OLG schleswig: car loan contracts of the BMW bank faulty
In december 2021 and february 2022, the schleswig-holstein higher regional court ruled twice that car loan agreements from BMW bank are faulty and can still be effectively revoked.
The court criticized that the charges made under the heading "ombudsman procedure" did not meet the legal requirements, and that also had not been informed in the form required by law about the default interest rate and the manner of its adjustment.
The judgments lead to a reversal of the respective loan and purchase agreements.
How to revoke my car loan with BMW bank?
If you are a consumer and have concluded a loan agreement with BMW bank, a 14-day revocation period applies. Within this period you can withdraw from your contract and thus also cancel the purchase agreement. However, this period only starts to run if the bank has also given you an error-free and complete credit agreement.
HAHN attorneys at law has already more than 5.000 credit agreements and can therefore say from my own experience that ca. 90% of all car loan agreements contain errors. Exactly these errors lead to the fact that the 14-day withdrawal period has not begun to run. Conversely, the borrower can therefore still revoke his contract years later. In the case of a successful revocation, a consumer can not only get rid of the credit terms, but against return of the vehicle, the borrower also receives all paid installments incl. Of a possible down payment back from the bank.
In the event of errors in the contract, the perpetual right of withdrawal applies
The 14-day revocation period for consumers always applies if the car loan or leasing contract is free of errors. Otherwise, the so-called perpetual right of revocation applies. This means that the 14-day revocation period does not begin to run if the car loan agreement contains incorrect revocation instructions or if mandatory information is missing. In this case, you can still revoke the contract years after it was concluded. Customers of BMW bank have good chances of a successful revocation. HAHN attorneys at law has more than 5.000 car loan agreements reviewed. The result: about 90 percent of them are faulty. In concrete terms, this means that almost all consumers can exercise their right of revocation. The legal consequence of this is that, in the case of linked contracts, you can also cancel your purchase contract and return your car to the car bank. Errors that lead to the "revocation joker", as this legal option is called, exist in different ways in the loan agreements of the car banks. The lack of information about the borrower's extraordinary right of cancellation or faulty methods for calculating any early repayment penalties are typical and mean that BMW bank customers can still revoke their car loan agreements years later.
To our knowledge, BMW bank has also made mistakes in its car loan agreements, which still allow you to revoke your financing today.
In plain language
If the revocation of your car loan or leasing contract is successful, you return your car to the bank and get back all payments made so far. This also includes a down payment made to the car dealership. You receive this from the BMW bank, which in turn recovers its money from the car dealership. This is the law.
Does the revocation joker also apply to my car loan contract??
In principle, car loan agreements from BMW bank that have been in force since 1. The contracts, which were concluded on november 1, 2002, can still be revoked today if they are faulty. The revocation of the car loan agreement is also possible if you have sold your vehicle in the meantime or have fully repaid the loan.
It can be assumed that BMW bank has also made mistakes in its loan agreements, which give the consumer a perpetual right of revocation. Simply send us your contract documents. We check this in an initial check free of charge and tell you whether your car loan agreement also contains errors – in the termination or the revocation conditions or elsewhere. How to know if you can revoke your credit. As part of the free initial check, we also immediately make a coverage request to your legal protection insurance – so you are in safe hands!
Can I also revoke the leasing contract for my BMW?
Yes – the same rules apply to your leasing contract for revocation as for car loan contracts: your contract must be free of defects. If the documents of your leasing contract are faulty or incomplete, the perpetual right of revocation applies. So, in principle, you can also pull the revocation joker if you have entered into a lease agreement. This applies if you have acted as a consumer.
The OLG munich has confirmed in a sensational judgment that revocation instructions of sixt leasing can be faulty. In the case, the plaintiff had leased a BMW m140i and was with it in just over a year 40.000 kilometers driven. The court ruled that he could revoke the contract. He returns the leased vehicle and is reimbursed for all installments made. In addition, he does not have to take any compensation for use into account. Thus he drove the vehicle quasi free of charge.
If you are a business customer, i.E. If you use your car commercially or as a self-employed person on a professional basis, different rules apply. The revocation of your leasing contract is then usually not possible. The legal provisions for consumers do not apply to commercial leasing contracts.
You have leased your BMW and are unsure whether the cancellation joker applies to you? We will be happy to review your documents free of charge and without obligation.
What mistakes do car banks make?
Many mistakes that car banks have made in your loan agreements concern their contractual duty to provide information.
Often it says in loan agreements:
"The borrower may be informed subsequently in text form about mandatory information not included in the text of the contract; the revocation period is then one month. The borrower must be reminded once again of the start of the withdrawal period with the made-up mandatory disclosures."
Alone the missing reference to the fact that the revocation period starts only with conclusion of the contract and secondly with the fulfilment of the obligation to inform (§1 BGB-informationspflichtenverordnung) mean for you a revocation possibility. This error occurs primarily in the typical revocation instructions for car loan agreements from the period between 2. November 2002 and the 10. June 2010 on.
