Anyone who feels like the offer isn't fair is allowed to exclude themselves from the class and sue separately. So this settlement only applies to people willing to accept the settlement. Beyond that, it's all semantics.
The reality is that the settlement is working out great for some people, ok for others, bad for some, and very bad for another group. If you're in the group that it's working out well for congratulations. As another posted mentioned here he is viewing this as a financial windfall. For others it's quite the opposite. The math just doesn't work for some of the cars. Please understand that trying to convince the groups who the deal doesn't work out as well for that the deal is fair and great is really pointless. You don't know the financial situation of others or how the fraud committed by VW has affected each individual here.
Let's look at a few of the ways the who ordeal has negativity impacted individuals-
Inability to sell the car for anywhere near its pre scandal value for months and in some cases not at all. The market for tdis has not only been down in the dollar figures put forth by KBB and Nada but in terms of desirability and actual ability to sell the car it's been difficult if you needed to or wanted to since last fall. This isn't the fault of the consumer for buying a certain vehicle, it's VW's fault for commuting news worthy fraud on a massive scale.
Some folks wrecked their car during this time and received in some cases thousands less than they otherwise would have.
Some people bought a brand new car for upwards of 28-30k and are receiving less than that with an option to buy a another new car or have the brand new car gimped with a mod. If you think the modified version of these cars will retain the exact value they would have in a world without dieselgate you're drinking the kool aid. A lot of people with a car that is still practically new are more mad that they have to buy another car, credit factors aside, when the car they have is still basically new. Why should they be taking any hit at all here. At least swap the car out with a similar priced VW for these folks who didn't enjoy their car for a number of years and tens of thousands of miles like most customers. Think about it, some of these people are on their second oil change.
The potential risk of driving said vehicle between now and the time when the settlement is final is a small financial risk for some and a larger one for others with newer cars worth much more.
For those who the buyback math is bad you get to chose between two options that may or may not make you whole. Ending up with a similar car with similar miles and a higher principal on your auto loan isn't being made whole and that will be the reality for some people who feel compelled to sell the car back.
The unknown repercussions of the fix itself are a large risk for some people. Yes they're going to warrantee some parts but we don't know the details. What if your HPFP gernades from the extra strain on the engine or other issues arise. Your in for more fun dealing with VW warrantee process potentially due to the modification of your car from its factory configuration. What's going to happen when a system that VW deems unrelated because they just don't know for sure fails and you get to pay the bill. Maybe it would have failed without the mod but maybe it wouldn't. From a risk assessment standpoint there are a lot of variables here. I don't have faith in VW right now to make a major fix on any of these vehicles with enough time to test long term impacts. Great, 150k warrantee on emissions parts. 150k is nothing for a lot of people and if the longer term impact on their car causes major issues that wouldn't have been there before it's still a financial loss, however big or small, caused by fraud.
The idea that just doing nothing is a reasonable choice for anyone dissatisfied with the offer is extremely flimsy and one dimensional. A car is a major financial factor for most Americans. It's not an insignificant cost. If you're suggesting that doing nothing is a valid choice then you're suggesting that people who aren't happy should just roll over and be defrauded by VW. This suggestion basically states that if your not happy you should accept your cars new deflated value, accept any additional loss incurred if you total it, accept that it may more difficult to sell in the future, accept that in some ways more significant than others a fraud perpetuated by self serving executives will limit the choices you have with what to do with your vehicle in the future.
I don't necessarily even suggest that all of the above are going to be real problems for a large group of people but I'm tired of many here just claiming that no one was really impacted by the scam and even further that we benefitted from all the great fuel mileage. I for one didn't get enough miles out of the car to see any return on the premium I paid for a diesel, not by a long shot. Yes it got slightly better mileage then on the sticker but more than one dealer told me along the way how great the mileage was after break in. I didn't think it was because VW cheated i just assumed the epa tested a brand new unbroken-in car.
Edited* meant fuel pump not filter lol
