Demand from Brussels: Volkswagen should compensate all EU customers

Status: 09/28/2021 3:46 p.m.

New trouble for Volkswagen in the diesel scandal: The EU Commission demands that the Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer also compensate customers outside Germany. But so far, the VW boss has let Brussels flash.

Volkswagen is coming under increasing pressure due to the inconsistent handling of compensation claims in the diesel scandal. According to the EU Commission, VW must also quickly compensate all injured consumers outside of Germany.

Joint appeal to VW

Volkswagen has violated EU consumer protection law with its business practices when it equipped diesel vehicles with illegal automatic switch-off, according to the Brussels authority. Although courts have uncovered the unfair treatment of consumers by VW, the group is not ready to find appropriate solutions, complains the responsible EU Commissioner Didier Reynders. So far, the company only wanted to compensate consumers who were living in Germany at the time they bought the car.

The consumer protection authorities of the 27 EU countries urged VW in a joint statement to reach out to consumers in all member states who were still waiting for compensation and to avoid further years of legal disputes. It is welcomed that VW has decided to make a comparison with large parts of German consumers, says the statement by the Network for Cooperation in Consumer Protection (CPC), in which the responsible authorities of the EU countries are organized.

At the same time, VW is called on to contact consumers in all member states, “who are still looking for compensation in order to find appropriate solutions and close this chapter”. In this way, further years of legal dispute could be avoided. Alternatively, VW could contact the CPC authorities with the same goal.

“A question of trust”

“It’s a matter of trust,” said Reynders. He referred to a comparison in Germany, according to which consumer advocates and VW agreed about a year and a half ago as part of a model declaratory action to pay customers between 1350 and 6250, depending on the age and type of vehicle – this corresponds to an average of around 15 percent of the original Purchase price.

In the Netherlands and Italy, courts had awarded consumers around 3,000 euros, Reynders said. VW should now send a clear signal to customers in other countries that they will be compensated in a similar framework. The EU Commission tried several times to talk to VW about it, but did not get a positive answer. As evidence, Brussels published a corresponding letter from Reynders to VW boss Herbert Diess.

Around 245,000 customers accepted the comparison in Germany. Shortly after the agreement, the Federal Court of Justice ruled that VW had systematically deceived its customers: If they had known that diesel cars with a certain engine emitted far more pollutants than could be measured on the test bench, they would probably have opted for a different vehicle.

With information from Jakob Mayr, ARD-Studio Brussels

EU puts pressure on VW for compensation in the diesel scandal

Jakob Mayr, BR Brussels, September 28, 2021 3:07 p.m.

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