Volkswagen must fully compensate customers who took out loans to buy diesel cars that were discovered to be fitted with devices to cheat emissions tests, a German court has ruled.
The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe on Tuesday dismissed the German car maker's appeal and said it has to pay €3,300 (roughly R57,623) to a customer who bought one of its diesel cars in 2013, including interest payments on the loan.
“The buyer must be provided for as if the purchase had not happened,” judge Stephan Seiters said.
The case at Germany's highest civil court is one of several faced by the world's second-largest car maker as it seeks to draw a line under the 2015 emissions cheating scandal, dubbed dieselgate.
Volkswagen has so far incurred more than €32bn (roughly R558,669,371,200) in costs as a result of the scandal.
Tuesday's case was brought by a customer who bought a used VW Golf with a loan from VW Bank, a subsidiary of the car maker. After the diesel scandal emerged, she returned the car, which used the EA189 engine at the heart of the test cheating crisis, and claimed damages.
Volkswagen, which had been unwilling to repay interest charged on the loan, said Tuesday's verdict could not be applied to all vehicle purchases that received financing.
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