Class action lawsuit against importer Volkswagen: Marketing cars with non-original rims
The court will have to decide on the legal issue whether customers who purchased cars made by Volkswagen received non-genuine alloy rims even though the car was purchased as new
Keenan Cohen
08/05/2022
Sunday, 08 May 2022, 11:07 Updated: 11:53
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One of the reasons that leads customers to buy a new car "from the nylons" is the knowledge, or at least the assumption, that the assemblies supplied with the vehicle are original, from the mechanical components to the equipment that makes it up - unless otherwise stated.
This is exactly the point that will be at the center of a class action lawsuit recently filed in court against Champion Motors, an importer of Volkswagen to Israel.
In the lawsuit, which was filed by attorney Yaakov Davidovich in the Tel Aviv District Court, the case of the company's customer, who purchased a Volkswagen Golf in 2018 and after being involved in the accident, drew the car's attention to the fact that the rims the car came with were not original and could not be accepted. In return for a refund.
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They just look like the original (Photo: Nir Ben Tovim)
As stated in the statement of claim, in the list of accessories with which the car comes indicated under "external fittings" that the car comes with alloy rims, but without specifying whether these rims are original or not, which leads the customer to assume that as expected from a new vehicle, all assemblies are original .
And even though when ordering the car, the customer received an "upgrade" to the 16-inch rims, he was not told that these were not original.
However, as mentioned, only after an accident that occurred to the vehicle owner and the opinion of the appraiser who inspected the car did it become clear that these rims are not original at all and that they only look like the original ones from the manufacturer.
Later in the correspondence and as appears from the transcript of the conversations with the importer that came to us, it appears that its representatives admitted that these were not original rims and that the practice had existed for at least several years.
However, they emphasize that customers have been told that this is a "local installation", but according to the customer and the plaintiffs, the meaning of a local installation does not explicitly say that the rims are not original.
Indication of the rims in the equipment specifications and the damaged rim (Photo: screenshot)
In the class action, the customer demands compensation in the amount of NIS 16,000 based on a cost calculation of NIS 4,000 for an original single hoop as provided to him by the importer's service center, in addition to the installation cost of NIS 1,000 and damage compensation in the amount of NIS 2,000.
In the overall case of the class action lawsuit that encompasses all the buyers of this model car in the last 7 years and since the filing of the lawsuit, the amount is NIS 80 million.
If the class action is accepted, and the parties are not directed to a compromise route as is the case in many cases, the court will be asked to decide whether there is no explicit indication of the fact that the rims are not original despite the vehicle specification and manufacturer's logo.
vehicle
Law and insurance
Tags
Volkswagen
Champion Motors
golf
Volkswagen Golf
Class action
