{"id":4977,"date":"2026-07-09T09:58:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T07:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/knowledge-base\/car-from-germany-broke-down-after-purchase\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T09:58:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T07:58:48","slug":"car-from-germany-broke-down-after-purchase","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/knowledge-base\/car-from-germany-broke-down-after-purchase\/","title":{"rendered":"Car bought in Germany broke down after purchase? Who must prove the defect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div id=\"progress\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n\n<!-- EN version of artykul-auto-z-niemiec-zepsulo-sie-po-zakupie.html.\n     Narrative based on public judgments: ECJ 4.6.2015, C-497\/13 (Faber) and BGH 12.10.2016,\n     VIII ZR 103\/15 (facts retold, no verbatim quotes). Statutes verified 09.07.2026\n     at gesetze-im-internet.de: \u00a7 434, 437, 439 (4), 476 (1)-(2), 477 (1) BGB. -->\n<header>\n  <div class=\"wrap\">\n    <a href=\"\/en\/\" class=\"brand\" aria-label=\"BWLAW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/themes\/bwlaw-child-1\/assets\/img\/logo-bw.png\" alt=\"BWLAW \u2013 law firm in Germany\" width=\"42\" height=\"28\"><\/a>\n    <nav aria-label=\"Main navigation\">\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/practice-areas\/construction-law\/\">Construction law<\/a>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/practice-areas\/debt-collection\/\">Debt collection<\/a>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/practice-areas\/company-formation\/\">Corporate law<\/a>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/practice-areas\/employment-law\/\">Employment law<\/a>\n      <a href=\"\/en\/defective-car-from-germany\/\">Cars<\/a>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/knowledge-base\/\" class=\"active\">Knowledge base<\/a>\n      <a href=\"\/en\/#zespol\">Team<\/a>\n    <\/nav>\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/defective-car-from-germany\/#kontakt\" class=\"btn\">Contact a lawyer <span class=\"arr\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n    <button class=\"burger\" aria-label=\"Menu\">\u2630<\/button>\n  <\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n<section class=\"shero\" style=\"padding-bottom:3.5rem\">\n  <div class=\"glow\"><\/div>\n  <div class=\"wrap\" style=\"grid-template-columns:1fr\">\n    <div>\n      <nav class=\"crumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumbs\"><a href=\"\/en\/\">Home<\/a><span>\/<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/knowledge-base\/\">Knowledge base<\/a><span>\/<\/span><b>Cars<\/b><\/nav>\n      <span class=\"eyebrow\">Cars<\/span>\n      <h1 style=\"max-width:28ch\">Car bought in Germany broke down after purchase? Who must prove the defect<\/h1>\n      <p class=\"lead\">The car burned out completely four months after the purchase. No expert ever established the cause, because the wreck had already gone to the scrapyard. And yet the buyer still had a chance to win \u2014 thanks to a presumption that today protects everyone who buys a car from a German dealer. For a full year.<\/p>\n      <div class=\"art-meta\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/themes\/bwlaw-child-1\/assets\/img\/dr-artur-barczewski.webp\" alt=\"Dr. Artur Barczewski\" loading=\"lazy\">\n        <div><b>Dr. Artur Barczewski<\/b>Rechtsanwalt \u00b7 attorney-at-law<\/div>\n        <div style=\"margin-left:1rem;border-left:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.25);padding-left:1rem\">\u2248 8 min read<br>updated: July 2026<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<article class=\"sec\">\n  <div class=\"wrap\">\n    <div class=\"prose rv\" style=\"font-size:1.02rem\">\n      <h3 style=\"font-size:1.35rem;margin-top:2.2rem\">The story: a car that caught fire on the road<\/h3>\n      <p>Ms Faber bought a used car from a dealership. Four months later, during an ordinary drive, the car caught fire and burned out completely. The driver escaped unharmed, but the car was reduced to a wreck. A tow truck brought it to the seller, who then sent the wreck on to a scrap company. Before anyone thought of commissioning an expert opinion, the car had been scrapped.<\/p>\n      <p>When the buyer demanded compensation, it turned out that <strong>it was no longer possible to establish why the car had caught fire<\/strong>. A manufacturing defect? Neglected servicing? Driver error? There was no evidence and there could be none \u2014 the object of proof lay crushed in a scrapyard.