Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: 28 U 42/09
    • Member State: Germany
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Other
    • Decision date: 12/05/2009
    • Court: Oberlandesgericht (Appellate court, Hamm)
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff:
    • Defendant:
    • Keywords:
  • Directive Articles
    Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 1, 2. Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 2, 1. Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 2, 2. Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 3, 1. Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 3, 2. Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 3, 3. Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 3, 5. Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, Article 6 , 1.
  • Headnote
    The declaration of a non-professional seller, that the car is “ready to be driven” is fundamentally not to be understood differently from the declaration of a professional seller.
  • Facts
    The claimant’s claim is based on the unwinding of the contract of sale of a used Toyota Landcruiser, that had first been registered in 1988, bought from a private individual on the internet site “eBay”. The defendant, the owner of the aforementioned car, took the car for general inspection on 8 August 2005. On that occasion considerable defects were noted. The car did not pass the inspection because corrosion had weakened the chassis and the structural parts. The defendant had sheet metal welded to the car to repair it. On renewed general inspection the car passed the inspection. In September 2006 he offered the car for sale on eBay. The car had been driven for 335,000 km. In the auction offer of the defendant the description read:
    “Next general inspection in 08/2007. The car is in good condition for its age with signs of use. Not registered but ready to be driven. Basically a cool car with qualities for the buyer. …
    Now the usual: Under the new EU Regulation I have to inform you here that the article is being sold privately and for this reason there is no guarantee. EU-Disclaimer: The article is being sold privately and “as is”, and so the car is being sold as a parts carrier. No guarantee. By bidding on this auction you declare expressly that you agree to wholly waive your warranty/guarantee rights or right of return of the used car that the new EU law offers. By bidding on this auction the bidder accepts these conditions and waives knowingly the aforementioned EU-warranty/guarantee…”
    The claimant acquired the car on 25 September 2006 for 4,909 EUR without having seen it. A written contract was not signed. End of September 2006, the defendant delivered the car to the claimant, which she took to Dessau. The claimant then had the exhaust gasses checked. On that occasion she was informed that the frame of the car had rusted all the way through on the back axle. By solicitor’s letter dated 2 February 2007 the claimant indicated that the car was no longer safe to be driven and demanded that the defendant give supplementary performance until 14 February 2007. The claimant listed individually: the frame over the back axle showed considerable rust damage, that had simply been painted over with underbody coating; because of this, the car was no longer safe to be driven. On the underbody, sheet metal had been welded in an unprofessional manner and covered with underbody coating. Furthermore, other rust damage was discovered, as well as a defect in the transmission. The defendant rejected this claim by solicitor’s letter dated 9 February 2007. He indicated inter alia that the starting price had been only 1 EUR and that he had expressly sold the car as “parts carrier”. By solicitor’s letter dated 1 March 2007 the claimant declared the termination of the contract of sale.
    The claimant claims for restitution of the purchase price and reimbursement of the cost of the experts. She raised the point that the defendant had declared that the car was safe to be driven with the indication “ready to be driven”. This was not the case, since the underbody had rusted. The entire frame had to be replaced to restore the ability to drive. The defendant had also declared on delivery that the underbody was in a flawless state.
    The defendant claims that the car merely showed signs of use. The safety of the car was not affected by the rust. Protection from corrosion was neither state of the art nor necessary for the car manufactured in 1988 primarily for the Australian and African market.
    The first court has ruled in favour of the claimant on the basis that on delivery, the car did not have the agreed quality of “ready to be driven” because it was not safe. The defendant could not rely on his exclusion of guarantee since with his declaration that the car was ready to be driven – and this also applied to private sales – he gave a guarantee of quality. The court ordered that the defendant pay the claimant 4,909 EUR with interest, concurrently with the return of the car; it further declared that the defendant was in default through non-acceptance.
  • Legal issue
    The car acquired by the claimant is defective. A guarantee of quality – which is not present here – must be distinguished from an agreement about quality under article 434 paragraph 1 sentence 1 of the German Civil Code. Contrary to the agreed quality, the Toyota Landcruiser sold by the defendant is not ready to be driven. The declaration that a car intended for the immediate use on the public roads was “ready to be driven”, signifies that the car is not defective in such a way that it would be classed as unsafe during a general inspection. If a car is sold for the immediate use on public roads, then the buyer may expect in general that it is in a state that allows its safe use on the road. The Toyota Landcruiser sold by the defendant does not fulfil this condition. On the facts, it does not matter how long the car has been ready to be driven; it was not ready to be driven at the moment of delivery. The first court, advised by an expert, convincingly determined that the car was not safe to be driven because parts may detach themselves. As the expert explained in his report, this may lead to an uncontrollable driving state. The court of appeal had no doubts about the findings of the first court. The appeal of the defendant did not contest the findings of the first court either. It is not legally relevant that the car only passed the general inspection on the second attempt. From the determinations of the expert it follows, that the car should not have passed the inspection at all because it was unsafe. Particularities for online contracts are not opposed to the understanding of the expression “ready to be driven” that has been explained previously; such contracts could also contain agreements about quality. The aforementioned interpretation of the expression “ready to be driven” has not been limited by the Federal Court of Justice to consumer contracts – the sale of a movable thing from a business to a consumer. The decision from 22 November 2006 was not based on a consumer contract; the buyer had not bought the car from a business. Contrary to the opinion expressed in detail by the defendant, it is not sufficient for a private sale that the car can be moved without the safety being relevant. This was even more relevant in the present case because the defendant had indicated in his offer that the car’s next general inspection was not due until August 2007. Together with the quality indicated by the defendant, that the car was “ready to be driven”, the claimant could reasonably expect that the car was safe. Added to this are finally also the promised “qualities for the buyer”, which the defendant claimed, meant that the car could also be used off-road. Not only the legal possibility of the use, but also the actual use are affected in a persistent manner if parts of the car may fall off. As indicated, this may lead to an uncontrollable driving state.
    Nothing else can be concluded because the defendant had simultaneously offered the car as a “parts carrier”. The content of his eBay offer is to be understood objectively to mean that he leaves the buyer the choice, whether to use the car as a “parts carrier” or to use the “ready to be driven” car as such. The reference to the judgments of the court of appeal of Celle from 7 June 1996, in which a 15-year-old Toyota Landcruiser was compared to a car to tinker with was not successful. The judgment of the Court of Saarbrücken from 7 January 2004, in which the exclusion of liability for defects in a private sale of a car auctioned as a “parts carrier” was valid, did not help the defendant in his appeal either. In both cases – unlike here – the cars were not sold as “ready to be driven” and were in any case safe. Given the choice of words “ready to be driven”, as described, an agreement about quality was made, a quality that is lacking here.
  • Decision

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