Interesting thread I had not seen or read before. Thanks for resurrecting it NYC-TDI. Curious if you or any other prior owners ever formed another class or found legal representation to sue? I get your point that a fraud was committed regardless, but the courts generally don't reward "victims" if no loss was incurred.
I agree with you, VW sold you a car that was not compliant with the emissions requirements, and did so knowingly. However, you honestly did not suffer any monetary harm whatsoever and pretty much every lawyer and judge in the country would probably see it that way. Therefore, other than punitive damages against VW, what other harm was caused to you? There may be a case for punitive damages in your case, but good luck finding someone to take the case.
With regards to the settlement, keep in mind it was just that, a settlement. The parties involved, in this case the FTC, lawyers representing consumers and VWGoA reached an agreed upon resolution with the purpose of either removing the cars from the road or fixing them. I would say the 100% buyback on the 2.0 cars was overkill. But I believe the EPA and FTC were concerned about how to handle 500,000 non-emissions compliant cars going forward. What if California or another state decided owners could no longer register them? Also, if the intent was to incentivize current owners to get the cars fixed or get them off the road, the restitution amount makes a lot of sense. It's not really a punitive damage, but rather a way to make sure owners do something with their cars. Afterall, as part of the agreement, VW needs to fix or remove 85% of the offending cars.
Finally, when you talk about harm, there is another group actually harmed even more so than the group of owners that sold prior to the scandal being public. Every other auto manufacturer that had a vehicle in the same class as VW could have a case for lost market share due to VW's actions. Proving how much that was is of course impossible, but still very real. How many of those TDI buyers may have ended up with another brand's hybrid, electric or gas sipping alternative, if VW actually had to price in the emissions compliance into their vehicles? If there was another $5k premium on the cost of a TDI would VW have sold 500,000? Maybe the number would have been 50% of that with the rest going to other manufacturers. See the problem? In the real world lines need to be drawn, compromises made and agreements made. VW's settlement is more than fair for the vast majority of people impacted by their fraud. However, like life, you can't please everybody.