Dirty fuel in the tank: who pays for the damages?

Modern petrol and diesel engines are particularly sensitive to the presence of water or impurities in the fuel, which can cause serious damage. What to do in these cases to obtain compensation?

It can happen that you refuel your car or motorcycle and find yourself in the dirty fuel tank with heavy consequences on the engine. Especially if a petrol engine pulses under the hood (in this case the two wheels are also interesting) or diesel of the latest generation, particularly sensitive to impurities and water that could end up in the tanks of distributors due to inexperience or fatality. Without excluding those operators who supply poor quality fuels, often of illicit origin. The same is true in case of incorrect refueling, when you pump petrol instead of diesel fuel into the tank – or vice versa – due to carelessness of the petrol station attendant. These are cases in which the damaged motorist can retaliate against the operator of the system, while incorrect refueling at the self-service is excluded, when the motorist himself confuses the dispensing guns. Let’s see how to proceed.

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PROVE THE ENTITY OF DAMAGE AND LIABILITY

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The first element to consider are the responsibilities, which must be demonstrated with irrefutable facts. Starting from the fact that the cause of the engine failure is precisely the dirty or altered fuel, which must be certified by a workshop both by means of a written declaration from the workshop that repaired the vehicle, and by means of the invoice for the intervention sustained . The simple estimate, in fact, has no legal value of expenditure and could easily be challenged. The invoice is essential to prove the expense made. Of course, in order to obtain compensation, the liability of the plant operator must be demonstrated, proof of the so-called “Cause-effect relationship” (or “of causality” as lawyers call it). And it is not always easy to find out which gas station was responsible, because often, when you pay at the gas station, you do not receive any receipt, receipt or invoice. Unless you have paid with an ATM or credit card, which is always recommended.

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BEWARE OF THE MANAGER WITHIN TWO MONTHS

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Once the incontrovertible evidence of the damage has been collected, the motorist must trace the name of the company that owns the system. As for the payment, use an ATM or card it can provide important help, especially in the case of large plants where there is no owner or in the case of unattended self-service. With these data, a letter of formal notice must be sent with the request for compensation for damage, to be sent no later than two months from the discovery of the damage, under penalty of loss of the guarantee for the purchase of goods by consumers. Otherwise, if the motorist paid by card and downloaded the cost with the “fuel cards” because a company or a professional, the deadline for the dispute is eight days. For his part, the plant manager must prove the absence of a fault attributable to him, or of force majeure. For example, in the case of water in the fuel, that this was already present in the supply arrived from the wholesaler. However, there is a sort of “presumption of fault” towards the owner of the refueling system, who has the contractual obligation to supply fuel free of impurities or foreign substances. What can be attributed to him is the responsibility that the legislator places on the sellers of consumer goods, who are required to deliver to the consumer goods that comply with the sales contract.

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