Buyback HELP - Need Radio!

Just got home from the local dealer. I attempted to complete the buyback but was refused because my radio is missing. I told the guy that doesn't matter, but as he doesn't work for VW outside of managing buybacks, there wasn't much he could do about it.

My radio went belly up about a year ago right after I was out of warranty. The thing was trashed, so like all other garbage I got rid of it. I replaced it with a nice android head unit. When I was cleaning out my car a couple days ago to ready it for the buyback, I took the android unit out, as there's no sense in giving VW a few hundred dollars of my own property, to put in another car.

After getting the first refusal, I called the claims hotline. I talked with one woman who didn't help me at all, then asked for a manager, who also didn't help me. She agreed with me personally that it's not right for me to need to provide a radio, but that those were the rules. After talking with everyone on the phone and the buyback guy, they pretty much said I need to find a radio out of a junker and toss it in the hole in my dash.

2 coworkers of mine stripped their radios before their buybacks 1 & 2 months ago, and didn't have a single issue. I'm trying to call a friend who also stripped his to see if I can buy it off of him, but this whole goose chase seems ridiculous.

Any help? My appointment is rescheduled for tomorrow mid-day, pending I can get my friend's radio.



Thank you!!!

Its been documented.....you should have left the radio in. Either put the overpriced fancy radio in, or find a rcd 510 and put in there. Are you sure it was worth all the hassle?

Donald

But what about the whole "vehicle just needs to be running under its own 2.0l TDI power"? From everything I've heard about the buyback terms until yesterday, this is a breach of the agreement VW made with me.

And it's not like I wanted to cause a hassle. VW sold me my car with an accessory that broke prematurely. I purchased a new accessory with my own money, as any owner buys any accessory. I took it out of my car pre-buyback just like I did with my roof rack, phone charger, etc.

VW wants a complete car for buyback. get over it. Should they give you the buy back if you removed the hood or passenger seat and threw them away before you turned the car in? They have to dray the line somewhere.

So how is it exacty VW's fault that you removed the head unit and threw it away?

How is it a "breach of agreement" if you haven't signed anything or turned the car back in yet exactly? Id say find the actual agreement and read the fine print instead of going by someone opinion you read on a forum.

I sure am glad I'm not part of the Dieselgate mess. What truly amazes me is that there are folks out there that are shopping for one of those cars. Just wow............

No, if I had stripped the car prior to buyback that would be a different story. If I was a packrat that held on to garbage (the dead OEM radio), that would be a different story. But the issue is that VW would be fine with me returning a car with a completely shot radio, but is not fine with me returning a car with the completely shot radio removed.

I understand their ever-evolving regulation with this, but in my particular case the end result is the same. I'd go so far to say it's VW's fault the stock head unit is removed because the one they sold me on the car was faulty. I'm not looking for someone to cry me a river, I'm just saying that my case seems like a particular one, and I'm getting wrapped up in the group of those folks who are unscrupulously stripping every last piece of their car.

Draw the line and make it firm, but as everyone knows exceptions can be made in any case if you get the OK from someone high on the totem pole. I honestly feel I should get an exception, and VW ought to be helpful to my case.

i have an RCD510 for sale if you are interested.

i swapped it with my dead one and completed my buyback yesterday. no questions asked.

Thanks, but I just completed my buyback. My friend was nice enough to sell me his last-minute. Popped it in and was out the dealer in 10 minutes.

Still ticked at VW for being a royal PITA about things, but I shook the dust from my feet and will pick up my Subaru on Saturday.

I think you completely missed the point, but it all worked out for you so it's all good. I would have held onto the shot radio in case I ever sold the car.

Let us know how you like your Subi.

Yeah, maybe if I had more space I would have kept it, but as I'm currently renting an apartment, I don't have the luxury of a large shop.

I planned on running the car into the ground and keeping it until she breathed her last puff of smoke, so I didn't think I'd need an expensive brick taking up space. But the buyback changed all that, so hindsight's 20/20.

redpup said:

Yeah, maybe if I had more space I would have kept it, but as I'm currently renting an apartment, I don't have the luxury of a large shop.

I planned on running the car into the ground and keeping it until she breathed her last puff of smoke, so I didn't think I'd need an expensive brick taking up space. But the buyback changed all that, so hindsight's 20/20.

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You didn't....you could of left your Android in it

so what did you do with the old radio, put a broken one in..
go to a pull a part or junkyard and just get any vw radio for cheap.

I got lucky they took mine back without ledHID's.. I sweet talked the lady and it was closing time on a friday. They can buy it back missing the radio, but they adjust your buyback amount. I got lucky and woman didn't feel like calling so I got full value.

I am about to remove the 510 Nav system I put in because they did not include it in my buyback calculation.

So hopefully any old radio will work for the buyback, not just a VW or OEM one?

I had the same issue with my buyback suspended the other day - I had a friend pull out my radio because it was not working well (and after reading other posts here, think it also was draining my battery). I was going to have him repair or replace it but I ended up getting a great deal on a new car at the end of Dec. I never bothered to do anything with the radio since I thought components like that didn't matter for the buyback (I haven't been reading the forums for at least a year so didn't know things had changed).

Thanks for any updated info on what kind of radio will work for the buyback.

Read on another thread that any radio will be ok, even one without a touchscreen?

HowieE said:

I am about to remove the 510 Nav system I put in because they did not include it in my buyback calculation.

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The 510 Navi is certainly worthy of throwing in the trash. You got it for free, right?