Compensation Guide
The Supreme Court of South Korea ruled on June 22 that a car seller should pay its customer car rental expenses for a repair period, in spite of the presence of an exception clause, in a case where the repair period is extended for a reason such as litigation to find out the cause of the malfunctioning of the customer’s vehicle.
Back in September 2007, the head of a construction firm in South Korea bought a Maybach by paying 530 million won to a car importer. Then, he experienced engine stall, airbag burst and the like in less than two years from the date of purchase. He filed a suit against the importer, claiming that it pay 570 million won or so.
The amount includes 1.6 million won per day in rental expenses for the period during which he could not use his Maybach due to a delay in the repair of the vehicle and repair costs associated with the vehicle’s defects present from the date of purchase.
Returning the case to the Seoul High Court, the Supreme Court said that an exception clause is based on the assumption of repair in general and cannot be applied to customers’ losses attributable to such a delay. “The delay in repair caused by this litigation should not be included in the repair period, and the seller should compensate for the decline in exchange value it caused by leaving the vehicle unattended for a long period of time,” the court pointed out.