A ruling by the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart (Germany) from October 2025 tightens what lessors have to prove for return damage. Simply adding up flat-rate repair costs is not enough.
Returning a leased vehicle regularly leads to disputes: what counts as normal wear and tear, what is damage that has to be paid for — and who has to prove it? A recent ruling by the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart (Germany) draws clear lines here and markedly raises the requirements for documentation.
Any damage beyond normal wear and tear must be substantiated with photo documentation, an individual description and a traceable calculation of value. Simply adding up repair costs at a flat rate is not permitted.
The decision puts three requirements at the centre — requirements that many return records fail to meet today:
Photo documentation. Every item of damage claimed must be documented in images — in a way that makes the time and the attribution traceable. A loose phone photo without a solid timestamp is not enough when it is challenged.
Individual description. Damage has to be named and described item by item. A collective entry for “various damage” does not hold up.
Traceable calculation of value. The diminished value or the repair costs must be derived for each item of damage. Merely adding up quotes is not enough.
The usual tool is a digital form with a few photos — or a PDF that can be changed afterwards. In a dispute it then comes down to one person's word against another's: the scratch “was already there”, the odometer reading is contested, and because the photos carry no solid link to time, nothing can be proven reliably. That is exactly the gap the ruling now closes, at the lessor's expense.
To meet the new requirement, every return should have three properties:
Capture backed by evidence: photos bound to time, place and device — not exchangeable afterwards.
Individual damage marking: every item of damage located on the body diagram, described and assessed — instead of collective entries.
Before/after comparison: the condition at issue and at return of the same vehicle, so that it becomes clear which damage occurred when.
What matters is that the finished document is immutable and that its authenticity can also be checked by third parties — experts, insurers and, if it comes to that, a court.
Comcentra Logs captures every vehicle handover in a guided flow, seals it immutably and makes it publicly verifiable. Photos are taken live on site with place and time (Certified Capture), every item of damage is marked and assessed individually on the diagram, and the before/after comparison attributes new damage to the right period. The result is exactly the quality of evidence the Stuttgart court requires — traceable for lessor and lessee alike.
Under current German case law the requirements for the quality of evidence are rising: the specific condition has to be documented solidly — blanket statements are increasingly not enough.
Create your own return record backed by evidence: photos taken live on site with place and time, secured immutably — that way the condition at return can be documented beyond doubt later on.
Increasingly yes — verifiable proof of the specific condition matters more than blanket cost estimates.
The principle — solid proof of condition — applies just as much to rentals, company car returns and vehicle transfers.
This article gives a practical overview and does not replace legal advice in an individual case. It refers to German law.