motor vehicle
July 22, 2009 | 25,00 EUR | answered by Andreas Scholz
We purchased a used car in March 2009, and on the way home, it became apparent that something was not right. One of the spark plugs was not properly installed. As a result, the car was taken back by the dealer and after about a week, it was delivered back to us with the statement that the problem had been fixed and that these things can happen. The car only lasted one weekend. We contacted the dealer again, but he was now consistently unavailable. Since we wanted to go on vacation over Easter, we took the car to another workshop at a cost of 600.00 Euro. The dealer contributed 100.00 Euro, as he has the right to rectify the issue. Now, since mid-June, the clutch is defective, costing 528.00 Euro. According to the dealer, this is a wear and tear part, for which there is no warranty. Is this correct?!!
Dear inquirer,
1.
Before you repair damages yourself within the scope of the warranty and claim the resulting costs from the dealer, you must give the dealer the opportunity to rectify the situation. This obligation no longer exists when the repair is either refused by the dealer, has failed for the second time, or when it is unreasonable for you to expect a repair. If none of these exclusion reasons for a repair are present, then you have to bear the costs of a repair you initiated yourself. In fact, the dealer is not obliged to contribute to the costs in such a case.
In your case, the so-called unreasonableness could be considered as a reason for exclusion, since you were absolutely dependent on the vehicle for your holiday departure. Whether a legal dispute - aimed at payment of the repair costs you incurred - would be successful is a question of fact. If you could prove - for example, through witnesses - that you informed the dealer in a timely manner about the damage and your need for the vehicle due to the upcoming holiday, and that the dealer still did not take action, initiating legal steps might be promising. In this case, the dates of informing the dealer and your holiday departure would be particularly important.
2.
For normal wear and tear defects, there is indeed no warranty claim. This is established case law. However, a different situation applies if, exceptionally, a defect can also be attributed to premature wear and tear, for example, if a transmission failure occurs at an unusually low mileage, even though a durability up to a much higher mileage would normally be expected for the corresponding wear part. Therefore, whether the warranty applies to you depends on comparing the mileage of your vehicle and the expected durability of the wear part for vehicles of your model.
I hope this information has been helpful to you. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.
Sincerely,
Andreas Scholz, Attorney