<\/p>\n\n      <h3 style=\"font-size:1.35rem;margin-top:2.2rem\">It looked like a lost case. The Court of Justice saw it differently<\/h3>\n      <p>Under the classic rules it is the buyer who must prove that the goods were already defective at handover. With no wreck and no expert opinion, such a case should collapse at the start. Yet Ms Faber&#8217;s case went all the way to the Court of Justice of the EU \u2014 which in 2015 turned the matter on its head (judgment in case C-497\/13, Faber).<\/p>\n      <p>The Court held that a consumer needs to show only two things: that the goods <strong>do not work as they should<\/strong>, and that this became apparent <strong>within the protection period after delivery<\/strong>. The consumer does not have to prove <strong>what<\/strong> exactly caused the failure, nor that the cause is attributable to the seller. The rest is handled by a presumption: the seed of the defect is deemed to have been present in the goods at delivery \u2014 and if the seller claims otherwise, it is the seller who must prove it.<\/p>\n\n      <h3 style=\"font-size:1.35rem;margin-top:2.2rem\">The German Federal Court of Justice took the same path<\/h3>\n      <p>A year later the same mechanism was confirmed by the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH, judgment of 12 October 2016, VIII ZR 103\/15). There, in turn, a buyer had purchased a used BMW 525d from a dealer for 16,200 euros. After roughly five months and 13,000 kilometres the automatic gearbox began refusing to cooperate \u2014 the car stalled instead of pulling away. The cause could not be clearly established, and the lower courts dismissed the claim: perhaps an operating error, who can tell.<\/p>\n      <p>The BGH set those judgments aside and changed its own long-standing case law. Since that ruling the principle in Germany is: <strong>the consumer-buyer shows the symptom, the seller must rebut the presumption of a defect<\/strong>. If the seller cannot show that the fault stems from something that happened only after the car was handed over \u2014 the seller loses.<\/p>\n\n      <h3 style=\"font-size:1.35rem;margin-top:2.2rem\">Today the presumption runs for a full year<\/h3>\n      <p>At the time of the Faber and BMW cases the presumption covered 6 months from delivery. Since 2022 it is even better: <strong>a fault that shows up within one year of collecting the car benefits from the presumption that the defect already existed at purchase<\/strong> (\u00a7 477 BGB). The condition: you buy as a consumer, and the seller is a business \u2014 an Autohaus, a used-car trader, a dealer.<\/p>\n      <p>In practice this reverses the roles at the hardest point of every car dispute. It is not you who commissions costly expert reports to find out whether the turbocharger had a material defect. It is enough to demonstrate the fault and the date \u2014 from there, it is the seller who has to defend himself.<\/p>\n\n      <h3 style=\"font-size:1.35rem;margin-top:2.2rem\">Limits: when the presumption will not help<\/h3>\n      <p>The presumption does not operate automatically in every situation. With a used car the boundary is <strong>normal wear and tear<\/strong> \u2014 worn brake pads or a tired clutch in a ten-year-old car are not defects, just the natural course of things. The presumption also falls away where the nature of the fault shows it arose only after handover \u2014 collision damage, for example. And finally: <strong>it protects only a consumer buying from a business<\/strong>. If you bought from a private individual or for your company, the rules of evidence are entirely different and far less favourable.<\/p>\n\n      <h3 style=\"font-size:1.35rem;margin-top:2.2rem\">\u201cBought as seen\u201d? Not against a dealer<\/h3>\n      <p>Many sellers write warranty exclusions into their contracts \u2014 \u201cgekauft wie gesehen\u201d, \u201cohne Gew\u00e4hrleistung\u201d. Against a consumer such clauses are <strong>ineffective<\/strong>: a business cannot rely on them (\u00a7 476 BGB). The only thing the law allows a dealer with a used car is to shorten the limitation period from two years to one \u2014 and only if you were informed of this before concluding the contract and the shortening was expressly and separately agreed in it.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"hl rv\" style=\"max-width:760px\">\n      <span class=\"eyebrow\">Checklist<\/span>\n      <h3>The car has started breaking down \u2014 what to do<\/h3>\n      <p>Do not wait: the presumption covers faults that show up within one year of collection, and the earlier you report the defect, the stronger your position. Notify the seller of the fault in writing and set a deadline for repair before you hand the car to a workshop on your own. Secure the evidence \u2014 photos, error printouts, invoices, correspondence. And the most important lesson from the Faber case: <strong>do not dispose of the car or its damaged parts<\/strong> until the dispute is over. A wreck in a scrapyard ends all proof-taking \u2014 for you as well.