General terms and conditions of business for electronic business

A. General terms and conditions

1. Validity of the general terms and conditions of business
The general terms and conditions of business below shall apply for all current and future orders on our Internet portals and participations in marketplaces.  Deviating, contradictory or supplementary business conditions of our suppliers and customers, even if known, shall not become part of the contract unless their validity is expressly agreed on in writing.

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply exclusively, to the exclusion of the UN convention.

The negotiating language is German.

2. Conclusion of the contract, order process, delivery

1. Our offers shall be subject to confirmation. If offers are provided for a limited period we shall no longer be bound to them when this period has elapsed. In the case of business with users the statutory VAT shall be included in the purchase price. In the case of business with companies all prices quoted are net prices. In the case of catalogue purchases a lump sum for dispatch shall be charged in addition to the purchase price. The customer shall be subject to no additional costs when orders are placed using 0190 numbers.
2. We reserve the right to make technical changes and changes to the design, colour and/or weight provided these are reasonable.
3. In ordering goods customers shall declare bindingly that they wish to purchase the ordered goods.
4. We shall be authorised to accept the offer of a contract contained in the order within two weeks of receiving it.
5. We shall confirm the receipt of the order immediately by means of an order confirmation e-mail. The confirmation of receipt is not a binding acceptance of the order. The confirmation of receipt can be combined with the acceptance declaration.
6. The contract shall be concluded on the condition that our external suppliers supply the correct goods in good time. This shall only apply if the failure to deliver is not our responsibility, in particular in the case of the conclusion of a congruent hedging transaction with our external supplier.
7. The customer shall be informed of the non-availability of the service without delay. Purchase price payments which have already been transferred shall be reimbursed without delay after the reverse posting costs have been deducted in the case of companies and without any deductions in the case of users.
8. The contract form shall be saved by us and sent to the customer by e-mail together with these general terms and conditions of business and information regarding the right and consequences of withdrawal.
9. Delivery deadlines shall be agreed on in writing.
10. When goods are sent at the request of a customer which is a company, the risk shall be transferred to them as soon as we have handed the goods over to the person authorised to have the goods sent. Whether the purchaser's acceptance is delayed is irrelevant for the transfer.
    

3. User's right of return
The user shall have the right to return the goods by sending them back within two weeks
without the need to specify any reasons. The period shall start at the earliest when the goods and this information have been received. Only in the case of goods which cannot be sent in a parcel, e.g. heavy or bulky goods, can the return be declared by a return request in text form, for example by letter, fax or e-mail. To observe the deadline it is sufficient if the goods or the return request are sent in good time. In all cases the goods shall be returned at our expense and at our risk.,.
All returned goods must be sent to the following delivery address:

REIFF Reifen und Autotechnik GmbH
Auchtertstr.3-9
D-72770 Reutlingen

The user must pay compensation for any degradation caused by proper use of the goods. The user may check the goods with due care. The user must pay for the loss of value resulting from use of the goods beyond a mere check
when this results in it no longer being possible to sell the goods as "new".

4. Prices
In the case of transactions with users, the prices on the day of the conclusion of the contract shall apply. If a period of more than 4 months lies between the conclusion of the contract and the agreed delivery date, we shall be entitled to pass on price increases, above all those resulting from an increase in our purchase prices or an increase in the cost of labour.

In the case of transactions with companies, when major changes in costs occur we shall be entitled to negotiate a price increase up to the day of delivery, in particular if increases in the cost of materials and labour are involved.

5. Payment

1. In the case of transactions with users: After receipt of the order confirmation e-mail, the customer shall undertake to transfer the purchase price to the account specified in our e-mail as an advance payment. The customer shall be deemed to be in default of payment at the latest 30 days after receipt of the order confirmation e-mail.
2. In the case of transactions with companies: For partial deliveries, our invoices, to the amount of the performance provided, shall be due no later than 5 days after the date of the invoice.
   

We shall not be obliged to accept cheques or bills of exchange; when we do accept them, we shall do so only in lieu of performance.

In the event of default of payment, we shall be entitled to demand interest of 5% over the current base lending rate in the case of transactions with users, and of 8% over the current base lending rate in the case of transactions with companies. We expressly reserve the right to claim higher damages from companies in the event of the company being in arrears. We shall be able to apply costs of 5.00 EUR for each reminder.

These costs cannot be offset unless the claim to offset them is uncontested or legally binding. The customer can only exercise a right of retention if their counter-claim is based on the same contractual relationship.

