Rita B. wanted to do her friend a rest during a rest and drove their car to the gas pump.
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There she fueled wrong fuel. 7150 euros cost the repair of the engine. If it depends on her liability, Rita should now pay for it herself.
For two hours, the girlfriends were on the highway. "I'm about to drive to the nearest service area, " Tina G. (30) announced to her rider Rita B. (29), "I absolutely need a little break."
When they reached the service area, Tina disappeared first on the toilet. "In the meantime, I can fill up on the car, " Rita called after her. She thought it was a good idea. Because so she could be financially rewarding for the ride and pay equal to the gas bill.
Therefore, Rita sat at the wheel and drove the few meters from the parking lot to the gas pump.
She filled the tank with petrol. A fatal mistake! Because when the women continued their journey, the engine made strange noises, then he stopped altogether. "Did you really refuel?" Tina asked, "you know that the car needs diesel?"
Rita had not thought of that. And now it happened. The car remained on the highway, had to be towed. The engine repair cost additionally 7150 euro. Because Rita had no car and no motor liability insurance, she switched her personal liability. But she waved off. "We are not responsible for that." Because Rita drove the car, if only for a few meters. "Then the private liability protection is not, but only the motor vehicle liability, " it said. But that looked at Rita as a subtle excuse. She took a lawyer and went to court.
How would you decide?
Now we ask you to slip into the role of judge. Do you consider it, as well as Rita, for a subtlety, with which the private liability insurance wants to press here before paying? Or were the few meters that Rita has moved the trolley pump actually worth rate? And does the damage related to this trip fall into the area of special car liability, which Rita does not even own? Please try to make a fair judgment.
So judged by the judge
Rita had to bear all the damage herself. The key was that she had driven the car to the gas pump while the actual owner was in the bathroom. This is what the so-called petrol clause attacks. It should avoid overlaps between car and personal liability insurance. Since Rita had driven the car a few meters to the gas pump, she was for a brief moment the leader of the car. And then the protection of their private liability insurance expires (district court Duisburg, 11 O 105/05 - 7/06).
