Wrecked my car, part 2

DanB36

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Location
Savannah, GA
TDI
2014 Q5 Prestige TDI, Monsoon Gray
Does the sum of those two figures get you in the ballpark of the VW buyback?
The sum of the "total" and the restitution would be about $3k less than the buyback amount. It's certainly a possibility, but I'd consider it a last resort.
 

DanB36

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Location
Savannah, GA
TDI
2014 Q5 Prestige TDI, Monsoon Gray
You say the car got rear ended. I assume that pushed you into the car in front of you.
Correct.

Is the insurance from the person behind you paying for the damage? If so, isn't it their responsibility to "make you whole"?
Yes, ultimately. I filed the claim with my own insurance for two reasons: (1) I already had their number, and (2) I was hoping they could get me a rental car right away (they couldn't; none available within 100 miles with the evacuation). They'll pursue recovery from the insurance of the driver behind me.

You have proof that VW is willing to give you $XXX for the car, so shouldn't they be responsible for that amount?
I think there's a good argument to be made that they should value the car at that amount, and I've seen reports here that other folks have successfully made that argument. If I can't get VW to take the car as a buyback, that will be my next argument.
 

DanB36

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Location
Savannah, GA
TDI
2014 Q5 Prestige TDI, Monsoon Gray
How did you find an A3 TDI with all the dieselgate stuff going on??
I had a search running on Autotrader for any A3 TDIs within 500 miles, and this one popped up about a week before. It was 200+ miles away, and the price was meh (I think it was a fair price, but there won't be much of a profit if I sell it back), so I didn't pursue it further--until we happened to be in Atlanta anyway, and it hadn't sold yet. I was a little annoyed, though--the day we got back, I got another alert from Autotrader on another A3. It was better equipped, slightly higher mileage (16k vs. 12k), and about $3k less expensive. Ah well, it is what it is. I like the car (kind of wish it had the nav, though), and think I paid a fair price. I can still sell it back for a little more than I paid for it in the next two years, so really don't have any room to complain.
 

DanB36

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Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Location
Savannah, GA
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2014 Q5 Prestige TDI, Monsoon Gray
Should have updated this thread. Got the offer letter on the wrecked car Wednesday morning, and returned it about 15 minutes later. Now waiting to be able to schedule an appointment.
 

maybe368

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2014
Location
Phoenix
TDI
Happily none
They'll pursue recovery from the insurance of the driver behind me.
I was involved in a severe dust storm wreck on the I10 North of Tucson in 2009. There were 3 fatalities and fire in front of me, I was the 7th car. I didn't hit anything because I was able to stop, even though a semi plowed into the cars behind me and pushed my truck to within 2 feet or so of hitting the semi in front of me. There were 28 cars total involved in the wreck. I settled with my insurance company, with a 500 dollar deductible. I asked the adjuster about making me whole, as I was technically the first vehicle in the second wreck, because I didn't ever hit anyone in front of me. He said that they would subrogate against the other driver(s). I asked: What if you guys decide that 500 dollars is not worth your time? He said, we are an insurance company, subrogation is what we do. A few weeks later I received a check for 500 dollars...Mark
 
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DanB36

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Jul 13, 2003
Location
Savannah, GA
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2014 Q5 Prestige TDI, Monsoon Gray
Interestingly, my insurance is waiving my deductible. I'm not sure exactly why, but I'm not going to complain.
 

BuyMeBackSoon

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Jun 3, 2016
Location
Or
TDI
2013 golf
I didn't read this thread from beginning but when I had deductible waived it was because the insurance company received all the money from the other party.
 

DanB36

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Jul 13, 2003
Location
Savannah, GA
TDI
2014 Q5 Prestige TDI, Monsoon Gray
Buyback appointment was this evening at 6:00. Monday, I had the car towed home from the insurance lot--I wanted to make sure the battery was charged (surprisingly, it still was after two months of no use, but I put it on the charger anyway) and tires inflated, and that I'd gotten everything I wanted out of it. Today, I had it towed to the VW dealer for the buyback. It was delivered there about 12:30, and by the time I got there, the buyback specialist had already taken her pictures and determined the car was OK. She said she was told that as long as the car starts, it's acceptable.

