The diesel scandal is a historic event for German legal protection insurers: no other scandal has been so expensive for the insurance industry.

"The diesel scandal is now 1.4 billion euros, the most expensive damage in the history of German legal protection insurance," said the general manager of the German Insurance Association (GDV) Jörg Asmussen on Thursday.

This amount of damage includes costs for lawyers, courts and experts.

Phillip Krohn

Editor in business, responsible for "People and Business".

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The number of people affected is also significant.

Since the scandal broke in 2015, 407,000 customers have claimed their legal protection policy.

The association surveyed its members and received answers at the end of May.

On average, the proceedings had a value in dispute of 26,000 euros.

In total, calculated over these seven years, a double-digit billion euro sum was accumulated.

"The total value of all diesel legal protection cases processed by the legal protection insurers has now risen to 10.5 billion euros," Asmussen was quoted as saying in a statement.

The average value in dispute per diesel case is almost 26,000 euros.

In the years 2018 to 2021, both the number of cases and the amount in dispute increased continuously.

The increase hasn't been quite as high since early 2021, but the stream of new cases hasn't stopped.

The GDV left open which car manufacturers were being sued.

Volkswagen was involved in a large number of lawsuits.

A lawsuit was also filed against Daimler.

In the meantime, the cars that are aimed at private customers are managed under the name of the main brand Mercedes-Benz.

Dealing with the diesel scandal is a nuisance for insurers.

From their point of view, lower legal fees could be incurred in mass proceedings, since legal representatives often look after hundreds of clients with similar matters.

Specialized law firms had processed cases in a standardized manner in customer proceedings against manipulating car manufacturers.

"The efficiency gains from such mass processing must be passed on to the client - and thus lead to a reduction in attorney's fees, both out of court and in court proceedings," demands Asmussen.