Right to legal warranty after a defect is subsequently discovered?

Questioner

End of March I bought a car of €6000,- with 96000 km on the counter. At the moment it has about 98000km on it. A few weeks ago, when it suddenly became so warm, I discovered that my air conditioning was not working. When I bought it, I checked it and it seemed to work, but I can't say with 100% certainty because the outside temperature was low and the air conditioning seemed to blow cold air. I called the dealer where I bought the car and he immediately let me go to his garage where they were going to look at what was wrong. It turned out to be the air conditioning pump, costing 800 euros, but they immediately offered the option to split it where I would then pay 400 euros. Contact was mainly via text messages, back and forth. I spoke to him about the legal guarantee and a free repair, which he thought was a shame that I immediately threw it on that. I asked him three times to repair it free of charge, but this ultimately led to him indicating that he would either split the costs or cancel the purchase. This was not an option for me and I switched to emailing, where I received a response from a lawyer, I doubt whether it was a lawyer, but in that I received a whole response, part of which can be read: - that as a buyer I could have expected that an air conditioning pump could wear out. - that the 12-month statutory warranty implies that there is a reversal of the burden of proof during these 12 months. This means that if a defect occurs within this period, there is a presumption of evidence that the defect was already present at the time of purchase and can therefore be regarded as non-conformity, unless the seller can demonstrate that the defect was not present at the time of sale. He also indicates that I checked everything myself during the purchase and test drive to see if it worked. I don't know anything about cars and couldn't have seen that the air conditioning pump was defective. As far as I know, the air conditioning worked because cold air came through the blowers, but at that time I was also wearing a winter coat. They have reversed the option to split the costs. My question now is, what are my rights, what exactly can I answer and am I actually entitled to the legal guarantee?

Lawyer

Good afternoon, In general, the following applies in the situation that you bought the car as a consumer buyer: in principle, there is indeed a reversed burden of proof during the first 12 months. The seller must therefore demonstrate that the defect was caused by you. If he fails to do so, he must repair the defect free of charge (and therefore be given the opportunity to do so). The aforementioned is regardless of whether there was a test drive or what you as a consumer could have expected, as the seller claims. The seller may not interpret these rules to your disadvantage. If the seller refuses to repair the defect (free of charge), you are in some cases entitled to have the defect repaired elsewhere and to recover the costs from the seller. The seller must have been given the opportunity to repair the defect. As the most far-reaching option, you can terminate the agreement (termination of the agreement). Please note: an appeal to termination is usually honored by the court if the defect is of such a nature that you do not have to tolerate it. This varies per case and depends on what has been agreed between the parties and what has been communicated between them (at the time of the purchase). Please feel free to contact us without obligation to discuss your case further. Gr, Mr. Mr. S. Leito FerLei Legal 06-49175526