Getting Down On ADAC

ADAC is the German Automobile Association.  One of the top ten things you do.....upon arrival in Germany....is sign up for ADAC coverage.  I forget the precise amount.....but it's around twenty-five-odd Euro for a year.  Your coverage gets you this: a phonecall away from a mechanic coming to rescue your car, a monthly magazine covering dozens of travel tips and test results, and a lobbyists of sorts in favor of the common car owner or traveler.

ADAC has been around since cars arrived on the scene in Germany....it's a hundred years old almost.  ADAC has built up this legendary status.....one of the most trusted sources of car information.  ADAC does dozens of tests per year on reliability, tires, windshields, fuel consumption, new models, etc.  When Germans engage you on travel topics involving cars....they are generally quoting ADAC, and have absolute trust in the information and statistics given.

Well....it's come to light.....that ADAC manipulates their data and tests.  If they want a certain slant on a test and the numbers weren't enough.....they make up numbers.  How much and how often?  They won't precisely say.  It might be a single test a year.....it might be every single test.  How long as this slant been going on?  They won't say precisely.

So this has kinda dampened the spirit of most Germans.  The most trusted source on cars?  Bad data?  That would be like the Channel One (ARD) news team being accused of corrupt information.  You just couldn't quote from them anymore.

What happens right now?  ADAC says they will uncover what they can, and clear up the matter.  The tests and statistics?  They will continue.....although you can't be too trusting of the facts given by them.  State legal action?  If you slanted the data and slammed some companies tires.....rating them less than one or two other folks?  Well....you could take this into court and sue for damages.  ADAC is probably a bit scared that hundreds of millions could be at risk.

I'm of the mind that ADAC will continue on.  Their CEO will likely be fired at some point, and some new ethical guy will arrive.  The trust business probably went down two notches, and it might take twenty years for them to re-establish themselves as 'honest'.  As for the fake reports?  I guess they just disappear....with all the statistics they collected over the past two or three decades.  Interesting....a vast treasure trove of info.....which you can't trust if you were a historian looking over their data a hundred years from now.