I had my emailed receipt almost immediately, and it matched my offer exactly. She also printed off a copy. I was on the phone with my insurance before I left, and they'll be issuing payment within a few days. All's well that ends well, I guess.
 

suesrn3

Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2015
Location
Massachusetts
TDI
2013 Passat
Buyback appointment was this evening at 6:00. Monday, I had the car towed home from the insurance lot--I wanted to make sure the battery was charged (surprisingly, it still was after two months of no use, but I put it on the charger anyway) and tires inflated, and that I'd gotten everything I wanted out of it. Today, I had it towed to the VW dealer for the buyback. It was delivered there about 12:30, and by the time I got there, the buyback specialist had already taken her pictures and determined the car was OK. She said she was told that as long as the car starts, it's acceptable.

I had my emailed receipt almost immediately, and it matched my offer exactly. She also printed off a copy. I was on the phone with my insurance before I left, and they'll be issuing payment within a few days. All's well that ends well, I guess.
Great news! Thanks for updating.
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
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Springfield, VA
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‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
Thanks for the update, Dan! I'm glad everything went smoothly.
 

atomicfront

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2016
Location
baltimore
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2013 VW Jetta wagon tdi
Interestingly, my insurance is waiving my deductible. I'm not sure exactly why, but I'm not going to complain.
They determined the other driver is at fault so you don't pay the deductible. I had accident not to long ago where they didn't seem to interest in deciding blame until the other driver came up with some BS story that they were injured and had gotten a lawyer. They instantly determined it was the other driver's fault and paid my deductible. Even though I had photos that the other driver had been lying all along they didn't care until he lied about his injury.

Oh and glad you got the buy back money.
 

DanB36

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Jul 13, 2003
Location
Savannah, GA
TDI
2014 Q5 Prestige TDI, Monsoon Gray
EFT email received about 8:30 EST this evening (buyback transaction went through just after 5:00 pm yesterday). Registered for Chase payments and entered bank account information. Expect it will be in my account by Monday.
 

2015vwgolfdiesel

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Location
Oklahoma
TDI
2015 VW Golf S DSG Silver
The story as of my previous thread: My Dieselgatemobile (2013 JSW DSG, 48k miles) got rear-ended on the freeway on 10/6. The engine starts and runs, and the car drives under its own power, but it's leaking coolant pretty badly so it clearly isn't roadworthy. I'd upload pics, but pics.tdiclub.com is erroring out when I try.

Intent, as stated in the previous thread, was (and is) to take the insurance money, not get the car repaired, and go ahead with the buyback. But since there wasn't any estimate done, no further information from the insurance.

They've now decided to total the car. They're offering $16.5k including tax and title, or about $12.5k if I keep the car. Salvage value is just over $3k, and the rest is the allowance for tax and title.

I spoke with the insurance rep earlier this morning and explained what I intend to do--not commit one way or the other on the insurance, get the car back, and take it to the buyback. If there's an intractable problem with that (i.e., if I and most of the rest of us have misunderstood the settlement documents' requirement of "operable" condition), I leave myself with the option of letting the insurance take it and receiving the full payout. The rep understood and said there was no problem with doing that. The only (and slight) issue is that I'd be responsible for any towing or other transportation costs from this point forward.

The car is financed through USAA. If I took the payment now and kept the car, the payment would go toward the loan, but they wouldn't otherwise have any heartburn with my doing that.

Next step is to take it in and see what they say. Hopefully that will get up and running quickly.

Good Luck Dan
 

2015vwgolfdiesel

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Location
Oklahoma
TDI
2015 VW Golf S DSG Silver
Buyback appointment was this evening at 6:00. Monday, I had the car towed home from the insurance lot--I wanted to make sure the battery was charged (surprisingly, it still was after two months of no use, but I put it on the charger anyway) and tires inflated, and that I'd gotten everything I wanted out of it. Today, I had it towed to the VW dealer for the buyback. It was delivered there about 12:30, and by the time I got there, the buyback specialist had already taken her pictures and determined the car was OK. She said she was told that as long as the car starts, it's acceptable.