6. Retention of title
We shall retain the title to the goods supplied by us until payment has been made in full. In the case of transactions with companies this retention of title shall also apply until all claims, including future and conditional claims, from the business connection with us have been satisfied. The customer shall be obliged to treat the goods with care. If maintenance and inspection work is required the customer must perform this regularly at their own expense.

The customer shall be obliged to notify us without delay of access to the goods by third parties, for example in the event of distraint, and of any damage to the goods or of their destruction. The customer must notify us without delay if the owner of the goods changes or they change address.

In the case of transactions with companies the following additional provisions shall apply:

Our customer shall be entitled to sell the goods subject to retention of title in the regular course of business, but not as a transfer by way of security or distraint. Our customer shall cede the claims arising vis-à-vis their business partner from the sale of the goods subject to retention of title to us with immediate effect, including any improvements made if the goods have been processed further. We shall accept the cession of rights. We shall not reveal this cession of rights unless our customer is at least 2 weeks in arrears with a claim or they have cancelled a direct debit authorisation that was granted to us. In these cases the customer shall undertake to notify their business customers that rights have been ceded to us and to present us with a complete list of their debtors without delay. In this event we shall have the right to inspect the customer's books to ascertain the names and addresses of their business partners. After the rights have been ceded the company shall be entitled to redeem the claim. We reserve the right to redeem the claim ourselves as soon as the company fails to honour its payment obligations properly and defaults on payment.

If the value of all the securities which exist for us consistently exceed our claims from our invoices by more than 10%, we shall release securities as we choose when requested to do so by our customer.

If our customer, whether user or company, should not comply with the agreed payment conditions or other primary duties of this contract despite receiving a reminder, we shall be entitled to repossess the goods we have supplied, whether assembled or not, at any time or to withdraw from the contract. Our customer shall expressly grant us the right to reclaim our goods that are subject to retention of title at any place; we shall also be entitled to disassemble them. The owner of the goods shall be irrevocably entitled to hand the goods over to us.

Our customer shall only be entitled to possession of the goods purchased subject to retention of title until we make use of our retention of title and thus withdraw from the contract. When goods that are subject to retention of title are taken back we shall issue a credit amounting to the current value minus the costs we incur from taking back the goods.

The handling and processing of the goods by the company shall always take place in our name and on our behalf. If they are processed with objects which do not belong to us, we shall obtain co-ownership of the new object in the ratio of the value of the goods supplied by us to the other processed objects. The same shall apply if the goods are mixed with other objects which do not belong to us.

7. Liability for defects
For companies the warranty period shall be one year from delivery of the goods. For users the warranty period shall be two years from delivery of the goods. In the case of used objects the warranty period shall be one year from delivery of the goods. This shall not apply if the customer does not notify us of the defect in good time.

If the purchaser is a company, the manufacturer's product description shall always apply for the appearance and workmanship of the goods. Public statements, recommendations or advertising by the manufacturer do not constitute any additional details of the contractual appearance and workmanship of the goods.

The limitation to one year shall not apply with regard to claims for compensation for damages in accordance with §437 No. 3 of the German Civil Code (BGB) if we are guilty of intent or gross negligence. The legal time limits shall apply in this case.

A tyre for which liability for defects is claimed should be sent to us together with the completed customer complaint form in order to enable us to check the customer's claim.

If the claim for liability for defects is rejected, we shall return the tyre for which the claim was lodged to the customer at our expense if they request this within 14 days of receipt of the rejection.

If the purchaser is a company, we shall initially honour the warranty for the goods either by rectifying the defects or replacing the goods as we choose.

If the purchaser is a user, they shall initially have the choice of whether the remedy should consist of rectifying the defects or replacing the goods. We shall however be entitled to reject the type of remedy selected if it is only possible to implement at unreasonable cost and the other type of remedy entails no major disadvantages for the user.

If the remedy is unsuccessful, the customer can always either demand a reduction of payment or withdraw from the contract, as they choose. However, in the event of a minor default, and in particular in the event on defects that are only minor, the customer shall not have a right of withdrawal.

Companies must notify us in writing of obvious defects within a period of two weeks of receipt of the goods, otherwise the warranty claim cannot be asserted. The deadline is kept to if the notification is sent within the applicable period. The company shall bear the entire onus of proof for all preconditions for the claim, in particular for the defect itself, for the time the defect is detected and for providing notification of the defect in good time.

