Since January 1 of this year, there have been amended sales law regulations, which relate in particular to the sale of goods to consumers. Car dealers should pay particular attention to these changes — otherwise they risk easily annoying and avoidable complaints or other conflicts with their customers. We have summarized the five most important aspects of the new sales law for you.
The extension of pre-contractual information requirements
The most important change compared to the old legal situation also involves the greatest amount of work: The pre-contractual information requirements for retailers vis-à-vis consumers have been significantly expanded.
What does that mean? Even before the purchase contract is concluded, you must inform your buying consumer about various aspects of their dream vehicle, in particular:
- Deviations from objective requirements (so-called negative quality agreements): This means that the vehicle does not have the usual quality or expected according to objective criteria. For example, after a test drive in a red car, your customer could order the same new model from you. However, his vehicle is only built in green — you are then required to point out the different color to him again. In the case of used vehicles, wording such as “accident vehicle” is not enough: As a seller, you must explain the extent of the accident damage in detail.
- The shortening of the limitation period when buying a used car: For new vehicles, the limitation period is generally two years. For used cars, this period can be reduced to one year — but only if the buyer notifies this before the contract is concluded and this reduction is agreed separately. Attention: Unlike before, it is no longer enough to include the deadline reduction in the terms and conditions!
- The intended exclusion of the obligation to update digital elements of the vehicle as intended in the purchase contract: Is software used in the vehicle that occasionally requires an update — for example for a navigation device? According to the new legal regulation, the retailer is then generally subject to a so-called update obligation even beyond the normal warranty period. It may therefore be appropriate to exclude this update obligation in the purchase contract. However, you must also inform your buyer of this separately before the contract is concluded.
In theory, it is sufficient if you verbally inform your buyer about these aspects. However, we recommend that you always document the fulfilment of pre-contractual information requirements in writing and have them signed by the buyer. In the event of subsequent complaints from your buyer (“The car is green and not red and therefore I am reclaiming X percent of the purchase price.”), you can prove that you have fulfilled your duty conscientiously.
The tightening of the concept of material defect
You became familiar with the term negative quality agreement in the paragraph above. For example, a used car deviates from the objective requirements even when it has suffered accidental damage, i.e. is no longer “accident-free”. As a result of the new regulations in sales law, a buying consumer must “be specifically notified” of such deviations from the objective requirements before the contract is concluded (i.e. pre-contractual information as already described above) and the deviating nature must also be expressly and separately agreed in the contract.
Until now, it has been common practice to list negative quality agreements in the terms and conditions or, in addition to other agreements, in the customer's order. This is no longer enough!
Extending the reversal of the burden of proof
Until now, there was a reversal of the burden of proof in favour of the buying consumer of six months from the purchase of a vehicle. This has now been extended to one year. This means: In the first twelve months after handing over the vehicle to the buyer, it is assumed that a defect in his vehicle reported by the buyer was already present at the time of delivery.
The simplifications of the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal is facilitated in favour of the buying consumer in the following points, among others:
- For example, he no longer necessarily has to set a deadline for rectification, but it is sufficient if he has informed you of a defect and you have not arranged for a repair or new delivery within a reasonable period of time (usually one to two weeks, sometimes longer).
- In addition, he only has to tolerate one attempt to rectify the same defect and not two, as has been the case so far.
