Compensation after a car accident in the Netherlands

Questioner

This year in March I had an accident with a Dutch driver in the Netherlands. He was too late with braking and crashed into the back of my car. I am Dutch but live in Germany and have German insurance. I am aware that Dutch law applies in this accident. After it became clear that his insurance would take all the blame, I went to the Mercedes garage in Germany, where I lived at the time. I had DEKRA make a 'Gutachten' at Mercedes. I then also signed an 'Abttritserklärung' at Mercedes, and the Lawyer would handle everything further. After that the Mercedes garage had told me and also my insurance (Provinzial Versicherung) that I could have the car repaired for everything that DEKRA had determined. And all costs were paid by the other party. I have now received a letter from my lawyer stating that the other party will not reimburse everything. What the other party does not want to reimburse is the total repair costs and the lawyer's fees. The other party (ASR) claims that it was a total economic loss and only paid part of it. My lawyer wants to know from me if I want to make a lawsuit of it or what my 'Vollkasko versicherung' wants to compensate. The latter I can rule out because I only have a 'Haftpflicht versicherung'. I don't know what to do and I don't know whose problem this really is. I hope someone can help me with this and tell me what is the best thing to do.

Lawyer

If liability is established, your damage must be compensated. This can consist of reimbursing the repair costs, but also reimbursing the purchase of an equivalent vehicle. If the repair costs are higher than the purchase price of an equivalent vehicle, this is often referred to as an 'economic total loss'. Your compensation will then consist of an amount for which you should be able to buy an equivalent car. Of course, differences of opinion may arise about the amount of such an amount. It seems to me that your garage and insurance company were a bit 'vorlaut' in indicating that all costs would be reimbursed. If you have this in writing, your German lawyer can probably do something with it. It is not surprising that ASR does not want to reimburse the lawyer; it is only obliged to reimburse the costs that you necessarily incur within reason; in general, a lawyer is not necessary to recover damages.