I had my emailed receipt almost immediately, and it matched my offer exactly. She also printed off a copy. I was on the phone with my insurance before I left, and they'll be issuing payment within a few days. All's well that ends well, I guess.
Glad it all went well:)
 

DanB36

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Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Location
Savannah, GA
TDI
2014 Q5 Prestige TDI, Monsoon Gray
...and money's in my account this morning. Buyback was Thursday evening, got the Chase email Friday night, and the money was there first thing in the morning of the next business day. Now waiting for the loan to be paid off.
 

740GLE

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Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
and there goes all the speculation about turning in less than decent cars.

Maybe you can share the VIN for anyone else in a similar case runs into road block. now that precedence has been set, VWoA can't really back track now.
 

gtmule

Well-known member
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Nov 10, 2016
Location
GA
TDI
Passat, Jetta, Passat
Turned in my first today. Was missing a tail light, was on the donut spare and the trunk lid looked like a monkey hit it with a sledge hammer. She called the office about the missing tail, but they of course told her it didn't matter.

+$9000
 

DanB36

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Jul 13, 2003
Location
Savannah, GA
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2014 Q5 Prestige TDI, Monsoon Gray
...and "the rest of the story". As posted above, car was turned in on 15 Dec, and I had my funds 19 Dec. Insurance wouldn't pay me unless the loan was paid off (otherwise they'd pay the loan), and VW made that payment last Thursday, 29 Dec. After just a little going around with the insurance (they were looking at the wrong loan), they processed the total loss payment, and that money was in my account this morning.

This one's now completely done for me. VW's still dragging their backsides on two others.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
so all said an done you ended up with what $25-30K for this ride?

Can't say you didn't get a fair deal with that one
 

keldar

Active member
Joined
Oct 15, 2006
Location
canisteo ny
TDI
JETTA
what city/dealer was this at? We need a list of easy going buyback specialists
for people with problematic cars.
 

Eotnak

Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
Location
Titusville, NJ
TDI
2012 JSW
and there goes all the speculation about turning in less than decent cars.

Maybe you can share the VIN for anyone else in a similar case runs into road block. now that precedence has been set, VWoA can't really back track now.
I'm in a similar situation, but it drives just fine currently. I fought with the other driver's insurance company for months to get them to send me a check. They wanted to total the car, but I wouldn't give in. I insisted that they send me the undisputed portion of the claim. They sent me a check for their fair market value estimate less salvage value. I did not have to give them the title. I wouldn't be against a buyback amount deduction for damage, but apparently, that's not how it works.

I do need them to buy the car back, though, so a VIN would help me greatly when I bring the car in.
 

duratitus

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2016
Location
Watertown NY
TDI
Several different models. Selling them back to VW
Just to be clear folks, you can read through the entire settlement agreement and nowhere does it address title status.

As long as the title is in your name, and you have proof of government issued registration in your name, you can return a car regardless of whether the title is junk, salvage, rebuilt, clear, previously salvage, etc.

The current title designation does not affect eligibility, if the car runs and drives, and you have a registration in your name.

There are other factors that come into play regarding when the salvage title was issued and etc, but that's for another discussion. I'm only addressing the current title status.
 

ujames

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 21, 2016
Location
USA
TDI
YES
Just to be clear folks, you can read through the entire settlement agreement and nowhere does it address title status.

As long as the title is in your name, and you have proof of government issued registration in your name, you can return a car regardless of whether the title is junk, salvage, rebuilt, clear, previously salvage, etc.

The current title designation does not affect eligibility, if the car runs and drives, and you have a registration in your name.
Thanks for the reply. That's also my understanding. I have read through the entire settlement agreement and also didn't see any requirement on current title status.

Anyone else agree or disagree?
 
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