We have received numerous enquiries to our office in connection with the Volkswagen (VW) scandal, and their manipulation of nitrogen oxide emissions of its diesel engines. Apparently there are thousands of vehicles affected in Spain, and millions affected worldwide.
To see if you could be a victim of this fraud, on the the Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda websites, you can check whether your car model is one of those affected. If you are unsure, you can also request a review of your vehicle by a specialist garage, or check it with your car dealer.
If it is confirmed that you are one of those affected, before any legal action, we must wait and see what VW’s final decision is and what they offer, as apparently they will contact the owners of ‘rigged’ vehicles in the coming days.
In principle VW should fix the problem and compensate consumers for any damages caused by this fraud, ie:
1) They should call you for a revision of the vehicle and remove the device. This revision must be totally free, including labor, parts, repairs, etc.
2) They should compensate for any damage caused by the review,that is, if you must go to work and have to leave the car in the workshop, they should pay the transport or provide you with a replacement car free of charge.
3) After removing the fraudulent system, the vehicle must pass the Vehicle Technical Inspection (ITV) successfully. It is also recommended that after the review, VW will certify new car emissions and changes done, and how they affect your vehicle.
In principle VW is responsible and should pay for all the consequences of their deception, that is, if your vehicle would now have a higher tax because they have more emissions, or has a worse performance, increases fuel consumption, loses power, etc.
We strongly recommended to ask the garage that they certify in detail all the works done on the vehicle, just in case any of it may have a future potential negative impact.
Likewise, we recommend to review the vehicle sale contract, invoice and prove of payment, and advertising and publicity at the time of purchase, to justify where appropriate, what conditions they told you the vehicle had when they sold to you.
In the event that you do not agree with what VW proposes, or the repair, or loss of performance, you could claim in a civil proceedings for damages, and hypothetically, in some cases, you could ask for the sales contract to be declared null and void, and for the return the money paid for the vehicle.
If you find yourself in this situation, or if you need advice on this matter, contact us and we will help.
The information provided in this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.
Carlos Baos (Lawyer)
Spanish Law firm solicitor attorney barrister.
Alicante, Denia, Costa Blanca Marina Alta
White & Baos 2015 – All rights reserved
