The exact amount of the reimbursement claims due to traffic police costs unlawfully included in the toll will depend on the routes driven, the EURO standard, the number of axles and the permissible total weight of the respective truck. In all likelihood, toll payers will have paid between four and seven percent too much in toll charges on average by 30 September 2021.

The test cases will clarify to what extent the tolls levied in the past are unlawful beyond the traffic police costs and to what extent further claims for reimbursement result from this.

According to the current case law of the OVG Münster (the Higher Administrative Court of Münster), claims for reimbursement due to unlawfully levied truck tolls are subject to interest at five percentage points above the respective base interest rate from the time of toll payment until reimbursement. Your Hausfeld lawyers therefore have asserted interest claims for you in addition to the comprehensive toll reimbursement claims.

eClaim’s offer applies to truck tolls paid on German roads on the basis of a contractual relationship with Toll Collect or an EETS provider. Only Axxès, Toll4Europe, Telepass, AS24 from TotalEnergies and Tolltickets are approved as EETS providers. Even if the toll is paid via a billing company (e.g. SVG, UTA, DKV), there is always a contractual relationship with Toll Collect or an EETS provider.

If Hausfeld, within the framework of the eClaim offer, has already acted for you at the end of 2020, it is very likely that you are entitled to reimbursement claims – in any case for payments from 2017 onwards. If Hausfeld did not act for you until 2021, it is very likely that you are entitled to reimbursements for payments since 2018.

Hausfeld is currently examining whether the toll for the subsequent period from October 2021 to the end of 2022 was calculated correctly and whether there are legal grounds for further toll reimbursement claims plus interest. In addition, together with a renowned economic expert specializing in transport, Hausfeld is analyzing the current route cost appraisal 2023, which is the basis for tolls levied since 1 January 2023. In particular, the examination will include the question whether the inclusion of costs for CO2 emissions ("CO2 charge") is lawful. If there are any aspects for further toll reimbursement claims, we will inform you in time.

TollCollect and the EETS providers (Axxès, Toll4Europe, Telepass, AS24 from TotalEnergies, Tolltickets) handle toll payments between the toll-liable company and the federal government. Therefore, every company that pays truck tolls itself has a contractual relationship with Toll Collect or an EETS provider.

Every company that is registered with one of these toll providers has a contractual relationship with Toll Collect or an EETS provider. Registered companies have a Toll Collect or EETS provider user number. You can inquire about this number with your toll provider.

Even if you are not registered, you may still have a contractual relationship with Toll Collect or an EETS provider. A contractual relationship is particularly established if you have accepted the terms and conditions of one of these toll providers. This can also occur with a manual booking of a trip.

Additionally, it may be the case that a billing company (SVG, UTA, DKV, etc.) has entered into a contract with Toll Collect or an EETS provider on your behalf as a representative. If in doubt, contact your billing company.

Every company that pays truck tolls itself has a contractual relationship with a toll provider (Toll Collect, Axxès, Toll4Europe, Telepass, AS24 from TotalEnergies, Tolltickets).

In contrast, a contractual relationship with a billing company (such as SVG, UTA or DKV) does not exist in every case, and if it does, it is in addition to the contractual relationship with a toll provider. This is because billing companies process payments between the toll-paying company and Toll Collect or an EETS provider.

Due to a legislative amendment, new, lower toll rates will apply retroactively for the period from 28 October 2020 up to and including 30 September 2021.

Hausfeld has successfully processed the toll reimbursements for many thousands of clients due to the statutory tariff reduction (28 October 2020 to 30 September 2021) with the BALM. To ensure that your company also receives a reimbursement payment from the BALM, please check if you have submitted the requested data and documents with us.

A review carried out by Hausfeld in cooperation with a transport expert has shown that the toll payers are likely to be entitled to significantly higher reimbursements in some cases than the BALM is paying out.

Furthermore, the reimbursements due to the legislative amendment only concern claims from 28 October 2020 to 30 September 2021. The amendment does not affect the period before that. eClaim therefore offers you the enforcement of all your toll reimbursement claims as a package. Therefore, all your reimbursement claims – especially also the claims that go beyond the legislative amendment – will be determined and comprehensively enforced for you. Please note that Hausfeld can only enforce your reimbursement claims within the framework of the eClaim offer as a comprehensive package, i.e. consisting of the claims arising from the legislative amendment and any claims going beyond this.

Please do not submit your own toll reimbursement application to the BALM based on the tariff reduction under any circumstances. Another application for reimbursement by your company would jeopardize the claim enforcement and would not expedite the payment process.

If you already have submitted the application with the BALM or received reimbursement for the tariff reduction please contact eClaim’s customer service immediately at service@eclaim.de stating your registration number.

To uphold your rights as comprehensively as possible, Hausfeld is pursuing the reimbursement of unlawful truck tolls in a staggered manner.