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"prose rv\" style=\"font-size:1.02rem\">\n      <h3 style=\"font-size:1.35rem;margin-top:2.2rem\">What you can claim<\/h3>\n      <p>The primary claim is to have the car brought into conformity with the contract: repair or delivery of goods free of defects (\u00a7 437, \u00a7 439 BGB). The seller may refuse the option that would involve disproportionate costs (\u00a7 439 (4) BGB). Where repair fails or the seller refuses, withdrawal from the contract or a price reduction come into play, alongside damages \u2014 for example for the cost of a replacement vehicle.<\/p>\n\n      <h3 style=\"font-size:1.35rem;margin-top:2.2rem\">Replacement of a used car? It depends on what the seller owed<\/h3>\n      <p>Can you demand delivery of another car instead of a repair? With a used car the answer depends on what exactly the seller committed to. German law distinguishes here between an obligation relating to a specific item (<em>St\u00fcckschuld<\/em>) \u2014 the seller owes this one particular vehicle \u2014 and a generic obligation (<em>Gattungsschuld<\/em>), where the seller owes any item with the agreed characteristics.<\/p>\n      <p>In the typical forecourt scenario it is a <em>St\u00fcckschuld<\/em>: you inspected a particular car, checked its mileage and history, negotiated the price for that very vehicle. There is no second identical used car \u2014 each one has its own history. Replacement is therefore, as a rule, impossible, and the available remedies are repair, withdrawal from the contract or a price reduction.<\/p>\n      <p>It is entirely different where the contract describes the car by parameters alone. This is exactly the case dissected in German legal training: a customer ordered from a dealer the <strong>sourcing<\/strong> of a used car of a specified model \u2014 no older than the agreed year, with mileage up to 10,000 kilometres, with air conditioning and a reversing camera, at a fixed price. She did not choose a particular vehicle, finding one was the seller&#8217;s task. Four months after collection the engine caught fire on the road, the car burned out completely and the cause could not be established. But since the seller owed \u201ca\u201d car with the agreed characteristics (<em>Gattungsschuld<\/em>) rather than that one vehicle, the destruction of the car ended nothing: the customer could demand that another car with the same parameters be sourced \u2014 still available on the market at a similar price.<\/p>\n      <p>The practical takeaway: whether you can demand replacement after a serious failure is often decided by the wording of the contract and the listing \u2014 so secure them and show them to a lawyer before you choose your remedy.<\/p>\n      <p style=\"font-size:.85rem;color:var(--ink-soft)\">The cases described here come from publicly available judgments: the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU of 4 June 2015 (C-497\/13, Faber) and the judgment of the German Federal Court of Justice of 12 October 2016 (VIII ZR 103\/15).<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"mini-cta rv\"><b>Your car from Germany has started breaking down?<\/b><span style=\"color:var(--ink-soft);font-size:.92rem\">Send us the contract, the listing and a description of the fault \u2014 we will assess whether the presumption applies and what you can claim.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/defective-car-from-germany\/#kontakt\" class=\"btn\">Send documents for review <span class=\"arr\">\u2192<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n    <div class=\"prose rv\" style=\"margin-top:1.5rem\">\n      <h3 style=\"font-size:1.1rem\">Related topics<\/h3>\n      <div class=\"chips\" style=\"margin-top:.8rem\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/defective-car-from-germany\/\">Defective car from Germany \u2192<\/a>\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/knowledge-base\/rolled-back-odometer-car-from-germany\/\">Rolled-back odometer on a car from Germany \u2192<\/a>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n<section class=\"sec alt\">\n  <div class=\"wrap\">\n    <div class=\"lawyer rv\">\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/themes\/bwlaw-child-1\/assets\/img\/dr-artur-barczewski.webp\" alt=\"Dr. Artur Barczewski \u2013 author of the article\" loading=\"lazy\">\n      <div>\n        <b>Dr. Artur Barczewski<\/b>\n        <div class=\"role\">Rechtsanwalt \u00b7 attorney-at-law<\/div>\n        <p>Author of this article. Represents clients before courts across Germany. <a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/team\/artur-barczewski\/\">Meet the author \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<section class=\"cta-end\">\n  <div class=\"glow\"><\/div>\n  <div class=\"wrap\">\n    <span class=\"eyebrow rv\">Contact<\/span>\n    <h2 class=\"rv d1\">Does your situation look similar?