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An exhaust pipe in front of the VW headquarters: Years of legal disputes
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
According to the insurance industry, the diesel scandal is the most expensive loss event in legal protection insurance.
A good six years after the scandal became known, the expenses of legal expenses insurers for lawyers, court and appraisal costs rose to 1.21 billion euros, said the Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV).
By the end of October, around 380,000 customers had used their legal protection insurance in a dispute with car manufacturers due to allegedly manipulated emissions.
The total value in dispute of all diesel legal protection cases handled by legal protection insurers has risen to 9.8 billion euros, according to the industry association.
The average amount in dispute per diesel case is now around 26,000 euros - at the beginning of the diesel scandal it was 22,500 euros.
"This shows that increasingly higher-priced vehicles and premium manufacturers have come into focus," explained the GDV.
The diesel scandal was exposed in September 2015.
The US environmental protection agency EPA announced that Volkswagen had manipulated emissions values.
Almost half a million cars had to be recalled in the USA.
VW admitted that the software is in eleven million vehicles worldwide.
Since then, it has emerged that other manufacturers have also manipulated emissions values - and the list of cases continues.
mic / AFP