I keep seeing comments that VW will crush older Gen1 with high miles and only sell the later year models but if you look at the listings in Auto Trader, Cars.com etc etc....there is plenty of 2011 and 2012's and many have very close to 100k miles and some even more.
I find hard to believe vw will not scan all the storage lots and start pulling out the "easiest to sell" gen 1 cars even after them being stored for 2+ years, I mean even if they have to invest some money on putting back to retail sell standards it still better than no money for these cars?
and by the way the bast majority of the Gen 1 on the market as of right now are sold by vw dealerships, very very few independent dealers and almost no private sellers.
Just because a car is being offered for sale as a used car by a VW dealer does not mean it went through the buyback and auction process given in the above post (great info, by the way).
It may have been:
- a car that a previous owner had the emissions modification done, and then traded it in on a new car - same process as any other used car. (Highly likely)
- a car that a previous owner had NOT had the modification done and for whatever reason didn't go through the buyback process. It's too hard for some people. The process may be too lengthy for whatever reason. So, they just trade the car in. The dealer does the modification and offers it for sale.
I'm sure some 2011 - 2012 models that went through buyback but are in prime condition, despite higher mileage, will be offered as "normal" (cheaper) used cars as opposed to "certified pre-owned", which is only for low mileage late models.
For the older ones, there is a business decision to make.
- Start with the $ the car could be sold for. In the case of a 2009, which is currently a 9 year old car, with very high mileage ... that's not going to be a particularly large number to start with.
- Subtract the cost of fixing what's wrong with it. Doesn't have to be emissions related. Just the normal "car stuff". Brakes, clutch, battery, suspension and steering parts, etc. A 9 year old car with high mileage is probably going to have stuff wrong with it.
- Where applicable, subtract the cost of "putting it right". If someone swiped all the alloy wheels, hopefully there's a donor car sitting next to it. If someone put on slammed suspension and deleted emissions components that aren't related to the fix ... that could be expensive. If it has body damage or interior damage (and lots of 9 year old cars will) ... that's another expensive line item.
- Subtract the cost of doing the emissions modification.
- Subtract some number which represents the anticipated cost of supporting the extended warranty.
If this is a negative number ... it's worth more dead than alive.