<\/h2>\n    <p class=\"rv d2\">Every case has details that change the outcome. Describe yours \u2014 you will get a concrete answer and a cost overview.<\/p>\n    <div class=\"row rv d3\">\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/defective-car-from-germany\/#kontakt\" class=\"btn\">Describe your case <span class=\"arr\">\u2192<\/span><\/a>\n      <a href=\"tel:+4933555310969\" class=\"phone\">\u260e +49 335 553 10969<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<footer>\n  <div class=\"wrap\">\n    <div class=\"foot-grid\">\n      <div>\n        <div class=\"foot-brand\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/themes\/bwlaw-child-1\/assets\/img\/logo-bw.png\" alt=\"Logo BWLAW\" width=\"38\" height=\"26\"><\/div>\n        <p>Kanzlei Dr. Barczewski &amp; Dr. Wr\u00f3blewska GbR<br>Rudolf-Breitscheid-Stra\u00dfe 10<br>15230 Frankfurt (Oder), Germany<br><a href=\"tel:+4933555310969\">+49 335 553 10969<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"mailto:info@bwlaw.de\">info@bwlaw.de<\/a><\/p>\n      <\/div>\n      <div>\n        <div class=\"foot-h\">Practice areas<\/div>\n        <ul>\n          <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/practice-areas\/construction-law\/\">Construction law \/ VOB\/B<\/a><\/li>\n          <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/practice-areas\/employment-law\/\">Employment law<\/a><\/li>\n          <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/practice-areas\/debt-collection\/\">Debt collection<\/a><\/li>\n          <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/practice-areas\/company-formation\/\">Corporate law<\/a><\/li>\n          <li><a href=\"\/en\/defective-car-from-germany\/\">Defective car from Germany<\/a><\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n      <\/div>\n      <div>\n        <div class=\"foot-h\">Legal<\/div>\n        <ul>\n          <li><a href=\"\/en\/\">Home<\/a><\/li>\n          <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/knowledge-base\/\">Knowledge base<\/a><\/li>\n          <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/impressum\/\">Legal notice (Impressum)<\/a><\/li>\n          <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/privacy-policy\/\">Privacy policy<\/a><\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"foot-bottom\">\n      <span>\u00a9 2026 BWLAW \u00b7 Kanzlei Dr. Barczewski &amp; Dr. Wr\u00f3blewska GbR<\/span>\n      <span>Rechtsanw\u00e4lte \u00b7 attorneys-at-law \u00b7 Frankfurt (Oder)<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/footer>\n\n<div class=\"sticky-cta\">\n  <a href=\"tel:+4933555310969\" class=\"call\">\u260e Call us<\/a>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/defective-car-from-germany\/#kontakt\" class=\"book\">Describe your case<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Construction law Debt collection Corporate law Employment law Cars Knowledge base Team Contact a lawyer \u2192 \u2630 Home\/Knowledge base\/Cars Cars Car bought in Germany broke down after purchase? Who must prove the defect The car burned out completely four months after the purchase. No expert ever established the cause, because the wreck had already gone [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":4417,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-bwlaw-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":"","rank_math_title":"Car from Germany broke down after purchase | BWLAW","rank_math_description":"The car burned out four months after purchase and the cause was never established \u2014 yet the buyer could still win. How the one-year presumption of defect works.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"car from germany broke down after purchase","rank_math_robots":[]},"class_list":["post-4977","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"bwlaw_import":{"lang":"en","template":"template-bwlaw-page.php"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4977\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bwlaw.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}