Important for consumers in this context is a ruling by the federal court of justice of 27. February 2018 in their favor (case number XI ZR 160/17). The higher regional court of frankfurt am main has also acknowledged the error. With judgment of 13. July 2016, it emphasized that the right of withdrawal for the purpose of consumer protection requires comprehensive and unambiguous information (case no. 17 U 144/15). The consumer should not only be aware of his right of revocation, but also be able to exercise it.
Can I revoke my BMW bank loan without a lawyer??
Of course, you can also revoke your car loan agreement without the assistance of a lawyer. However, we strongly advise against this. Revocation often involves difficult legal details in order to be successful.
HAHN rechtsanwalte offers you a non-binding initial consultation free of charge and without any cost risk. This includes that we estimate whether the revocation of your car loan agreement makes economic sense for you.
What are my chances of a successful revocation?
HAHN rechtsanwalte is the leading law firm in germany in terms of the number of judgements won in favor of consumers in the field of financing. This has been our specialty for many years. We have also assisted thousands of consumers with the revocation of real estate loans.
Benefit from our many years of experience and use your chance to successfully revoke your car loan.
If the following conditions are met, we think you should revoke your BMW bank loan:
- There are errors or incomplete mandatory information in the credit agreement.
- The revocation makes economic sense for you.
- The rights resulting from the revocation can be enforced with a legal protection insurance that is liable to pay or at reasonable costs. (if you do not have a legal protection insurance policy that covers you, please contact us.)
What costs will I have to pay?
Our fee depends on the value in dispute. We usually bill according to the german lawyers' fees act (rechtsanwaltsvergutungsgesetz). If you have taken out legal protection insurance, you will not incur any costs for the revocation of your loan agreement, except for the contractually fixed deductible and possibly uncovered travel and absence costs. Usually the insurers take over revocation cases.
Does the legal protection insurance bear the costs of the proceedings?
As a rule, your legal protection insurance with traffic legal protection covers the lawyer's fees. As part of our free initial assessment, we will also submit a coverage request to your insurance company at the same time. How to keep a full overview of your cost risk.
Defend yourself against the manufacturers in the emissions scandal
Illegal defeat devices, software updates with unclear consequences for the vehicle, and above all driving bans – in the context of the emissions scandal, BMW has also disappointed its customers. If you want to return your BMW and a claim for damages is not an option in your case, then check whether you can revoke your BMW bank loan. How to get rid of your car and get the down payment and installments refunded by the bank. An elegant solution to compensate for the loss of value of your BMW diesel engine. After all, you as a consumer did not cheat – why should you have to live with the consequences of BMW's actions? Even if you are not affected by the emissions scandal at all, for example because you drive a gasoline-powered car, you can still revoke your loan if there are errors in the agreement. Why not profit from the mistakes of the banks? If you have not been properly informed about your right of cancellation or revocation or the bank has made other mistakes in the loan agreement, you have the chance to revoke the loan. We help you with this!
Judgments on car loan revocation
Two rulings from 2019 show how different the mistakes can be that banks make, granting consumers the perpetual right of withdrawal. This is how the dusseldorf higher regional court ruled on 17.01.2019 that the plaintiff, i.E. The borrower, has a right of cancellation at any time. And this is because nowhere in the contract is the supervisory authority responsible for the bank, i.E. The lender, mentioned (AZ: I 16 U 102/18). Shortly thereafter, in february 2019, the berlin regional court granted the consumer a right of termination at any time (AZ: 4 O 20/18). In its reasoning, the court cited specific information on the right of termination that must be included in a car loan agreement. Not only the termination rights themselves, but also the modalities that need to be observed, must be included in the contract. Thus, clear and understandable information about the procedure to be followed must be mentioned. For example, the contract must state that the notice of termination must be given to the lender, i.E. The bank, on a durable medium. The legal details are very complicated, so that a layman hardly has the opportunity to check whether he can revoke his loan or not. Here helps the free initial consultation by a lawyer.
ECJ: contracts are faulty, revocation is possible
Following a ruling by the european court of justice, even more consumers now have the opportunity to revoke their car loan agreement. Because the ECJ found that the cascade reference is inadmissible. Almost all car banks have used this for years in the cancellation information of their loan agreements. But instead of clearly and unambiguously informing the borrower about his right of revocation, it presents the latter with many questions. Instead of clear information on the start of the cancellation period, the consumer receives a reference to national regulations, which in turn refer to further regulations – an impenetrable jungle of paragraphs.
According to a second ruling of the ECJ on 09.09.2021 contracts are also revocable if they do not clearly and unambiguously inform about the calculation of the prepayment penalty. Even the lack of an exact indication of the default interest rate can allow a revocation.
Thanks to these rulings, almost all car loan agreements concluded between 11.06.2010 and the 26.03.2020 were concluded, revocable.
More than 2.000 clients HAHN rechtsanwalte already supports with the revocation of their loan. As a rule, we are not permitted to report on settlements reached due to confidentiality agreements. It is not in the interest of the car banks to spread the word that the reversal of their car loan agreements is possible.
You too can check whether you can revoke your BMW bank loan with the help of our initial review by a specialist lawyer. HAHN rechtsanwalte offers all borrowers a free initial check of their situation. We will get back to you with our assessment as soon as possible.