First step: Enforcement of the statutory tariff reduction

Hausfeld has developed a procedure according to which only the data and documents described under the question no. 9 below are required to quantify and enforce your reimbursement claims due to the tariff reduction for the period from 28 October 2020 to 30 September 2021 at the BALM.

Please note: Submitting incomplete or incorrect data or documents will delay the payout process. Therefore, we ask you to carefully check your data and information requests that you have received from us and to answer as soon as possible in case you notice discrepancies. 

Currently the BALM pays out the toll reimbursements for Hausfeld's clients due to the tariff reduction, which are forwarded to the respective clients within a few working days minus eClaim's share in the proceeds.

Second step: Model lawsuits to pursue further reimbursements plus interest

Your lawyers of course continue to pursue the reimbursement claims (including interest) that go beyond the statutory tariff reduction. This applies to the period starting from the introduction of the truck toll in Germany on 1 January 2005 as well as to the period of the tariff reduction.  

In February 2024, Hausfeld filed three model lawsuits against the Federal Republic of Germany with the administrative court of Cologne to clarify the reimbursement claims comprehensively.

You have received from us the link to the eClaim platform, where you can submit the missing data and documents in secure manner.

For payments between 28 October 2020 and 30 November 2021, upload your supporting documents under "Toll payments 1/2" on the eClaim platform. Please upload only monthly or bi-weekly toll statements from Toll Collect or one of the EETS providers (Axxès, Toll4Europe, Telepass, AS24 from TotalEnergies, Tolltickets) at this point. If you do not know how to obtain the required documents, you will find a detailed description on the eClaim platform.

Please note that the respective PDF must only contain the monthly or bi-weekly toll statement. Do not attach any other supporting documents to the PDF file. Please do not upload single-journey receipts.

You can download sample statements from TollCollect and the EETS providers under the following links. Please upload only documents of this type under "Toll payments 1/2".

Unfortunately, a Tolltickets sample toll statement is not available at the moment.

For payments before 28 October 2020, upload your receipts under "Toll payments 2/2".

Please note that missing or incorrect receipts will significantly reduce your chances of success.

If you wish to change your data, please contact eClaim's customer service at service@eclaim.de stating your eClaim registration number.

If your company is insolvent, usually only the insolvency administrator is entitled to assert your reimbursement claims. In that case, please inform your insolvency administrator immediately about the toll reimbursement procedure and your participation in eClaim’s offer. Ask your insolvency administrator to contact Hausfeld in this matter under toll-refund@hausfeld.com stating your eClaim registration number. 

If your company has been dissolved in the meantime, it must be clarified in each individual case who is the current claimant of the toll reimbursement claims. Please contact Hausfeld under toll-refund@hausfeld.com while indicating your eClaim registration number.

The power of attorney reaches the law firm Hausfeld by normal post. Due to the great interest in toll reimbursement, the law firm receives a large number of letters every day. We will only contact you if your power of attorney has not been received or has been received incorrectly. If you do not hear from eClaim or Hausfeld you can assume that everything is in order.

Please assist the processing by sending only the original power of attorney by post to the following address: Hausfeld Rechtsanwälte LLP, Walter‑Benjamin‑Platz 6, 10629 Berlin, Germany, and ensure that your post is clearly marked with your eClaim registration number.

If you cannot login on eClaim Platform or you no longer have your login data, please contact eClaim customer support under service@eclaim.de indicating you eClaim registration number.

In order to enforce your company's claims for toll reimbursement due to the tariff reduction and after the successful completion of the model lawsuits, your lawyers need the documents that prove all toll payments made by your company.

Only after the model lawsuits have been finished it will be clear for which periods since the introduction of the truck toll on 1 January 2005, toll reimbursement claims exist and, accordingly, proof of toll payments is required in order to receive toll reimbursements. Therefore, we advise you to permanently secure and retain all the documents listed below, provided you have them or can obtain them.

The following documents are required for the period from 1 January 2005 to 30 September 2021:

1. All toll statements and invoices which prove toll payments made by your company (see more on this under question 9).

‍2. If toll statements are missing: official truck registration certificates part I or II (vehicle registration certificates or letters) of the trucks.

As a precaution, please also keep these documents permanently for the period from October 2021.

Hausfeld is currently assessing whether the toll charged during this period has been calculated correctly and whether there are any further claims for reimbursement.

IMPORTANT:

• Toll statements are often only available for a limited period of time from toll providers or billing companies. Therefore, please check as soon as possible whether you already have all the relevant statements and request any missing statements immediately from your service provider.
• ‍Please archive all the above-mentioned documents permanently (if possible, including the itemized journey lists, a tabular list of all single journeys issued by your toll provider), since the model lawsuits may take several years.
• ‍Please do not send us the documents until you have been requested to do so.