The Expert's-Risk Principle: Why the Wrong Appraisal Costs You Money
The damage appraisal report is the foundation of your entire accident settlement: it determines repair costs, diminished value, residual value and the length of the loss-of-use period. Anyone who relies on the other side here, or chooses the wrong expert, often gives away four-figure sums.
Risk 1: The Other Party's Insurer's Appraisal Report
If the other party's insurer offers to send "their" expert or to calculate the damage using a photo app, caution is advised: this expert works on the insurer's behalf – and the insurer's interest is to keep the damage as low as possible. Typical consequences: bare-minimum repair methods, no or too little diminished value, inflated residual values, shortened loss-of-use periods.
Risk 2: "Claims Management" and Audit Reports
Even after you submit your own appraisal report, insurers like to make reductions using so-called audit reports from external service providers – blanket deductions on hourly rates, manufacturer's recommended-price surcharges, transport costs or ancillary costs. Such reductions are often open to challenge and should never be accepted without review.
Your Right: The Expert You Trust
After a no-fault accident, you may instruct the independent vehicle expert you trust. Their fees form part of the recoverable cost of restoration – the other party's liability insurer bears them. Only for minor damage (guideline value around €700–1,000) is a cost estimate sufficient; since you do not know the extent of the damage in advance, you may consult an expert if in doubt.
Risk 3: Reduction of the Expert's Fee
Insurers also reduce the expert's own invoice – particularly for ancillary costs (travel expenses, photographs, administrative fees). The BGH strengthens the position of injured parties here: the invoice submitted is significant evidence of the necessity of the costs. Reductions can only be held against you if it was recognisable to you as a layperson that the expert was charging clearly excessive prices.
The Expert's-Risk Principle: Errors by the Expert Are Borne by the Party at Fault
In early 2024, the BGH further developed the principles on the "repair-shop risk" and expressly extended them to the costs of the damage appraiser. The core idea: what you, as a layperson, cannot recognise is not held against you. If the expert charges too much – in a way you could not recognise –, overestimates the damage, or bills for items that were not actually incurred, these costs remain recoverable from the other party's insurer regardless. In return, the insurer can have any claims against the expert assigned to it – so the dispute over the invoice is fought out between the insurer and the expert, not at your expense.
Important: if you have not yet paid the expert's invoice, you can only claim payment directly to the expert (concurrently with assignment of the claim). And this protection has limits – it does not extend to the question of whether the damage assessed actually originates from the accident at all. Anyone who conceals pre-existing damage loses this protection entirely.
What to Look for When Choosing an Expert
Choose a qualified, independent expert (e.g. publicly appointed and sworn, or certified under ISO/IEC 17024) who is not aligned with the insurer. Reputable experts document their findings transparently, calculate in line with the market, and correctly state diminished value and residual value. We work with experienced, independent experts and review every appraisal report before it goes to the insurer.
Key Court Decisions
- BGH, judgments of 16 January 2024 – VI ZR 253/22 and VI ZR 239/22 ("repair-shop risk")
Repair-shop invoice items that are excessive or unjustified in a way that is not recognisable are borne by the party at fault – the injured party may rely on the invoice. - BGH, judgment of 12 March 2024 – VI ZR 280/22 ("expert's-risk principle")
These principles also apply to excessive cost estimates by the vehicle expert; advance payment of the invoice is not required. There is, however, no protection of reliance for whether the damage was actually caused by the accident (cf. also VI ZR 266/22). - BGH, judgment of 23 January 2007 – VI ZR 67/06
The costs of a damage appraisal report form part of the recoverable cost of restoration, insofar as the appraisal is necessary and appropriate for asserting the claim for damages. - BGH, judgment of 11 February 2014 – VI ZR 225/13
The expert's invoice is significant evidence of the necessity of the costs. Reductions are only possible if the injured party could recognise that the expert was charging clearly excessive prices. - BGH, judgment of 30 November 2004 – VI ZR 365/03
On the minor-damage threshold: no rigid damage-amount threshold for the necessity of an appraisal report – the injured party does not yet know the extent of the damage when instructing the expert. Guideline value around €700, now frequently up to €1,000 in many cases.
Has your expert's fee been reduced?
Send us the appraisal report, invoice and reduction letter. You will usually receive our assessment of how we will proceed against the reduction within 24 hours. Your enquiry is non-binding.
This article is for general information only and does not replace individual legal advice. As of: July 2026. All decisions cited are publicly accessible (including at bundesgerichtshof.de).