Salvage title and buyback appointment

I am wondering if anyone else has a similar situation:

On 12/16/16 my TDI Passat was involved in a wreck (I also own the car - no loan or 2nd person on the title). While waiting to hear what my insurance wanted to do, I submitted my documents to the portal on 12/22. The following Monday my insurance company declared my car a loss, but offered a lesser amount with a salvage title if I wanted to keep the car, since it still runs. By 12/29 I already had an appointment scheduled with my dealership through the portal, but they had approved my claim with my clean title.

After speaking with one of the appointed lawyers who said VW should buyback my car with a salvage title, and after speaking to the claims rep who said I did not need to reset my portal, just show up to my buyback appt with my new salvage title, am I 100% correct in believing if I go forth with my insurance claim that my buyback will go smoothly? (The local dealership rep said VW isn't buying back salvage title cars, but the lawyer said most of their reps aren't properly trained)

Basically, I don't want my greed of collecting money from both my insurance company and VW to affect the buyback process. If taking a salvage title to the buyback date after submitting a "clean" title will affect my final amount, I would cancel my insurance claim.

Has anyone shown up to a buyback with a different title? Or had a claim rep tell them they needed to restart the process with the new title? I'm not too worried about the fact it is a salvage title, since the court documents didn't indicate a salvage title is ineligible, I am just concerned about the fact I am switching titles after my claim was approved.

I was in a similar situation, but put the insurance claim on hold while the buyback was handled, so the car's title was never affected. Once I turned in the car, got my money, and my loan was paid off, I went back to the insurance to tell them to go ahead and pay me. I can't tell you more than that, as the loan being paid off just happened last Thursday, so the process isn't over yet.

Take your offer letter from vw to the insurance company and tell them this is the value of the vehicle before the accident. See what they say.

Why would it have a salvage title? Why would you send your insurance company the title and let them challenge title to salvage?

rbreding said:

Take your offer letter from vw to the insurance company and tell them this is the value of the vehicle before the accident. See what they say.

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I'm in the same boat. And it's working out, no problem. The insurance company wouldn't release the vehicle to me until the loan was paid off AND I had a salvage title to indicate the vehicle was totalled and would not be repaired or registered. I've been in touch with the dealer buyback ambassador about it all, and even talked to the buyback specialist. As long as the engine runs and the vehicle can be driven..even if it goes sideways...you're good with the salvage title. Currently the car is in the garage (getting started and run for 15-20 minutes every other day), and the insurance check is in the bank. Buyback appt on Feb 4.

did they buy it back halbert? i took my salvage title care in to be bought back today and the denied it. even though it runs and drive "but still is crashed in the front". they acted like these cars have to be in next to perfect condition to turn them in.

Can you elaborate? I've read others here who have both successfully turned in damaged vehicles, and who have initially met resistance but ultimately were permitted to proceed.

Did VW already know to expect a salvage title? Did the buyback specialist make the decision solo, or was somebody consulted over the phone?

I'd press forward with assistance from class counsel, as well as whatever escalation you can achieve via VW. I wish I could point you to the other posts discussing this, but good luck digging through the dredge.

yes, my wife wrecked the car in july. ( rearended a jeep) but it didnt blow the air bags just messed up the hood bumper and radiator and headlights. luckily i bought the car back from insurance. so i did like every other person has. i went through all the steps on the website to submit all the paper work and emailed in needed doc. I thought everything was fine untill yesterday when i pulled into the VW lot to drop it off. ( i had to trailer it there since the radiator is busted) there were a couple of sales man out side when i pulled up just laughing their heads off, (i was think WTH). so me and my wife went inside and there was like ten sales guys including the buyback fella laughing and shaking their heads no. saying we wont take that car, on and on. So i said you have to take it back it runs and drives under its own power just fine. he said that didnt matter the car can not have any damage what so ever. he acted like he didnt know it had a salvage title but i had to send in a copy of the title the clearly has a large "Salvage Title'' on it. he took a picture of it and sent it to some guy on his cell phone then he called him and that guy gave him a no. he said the car has to be road worthy, but thats not what the contract said to buy it back. so i left the dealership and called the claims department and they want to reset my claims portal and have me start over and they said they have a different package for salvage cars but they absolutely couldnt tell me anything else about it. so i guess i have to wait a few more months of going through the paper work again and set up some other type of buyback.

I've seen a handful of references where VW is handling salvage titles differently in terms of the submission process. That's careless they didn't bother to notice that on your title with your original submittal. I'd resubmit like they've asked, but also go to counsel for help with this one.

