaintiff is given the opportunity to present more specific information at the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court.
The EA189 engine with the illegal exhaust technology was also used at Audi, but developed at VW.
(Ref. VII ZR 192/20)
dab / dpa
