GDV numbers
Diesel scandal processes cost insurers billions
The total value in dispute of all diesel legal protection cases handled by legal expenses insurers rose to 9.8 billion euros. Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
1.21 billion euros for legal, court and expert fees. According to the industry, the diesel scandal is “the most expensive damage event in legal protection insurance at all”.
Legal protection insurers pay dearly for claims for damages by car owners due to manipulated diesel emissions.
“The expenses of legal expenses insurers for lawyer, court and appraisal costs have increased to 1.21 billion euros,” said the general manager of the Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV), Jörg Asmussen, on Friday in Berlin. The diesel scandal is “the most expensive damage event in legal protection insurance at all”.
However, many proceedings have not yet been finalized. It is therefore unclear what part of the bill the legal expenses insurers have to pay and what the car manufacturers.
380,000 diesel legal protection cases
According to GDV, around 380,000 customers have now taken advantage of their legal protection insurance in a dispute with car manufacturers due to allegedly manipulated exhaust gas values. That was 25,000 more cases than in May. “The total value in dispute of all diesel legal protection cases handled by legal protection insurers has risen to 9.8 billion euros,” said Asmussen. “The average value in dispute per diesel case is now around 26,000 euros.” At the beginning of the diesel scandal six years ago, it was 22,500 euros. “This shows that increasingly higher-priced vehicles and premium manufacturers have come into focus,” said Asmussen.