No matter right or wrong, there's clearly been an evolution in thinking among the buyback personnel re: what is an acceptable vehicle. I believe even this forum would split over whether a functioning engine cooling system is a requirement for a vehicle to be "operable under its own power," since the term is not further defined.

Definitely get counsel involved, but I'd half expect some minor repairs might be required.

i really dont do much online research and dont ever spend time on forums, ( havent been on here since 2010 untill last night) who is the counsel and how to do get in touch? because the hotline number to call is about a waste of time. they literally know nothing.

info@vwclasscounsel.com
They are our lawyers and it doesn't cost a thing to email them. Hope you get this sorted soon.

-T.

DanB36 said:

I was in a similar situation, but put the insurance claim on hold while the buyback was handled, so the car's title was never affected. Once I turned in the car, got my money, and my loan was paid off, I went back to the insurance to tell them to go ahead and pay me. I can't tell you more than that, as the loan being paid off just happened last Thursday, so the process isn't over yet.

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That's title fraud and you can end up in jail for doing so.

turbocharged798 said:

That's title fraud and you can end up in jail for doing so.

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No, it isn't title fraud. Insurance paid me the value less salvage, and VW received clear title to an obviously-wrecked car. Unless you can cite a relevant GA or federal statute?

Well, VW is trying to get out of paying. The sales mgr at the dealer called me literally about 2 hours before our appointment and told us not to come. Apparently, the buyback specialist had spent two days on the phone with someone in corporate about how to handle a buyback with a salvage title (required in PA before the insurance co would release the vehicle back to me).

Saturday afternoon I called and left a message at Lieff Cabraser about what happened. Hopefully I'll hear from them in the next couple of days. Someone in the VW claims department locked my claim and the buyback specialist couldn't even get in to do the right thing.

GRRRRRRR

halbert said:

Well, VW is trying to get out of paying. The sales mgr at the dealer called me literally about 2 hours before our appointment and told us not to come. Apparently, the buyback specialist had spent two days on the phone with someone in corporate about how to handle a buyback with a salvage title (required in PA before the insurance co would release the vehicle back to me).

GRRRRRRR

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For clarity, when exactly did the wreck occur? Similar to the OP, yours was totaled after initiating the claim with a clean title, and therein lies the holdup? Hopefully worst case scenario for you is they squeeze you through the Claims Portal again from the beginning. That would suck, but still equal money.

The accident happened Nov 25, 2016, and I had done the first few steps (up to the point of decision of wait and fix or full buyback) and held there. We were actually planning on keeping the tdi until there was clarity about what effect the fix would have had. Here's what the guy at the dealer said to me about his conversations with the buyback specialist: "There is no way these people are the only ones in this condition out of the half-million. Why is this so difficult?"

We'll see what I hear from LC. Best case is that I'll get a call from the dealer rep in the next day or two telling us to come in at our convenience. Worst case is that I'll get a nasty-gram from VW telling us that because we didn't make it to our appointment (the appointment page is still up on the claims portal), we have to go back to square 1, or our claim is completely void.

if you want the salvage titled car to be accepted, assuming it passes the dates, you are gonna have to fix the car, if you bought it from insurance then go through the salvage vehicle inspection process, etc., get it registered and turn it in. There should be no problem with it. Obvoisly if youre turning in the wrecked car it probably gets rejected not because it has a salvage title, but because it doesnt meet the condition reqirements that they are putting in place now.

I don't know if this will help any of you with your problem, but here is the language in the FAQs directly from the vwcourtsettlement.com website. From what this says you basically need to make your car "operable" to be eligible if it is not. If it isn't, depending on the date it was totaled, you may still be eligible for restitution only.

I am an eligible owner and my car is inoperable. Am I eligible for benefits?

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If you currently own an Eligible Vehicle and the vehicle is inoperable, your eligibility depends on when the car became inoperable. If your vehicle was not operable on September 16, 2016, then you are not eligible to receive benefits under the Settlements. If your vehicle was operable on September 16, 2016 and has since become inoperable, you may be eligible to receive the Eligible Owner Restitution Payment but are not eligible for the full Buyback amount or an Approved Emissions Modification. Proof of operability on certain dates will be required.
If you restore your car to operability—at your expense—you may be eligible to receive the full Buyback amount or an Approved Emissions Modification, whichever you select

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So in the case of the damaged car with the busted radiator, hanging on a new radiator with zip-ties would make it operable. What about appearance? Can the hood, grille, fenders, etc. be crumpled and still qualify for buyback?

NAZ TDI said:

So in the case of the damaged car with the busted radiator, hanging on a new radiator with zip-ties would make it operable. What about appearance? Can the hood, grille, fenders, etc. be crumpled and still qualify for buyback?

