“Secret settlements protect VW”

“Secret settlements” between Volkswagen dealers and customers have helped avoid landmark decisions against the carmaker before higher German courts and could lead to the limitation of claims for customers affected by the emissions scandal, write Markus Balser and Klaus Ott in Süddeutsche Zeitung. By the end of 2017, most entitlements would be barred by statutes of limitations, write the authors. Unlike in the US, affected cars in Germany were fixed after obligatory recalls, which – in VW’s view – nullified customers’ entitlement to compensation, write Balser and Ott. Volkswagen denied employing tactics to avoid landmark court decisions. What dealers did was their decision, but VW supported them with legal assistance, the company told Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Read the article in German here.

For background read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.