Acquisition method
Trucks sold or scrapped: you can still claim
A vehicle leaving your fleet or your balance sheet does not cancel the claim. The loss crystallised on the day of acquisition.
The principle of crystallised loss
At the moment your business settled the purchase invoice or signed the original lease, the payment was immediately and unduly inflated by the cartel overcharge. Whether the truck was kept for three years or fifteen, the surcharge was taken from your cash on the delivery date.
Manufacturers have repeatedly argued that a vehicle sold second hand no longer deserves reparation. For that defence to succeed, they would have to prove you passed the entire overcharge on to the second-hand buyer, which is neither economically nor legally realistic.
Your former trucks therefore represent dormant, fully recoverable value. Better still: the time elapsed has grown the late payment interest, often beyond the original overcharge.
|
Year of original acquisition |
Direct overcharge at 15 % |
Accrued interest |
Total claim per vehicle |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1999 |
EUR 15,000 |
+ EUR 27,800 |
EUR 42,800 |
|
2003 |
EUR 15,000 |
+ EUR 22,000 |
EUR 37,000 |
|
2007 |
EUR 15,000 |
+ EUR 16,900 |
EUR 31,900 |
|
2011 |
EUR 15,000 |
+ EUR 12,300 |
EUR 27,300 |
Proving past ownership of a vehicle that left the fleet
At least one of the following is enough: an old purchase invoice or order form, a copy of the period registration document, an archived hire purchase, leasing or long-term hire agreement, an old fixed-asset register or balance sheet, or an insurance certificate covering the fleet during the operating period.
If your business has been restructured, merged or renamed, the right to compensation passes to the legal entity that absorbed the assets. The rules are the same whatever the brand: see Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Renault Trucks, DAF, Iveco, MAN and Scania.
How your claim is calculated
The original overcharge is only part of your claim. The decisive lever is the compounding of statutory late payment interest, accrued over twelve to twenty-eight years.
Worked example: for a truck bought new at EUR 100,000 net in 2003 and sold second hand in 2012, the 15 % overcharge is EUR 15,000. With twenty-three years of statutory interest, the total claim reaches roughly EUR 37,000, whatever resale price you obtained.
Eligibility check
Send us your invoices, lease agreements, registration documents or asset registers covering 1997 to 2014.
Audit and firm offer
Our lawyers and econometricians quantify your claim within four weeks.
Guided decision
You choose between a cash purchase of your claim within 30 days and litigation on a success-fee basis.
Payment released
The compensation is credited directly to your company bank account.
Frequently asked questions
The other eligible acquisition methods
All the analyses in this section, plus the Acquisition methods hub for the overview.
Do not leave past compensation with the manufacturers
Your former trucks are dormant value. Hand us your fleet archives.
Or write directly to contact@truckcartelclaim.com