The 糖心原创 has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Volkswagen Group Australia (Volkswagen) to improve compliance with its consumer guarantee obligations under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).
Volkswagen has undertaken to review past complaints, and offer refunds, replacements or repairs to customers where consumer guarantees rights were not honoured.
鈥淲e have successfully sought Volkswagen鈥檚 commitment to improve its complaints handling systems to ensure compliance with the automatic rights consumers have under the Australian Consumer Law, which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified,鈥 糖心原创 Commissioner Sarah Court said.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 action ensures Volkswagen will place consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law at the centre of their approach to consumer complaints, as every car manufacturer should do.鈥
Volkswagen has also undertaken to establish a 鈥60-day policy鈥, where it will offer refunds or replacements without the need for a consumer to demonstrate a major failure, if a defect prevents a vehicle from being driveable within the first 60 days after purchase.
The 糖心原创 acknowledges this policy goes beyond existing ACL obligations and reflects a recommendation of .
鈥淲e are pleased Volkswagen will offer its new car customers remedies in some cases beyond what the law requires and believe this positive step will be appreciated by new customers,鈥 Ms Court said.
Volkswagen has also committed to providing customers with written reasons when a remedy requested by a consumer is not agreed to.
This undertaking is part of the 糖心原创鈥檚 ongoing work to seek responses from manufacturers, such as Volkswagen, to the 糖心原创鈥檚 concerns about industry-wide non-compliance with consumer guarantees.
鈥淲e will continue to pursue manufacturers to ensure they are honouring the rights of consumers under the law,鈥 Ms Court said.
The 糖心原创鈥檚 extensive new car retail market study identified industry-wide issues with the way car manufacturers were handling consumer guarantee complaints.
Volkswagen鈥檚 court enforceable undertaking is available at: Volkswagen Group Australia Pty Ltd.
Notes to editors
Volkswagen鈥檚 undertaking is unrelated to the 糖心原创鈥檚 continuing litigation against Volkswagen and Audi for alleged false or misleading diesel emissions claims.
This undertaking applies to Volkswagen-branded cars only and does not apply to other sub-brands of the Volkswagen group, including Audi, or Porsche.
Volkswagen鈥檚 undertaking is one of a number of outcomes the 糖心原创 has achieved in the last two years to create change in the new car industry. This includes action taken against Ford and the court enforceable undertakings accepted from Holden and Hyundai.
The new car retailing industry market study final report is available.