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It has in plenty of instances.

It seems the turn in condition has been tightening with some specialists. But in other cases, they barely look at the vehicle. Tons of inconsistency. I hate to say it, but it's very much the luck of the draw.

Ultimately, our shared perception is a running engine should qualify, with a weak debate around intentional vandalism. But many cars with accident damage have reportedly been turned in.

NAZ- from my experiance. my car was denied at the buyback appointment, because of frontend damage. they could care less of any mechanical issues such as a broken radiator, it was strickly the apperance of the car, (mine was missing the front bumper and headlights and the hood was folded up) i asked them if i throw a hood and bumper on it if they would buy it back then, he replied with it has to be road worthy, but no where in our contract that i have read even say that. just say operable under it own engine power.

Dreece, have you emailed class counsel yet? Any reply?

I had a recent conversation with one of the staffers at Lieff Cabraser about my situation (vehicle damaged, not road worthy, salvage title, but engine runs and it can move under it's own power). Apparently one of the outcomes of the mid-December court hearing is that VW asked for, and got, some leeway on the definition of "operable". It seems that there were enough stripped vehicles getting turned in that they wanted a way to deal with those who were doing it.

Which left those of us with unintentional damage caught between a rock and a hard place (thanks guys).

Well, rescheduled appointment for March 11. The law office guy asked me to email them pictures of the vehicle, along with the complete timeline. By the way, I didn't "buy it back" from the insurer. I took a much reduced insurance settlement in order to keep possession--and I had to pay off the loan, get the title and convert it to a salvage title in order to get that much. And, I still have the original purchase documents from June of 2014.

It's a shame that some found a way to take advantage of this process only to vandalize and ruin the vehicles.
Otherwise, I think they would have been more lenient with this gray area

halbert said:

I had a recent conversation with one of the staffers at Lieff Cabraser about my situation (vehicle damaged, not road worthy, salvage title, but engine runs and it can move under it's own power). Apparently one of the outcomes of the mid-December court hearing is that VW asked for, and got, some leeway on the definition of "operable". It seems that there were enough stripped vehicles getting turned in that they wanted a way to deal with those who were doing it.

Which left those of us with unintentional damage caught between a rock and a hard place (thanks guys).

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I think that this is partially true. The subject came up at the hearing because of that nitwit who was on jalopnik, and the judge issued a warning to owners not to strip the cars before turning them in. It also sounded like the separate settlement for the 3.0L cars also has language that is a bit tighter than "operable" which is what we have.

That whole exchange definitely moved the needle toward making it harder to get a damaged vehicle through, but didn't change the underlying terms of the order.

I still think that the OP will get his car through-- perhaps with some kind of rough-and-ready radiator repair, but it will require some persistence. Not persistence in the sense of yelling at the on-site rep, but persistence in the sense of documenting the collision that caused the damage, and communicating in writing with class counsel. (It is very much their job to help with stuff like this, and if they don't they might get their fees cut at the end.)

I also think that things like a missing radio--which smells a bit like stripping parts-- is going to take a little persistence. If there is a reason that there is no radio other than "I wanted to keep it" it should be accepted, eventually, but the hassle might make it worth putting a cheapo into the empty slot.

I've been reading post after post about buybacks with salvage titles. Has anyone completed a buyback with a salvage title that can shed light on how much VW paid compared to what the clean title value would have been. All kinds of discussion but no follow up posts or maybe their appointments are in the future?

The buyback experience just becomes more and more random. The conclusion of "halbert," which is that it's all about appearance, is contradicted by our son's experience. I was there for his turn-in a week ago yesterday at Village VW in Chattanooga. His car was T-boned last July, which ruined both passenger side doors and made it look ugly, but the car was completely operable. The buyback took about 15 minutes, despite a completely gratuitous comment by the buyback rep that "VW might come back on you for repairs." Well, he got the full buyback price (after he pocketed the insurance settlement), so that was all nonsense.
Other people are reporting a whole variety of responses to different conditions. Yesterday I read a post that said "No nav / head unit in the dashboard, no buyback."
Clearly, there have been some rather vague comments made up the food chain in VW, and this is being turned into concrete (if erroneous) procedure on buyback day. The only answer I can see is to call the class counsel and get them on it.

Jaymarks said:

Has anyone completed a buyback with a salvage title that can shed light on how much VW paid compared to what the clean title value would have been.

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It's not a matter of how much they'll pay, it's a matter of whether they'll take the car at all. If they take it, they pay the same amount as if it was a clean title.

So you or someone you know or read about actually received the full buyback amount with a salvage title??