In the case of replacement deliveries we shall be entitled to grant a reduced credit or make a reduced payment in accordance with the degree to which the tyre complained about has been used. Our customer shall have the choice of a credit or payment.

Users must provide written notice of obvious defects within a period of two months after determining that the goods are in a condition which is contrary to the contract. The receipt of this notification by us is decisive for observing this deadline. Should the user provide no notification, the warranty rights shall expire two months after the defect is detected. This shall not apply in the case of bad faith on the part of the seller. The onus of proving the time when the defect was detected shall be borne by the user. If the user purchased the object on the basis of incorrect information from the manufacturer, they shall bear the onus of proving that this was the reason for the purchase. In the case of used goods the user shall bear the onus of proving the object is defective.

If, because of a deficiency in title or a defect and an attempt to provide a remedy is unsuccessful, the customer chooses to withdraw from the contract, they shall not be entitled to make any claim for damages because of the defect.

If, after an attempt to provide a remedy is unsuccessful, the customer chooses compensation for damages, the goods shall remain with the customer if this reasonable. The compensation for damages shall be restricted to the difference between the purchase price and the value of the defective object. This shall not apply if the breach of the contract was caused maliciously.   

Claims for liability for defects against us shall be excluded if defects, impairments or damage can be traced back to the fact that

1. the goods supplied by us were repaired by third parties or processed in some other way,
2. the serial number, manufactured product ID or other symbols affixed permanently to the goods are no longer present or have been changed, in particular if they have been rendered unrecognisable,
3. in the case of tyres it can be proved that the prescribed tyre pressure has not been kept to,
4. tyres have been subjected to stress that is contrary to regulations, in particular through exceeding the permissible load and the authorised speed for the tyre size and the tyre type,
5. after they have been mounted tyres have been damaged by incorrect wheel placement or impaired in their performance by other faults in the wheel arch (e. g. dynamic unbalance),
6. tyres are mounted on a wheel rim that is not authorised for them, is not true to gauge, is rusty or is faulty in any other way,
7. tyres have become faulty due to external factors or mechanical damage or have been exposed to heat,
8. after a wheel change the wheel nuts or screws were not tightened after driving 50 km, provided we informed our customer that this is necessary when the goods were delivered,
9. tyres were stored in the open air before being mounted by the customer or a third party commissioned by the customer,
10. there is natural wear and tear or damage to the goods which is due to incorrect handling of the goods or an accident,
11. in the case of tube-type tyres these were mounted by the customer or a third party with used inner tubes/clincher bands, and in the case of tubeless tyres without replacing the valve (car tyres) or without a new sealing ring (HGV/shoulder tyres).
    

If the customer receives incorrect mounting instructions we shall only be obliged to supply correct mounting instructions, and this only if the error in the mounting instructions prevents the tyre from being mounted correctly.
The customer shall not receive guarantees in the legal sense from us. Manufacturer guarantees shall remain unaffected by this.

8. Liability
In the event of slightly negligent breaches of duty our liability shall be limited to the foreseeable, typical, direct average damages for the type of goods. This shall also apply in the event of slightly negligent breaches of duty of our legal representatives or vicarious agents.

We shall not have any liability vis-à-vis companies in the event of slightly negligent breaches of contractual duties. The aforementioned limitations of liability shall not affect customer claims from product liability. Nor shall the limitations of liability apply for damage to body or health or for the death of the customer when this is our responsibility.

Claims for compensation for damages on the part of the customer because of a defect shall become invalid one year after delivery of the goods. This shall not apply if we can be accused of gross negligence or in the case of damage to body or health or the death of the customer when this is our responsibility.

9. General provisions
In the case of transactions with companies the place of fulfilment and the sole legal venue is our company headquarters (Reutlingen). The same shall apply if the customer has no general legal venue in Germany or their place of residence or customary abode is not known at the time the legal action is started.

Modifications or subsidiary agreements shall become effective only after they have been authorised in writing by employees of our company who are entitled to make changes.

If individual provisions of these general terms and conditions of business should be or become inapplicable, this shall not affect the legal effect of the other provisions. The provision which is no longer applicable either in part or in full shall be replaced by a provision whose commercial success is as close as possible to that of the provision that no longer applies.

10. Address for service of process:
Firma R.TEC
Inh. REIFF Reifen und Autotechnik GmbH
Vertr. d. .d. GF Eberhard Reiff
Tübinger Str.2-6
D-72762 Reutlingen