VW Settlement

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aim-high

Recycles dryer sheets
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Anyone else part of the VW Court Settlement?

Paperwork came today for me. There were no surprises and it seems as the news media has reported it.

If I'm understanding everything correctly I can drive my car until Sept 2018. Return it then and get a cash settlement equal to the Sept 2015 price on it along with some penalties.

For me the math works out real well. I basically end up paying 8k to drive the car for 5 years.
 
I'm affected. I have a 2014 Passat that I am turning in with 27,000 miles on it. They are giving me $29,700 and I paid $25,500 for it two years ago. I already registered at the site and after October when the court finalizes this, I should be turning in the car shortly thereafter.
 
What happens to the turned in cars?
 
I am not part of the settlement. I have a VW Toureg but it was not the diesel. Shucks!
Glad VW is making it right for those that are part of the settlement.
 
aim-high: I have filed an online claim for my 2014 VW Sportwagen TDI. I simply wanted to get in line for a buyback and not miss any deadlines; I had yet to read the Q&A in the package I received last week in connection with the court settlement. But I read it just now.

I think you are correct, and it amazes me that I apparently can drive my VW until September 2018, at which time I will be paid between $26,657 snf $29,117 for my car, which cost me less than $31,000 including sales tax. (Paid cash.) In September 2018, I will have owned my car for more than 4 1/2 years, and will have paid at most a few thousand dollars to drive it that long - provided it's in "clean trade" shape and that I don't exceed 12,500 miles per year.

And because it is a damage award, it should be federal-tax free; hopefully PA-tax free also.

Wow. I'll take that deal.
 
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Mo Money said:
aim-high: I have filed an online claim for my 2014 VW Sportwagen TDI. I simply wanted to get in line for a buyback and not miss any deadlines; I had yet to read the Q&A in the package I received last week in connection with the court settlement. But I read it just now.

I think you are correct, and it amazes me that I apparently can drive my VW until September 2018, at which time I will be paid between $26,657 snf $29,117 for my car, which cost me less than $31,000 including sales tax. (Paid cash.) In September 2018, I will have owned my car for more than 4 1/2 years, and will have paid at most a few thousand dollars to drive it that long - provided it's in "clean trade" shape and that I don't exceed 12,500 miles per year.

And because it is a damage award, it should be federal-tax free; hopefully PA-tax free also.


Wow. I'll take that deal.
Click to expand...

Word of caution. If you total the car (wreck) before you turn it in for the buyback, and the insurance company pays you and salvages the car, you won't get to sell it back. I doubt very much your insurance company will pay you what VW is offering.
 
I'm in that. a 2012 TDI Golf with 58K miles. the site said I would get $6K if I got it fixed, or $22K if I did the buy back thing. Given that my insurance company has the car value at $13K, I can not afford to drive the car. It will sit in the garage until November when the buyback happens. I paid $26K for the vehicle, so this is like a drove the car for free for 4 years. This fits in with my downsizing for retirement. We traded in the Honda fit for a VW Toureg (gas) and when we get rid of the Golf TDI, we will only have one car.
 
Just_Steve said:
Do you have to sell back the car? What if you like it?
Click to expand...

If you like it they will fix it and pay you something as a makeup for the TDI's costing more at purchase than the gas cars. For my Golf TDI, they will give us $6,000. but compared to the buy back price, and given the uncertainty of what the States will do regulatory-wise, it is sort of insane not to do the buy back.
 
timo2 said:
If you like it they will fix it and pay you something as a makeup for the TDI's costing more at purchase than the gas cars. For my Golf TDI, they will give us $6,000. but compared to the buy back price, and given the uncertainty of what the States will do regulatory-wise, it is sort of insane not to do the buy back.
Click to expand...

Interesting, thanks.
 
Interestingly, VW has not indicated that they will do the same for the Canadian owners as of yet. Although they indicated earlier this year that the deal would be the same as for the U.S., no announcement has been made and according to sources, they have no plans to announce a deal (or lack of) until December, 2016.

EPA has no jurisdiction in Canada and the Canadian environmental laws are rather loose with very few numerical standards for diesel emissions. To my knowledge, Canada authorities have not initiated any formal action against VW for these diesels.

Also, there has been no U.S. announcement for the 3.0 liter diesels in the Toureg or Audi models. This deal is for the 2.0 liter TDI's only.
 
