Acquisition method

Trucks cartel on leasing or hire purchase: your compensation

Not owning the vehicle takes nothing away. As the end lessee, your business bore 100 % of the economic burden of the overcharge.

Assess my leasing contracts Estimate my loss
100 %
Of the overcharge borne by the lessee
EUR 0
Loss suffered by the lessor
1997-2014
Contracts signed or performed
Art. 12-15
Directive 2014/104/EU applies

Why the lessee carried the whole overcharge

Lessors, and in particular the manufacturers’ captive finance houses, set their rental scales as a direct function of the list purchase price of the new vehicle. Because the cartel inflated those gross prices by 10 to 20 %, the increase flowed automatically into every monthly rental.

The lessor suffered no economic loss: having amortised its invested capital, it transferred the entire surcharge to the lessee. It is therefore the lessee that holds standing to claim.

Some manufacturers argued that only the leasing companies holding the registration document could sue. European case law and Directive 2014/104/EU, which codifies pass-on in articles 12 to 15, definitively rejected that argument.

Contract structure

Situation covered

Hire purchase with option

Option exercised or truck returned: rentals were inflated either way

Standard finance lease

Manufacturer captives or independent banks

Long-term hire

Operating rentals amortising the inflated purchase price

Closed, terminated or returned contracts

The loss suffered during performance remains recoverable

Every captive finance house is concerned

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, PACCAR Financial, Volvo Financial Services, Renault Trucks Financial Services, Scania Finance, Iveco Capital and MAN Financial Services all applied gross price scales derived from the cartel. 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.

C = (Vb × α) × (1 + r)t
  • C: total claimable compensation, principal and late payment interest combined
  • Vb: gross list price or net acquisition value of the vehicle
  • α: artificial overcharge applied by the cartel, between 10 and 20 %
  • r: average statutory annual interest rate applied by the court, 3 to 5 %
  • t: number of years elapsed since the original invoice was paid

Worked example: for a tractor unit taken on hire purchase in 2005 on a reference value of EUR 100,000 net, the overcharge passed into the rentals is EUR 15,000. With twenty-one years of statutory interest at 4 % per year, the total claim is roughly EUR 34,050 per vehicle.

01

Eligibility check

Send us your invoices, lease agreements, registration documents or asset registers covering 1997 to 2014.

02

Audit and firm offer

Our lawyers and econometricians quantify your claim within four weeks.

03

Guided decision

You choose between a cash purchase of your claim within 30 days and litigation on a success-fee basis.

04

Payment released

The compensation is credited directly to your company bank account.

Frequently asked questions

No. Having passed the purchase price into your rentals, it suffered no economic loss. Only the end lessee who paid the inflated rentals holds standing to claim.

That changes nothing. The end of the contract or the return of the vehicle does not erase the loss suffered while you paid artificially inflated instalments.

A copy of the hire purchase agreement, the amortisation table or rental schedule, or failing that the registration documents and insurance certificates covering the period.

The other eligible acquisition methods

All the analyses in this section, plus the Acquisition methods hub for the overview.

Outright purchase and credit

The invoice is direct proof of the overcharge. The strongest legal position.

Read the analysis

Long-term hire

Monthly rentals carried the surcharge from the day the vehicle entered service.

Read the analysis

Trucks sold or scrapped

The loss crystallised on the day of purchase. Leaving the fleet does not erase it.

Read the analysis

Start the free audit of your leasing contracts

Our experts reconstruct rental histories and quantify the undue portion. No commitment.

Request my free audit

Or write directly to contact@truckcartelclaim.com