(Repeat for technical reasons)
KARLSRUHE (dpa-AFX) – The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) strengthens the backs of car buyers who have been taken in by scammers when purchasing their used car. If the original owner – also cheated – wants his car back, he must be able to prove that the new owner was not “good faith” when buying it. If he cannot do that, the car belongs to the buyer, as the judges in Karlsruhe decided on Friday. According to her judgment, this also applies in particular when statements are made against statements on the question of whether the buyer was presented with a professionally forged vehicle registration document.
According to the law, the thing belongs to the buyer if he has acquired it “in good faith”. In this case, a car dealership had resold used cars, which were actually only leased, to unsuspecting customers. In court it was about a Mercedes, which the leasing company of the Stuttgart car manufacturer reclaimed from the buyer.
In vain, as is now certain: the man who had picked up the car from the dealership for the buyer had credibly assured him that a genuine-looking registration certificate, Part II – the earlier vehicle registration document – had been presented to him. The leasing company had doubted that, but could not refute it. You now have to hand over the real vehicle registration document to the buyer. (Az. V ZR 148/21)/sem/DP/stw