Just_Steve said:
Do you have to sell back the car? What if you like it?
Click to expand...

timo2 said:
If you like it they will fix it and pay you something as a makeup for the TDI's costing more at purchase than the gas cars. For my Golf TDI, they will give us $6,000. but compared to the buy back price, and given the uncertainty of what the States will do regulatory-wise, it is sort of insane not to do the buy back.
Click to expand...

We have an older gentleman friend who is German and owns a newer Passat TDI was leaning toward just keeping it and driving it, however I can see risk if his state decides the car can no longer be registered or inspected because it pollutes too much.
 
aja8888 said:
Word of caution. If you total the car (wreck) before you turn it in for the buyback, and the insurance company pays you and salvages the car, you won't get to sell it back. I doubt very much your insurance company will pay you what VW is offering.
Click to expand...

Actually there is a provision for that as well. There is a certain window where I think this is correct. It's a small window.
 
One interesting article I read indicates that VW needs to have a certain percentage of the cars off the road by the end of the settlement period. The presumption in the article was that if they do not get many takers they will up the price.

Regardless, I will happily drive my car until the end date and then turn it in.
 
aim-high: You appear to be right once again on the concept that there is a small window of time, outside of which a totaled VW will not affect an owner's right to the settlement payment. (Darn, you are good.):

Question 11 of settlement FAQ brochure (page 10): "Can I receive benefits if my car was totaled after September 18, 2015?" Answer: "If you owned an Eligible Vehicle that was functioning and operable as of September 18, 2015, but was subsequently totaled (and the title was transferred to an insurance company), you will be eligible for benefits under the Class Action Settlement as described in this notice.... There is one exception: if your car is totaled after June 28, 2016, but before the [class action] opt-out date (September 16, 2016), you are excluded from the settlement class...."

So the exclusion-from-payment window opened on June 28, and will close in less than a month. After that, it appears that you can drive your car till September 1, 2018, and even if your car is totalled, you can get the payment (minus any deductible under your policy, etc.) Anyone in the class should read the brochure to confirm this and make their own decision, but it appears to be so.

Thus, one could essentially use the car for a multi-year period (in my case over 4 1/2 years) and still get the full payment. That would amount to having a free car for that period or, depending on the final specifics of the payment calc, having it for maybe $100/month during that time. Wow, okay with me.

Drive carefully during the next 30 days!
 
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Okay...all these numbers seemed a lot better than mine so I needed to go back and verify what I actually paid for my car and see what the real math is.

March 2013 I paid $30,717 cash. This included taxes, tags, etc.

According to my understanding of the settlement calculations I should get $27,167 when I turn it in Sept 2018. I estimated my future mileage so as not to receive an added mileage benefit.

That's $3,550 cost and being able to drive the car from Mar '13 to Sep '18.

I prefer that VW wouldn't have cheated the system, but I don't mind the recompense for it.

Here is a handy online calculator to easily help you figure your settlement amount.

https://agrahamg.github.io/VWBuybackCalculator/
 
Okay, you've shown me yours. I'll show you mine. :)

In January 2014, I bought my VW 2014 Sportwagen TDI for cash, all-in (taxes, title etc.) for $30,684.

Assuming my mileage is less than 12,500 per year (which it is), and assuming I am not entitled to any additional money for low mileage (which I'm likely not), the settlement amount I am to be given, per VW's online calculator, is $29,236. $30,684 - 29,236 = $1,448.

That's $1,448 to drive my car from January 2014 to September 2018. Since I got my car January 10, I'll exclude that month just for the heck of it. So I get 55 months of driving for $1,448, enjoying 42MPG. That boils down to $26.22/month.

There was one or two years of free routine maintenance thrown in when I bought the car. Plus, I did the Goodwill Package and got $500 VISA card plus $500 free maintenance plus extended roadside assistance. If you count that $1000, it then cost me about $448 to drive the car for 55 months. That boils down to $8.14 a month.

Yum.

I agree that VW shouldn't have cheated; but I, too, will take the best comp package I can arrange, most likely by driving right up to the September 2018 deadline.
 
timo2 said:
That's too much pressure for me. I've parked mine until November.
Click to expand...
I would seriously most likely rent a car for a month and keep my VW garaged. That's quite a deal!
 
Just_Steve said:
Is it time to buy stock in VW yet?
Click to expand...

I'd wait until at least December. There is still the huge fallout from Europe to be handled. There are 11 million cars affected, and this settles only the USA ones (which likely be most expensive, but still).

There are also criminal charges still pending, shareholder claims and class action suits starting left and right.

The upside isn't that big to begin with, and downside .. oh dear ..
 
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