Turkish Court Ruling Clarifies Jurisdiction for Erroneous Vehicle Damage Records

The Turkish Court of Cassation (Yargıtay) has ruled that consumer courts hold jurisdiction over disputes involving erroneous vehicle damage records. The decision follows a case where a vehicle owner discovered in 2019 that their car had been recorded as being involved in an accident in 2010, despite the owner never being part of the incident.

After insurance companies failed to rectify the record in the Insurance Fraud Information Sharing System (SİSBİS), the owner sought legal recourse. While a local commercial court initially ordered the deletion of the record, the Ministry of Justice appealed the decision regarding the appropriate court's jurisdiction. The Court of Cassation ultimately determined that because the insurance company acts as a service provider and the vehicle owner acts as a consumer under Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers, consumer courts are the correct venue for such disputes.