Wish I was as good as some of you saints.
But if those fingers wagging at "stealing" parts off my own car were wagging in my face, I might pull those parts, too. I don't know what they would fetch on craigslist with that smell, though. For me, getting my all-green-check-in-October status kicked back to "incomplete" today has got me ready to preach back at you, as I lose my purely-emotional hesitation to strip.
I have a deep love for my car. I could not sell baseball bat swings for $100 each, even if the crusher was seconds away. It does, foolishly, make me sick to my stomach to think about stripping, but morals/values/fairness/car- love-wise, I think we should all be stripping the parts for highest and best use, before they are neglected and probably crushed. These cars will SIT for a long time and the "fix" will ruin what's left of our cars, if it comes at all.
Give yourself a gold star for being nice to the "next owner" and turning in all those key fobs, if it helps you sleep at night, but I'm having nightmares of scrap yards and crushers. My Audi dealer doesn't give half a crap about the 2011 car I love, they don't sell even three year old cars and their snotty noses go up when I come in under extended maintenance for them to F-up a brake fluid change or break off a fuel filter bolt that they don't have in stock(!) and just give it back with one bolt missing.
They will not be kind to these A3s while they sit and wait for a "fix." The fix will suck, if there is one, and the highly reduced value and general continuation of the bad PR will make it not worth VWGofA's time to deal with any but maybe the newest/highest end cars. The thought of my car sitting out on the back dirt lot with moss growing in the pano roof channels and mice nesting in the sport seats - then finally being crushed, breaks my heart. I would like my parts being used to help upgrade or repair a gasser with known owner - vs. a dim hope that my car will have a happy "future owner" with any car sense at all.
I would be thrilled to see folks with the guts, time and blowtorch driving on those steelies, sitting on a milk crate tied to the frame, steering with a board, shifting with a wrench, wearing goggles and a bike helmet with a little side view mirror attached. My dreams about stripping have got more elaborate every night since that ten-business day window passed.
The notion of owners being unfair to VWGofA is so puzzling, as they get away with too-big-of-a-mess-to-do-the-right thing BS. There are tens of thousands (more than 100,000? of us for whom they have already breached the settlement timelines - and really every single owner in the class was supposed to get "transparency" that is no longer there as they lie about processing claims in the order receive, sketchily remove the 10-day language from the portal, fail to give updated timelines, hang up on callers, and turned away from getting offer letters out to artificially pushing loads of owners to "documents complete" - just to show some movement to the court this week (though not movement that count$). Then outrageously knocking some of us back a step after more than a month of limbo.
I don't have to think the settlement is "fair" to accept that it is what I'm stuck with. Love it or leave it DNA. Besides not not abiding by it and not being transparent with modified timelines, etc. the settlement was not "fair" to begin with. The compromises made for expediency were to give owners, overall, the best chance of getting somewhat close to "whole" in a reasonable amount of time. That's better for us than spending years and years sorting through all the details of each individual's situation. Most of us accepted it, but it doesn't make it "fair."
The use of NADA Clean Value is especially unfair to many of us, but the minimal requirement that the car "can" be driven is meant to offset that. Stripping parts is not going to send anyone to hell, it is still adhering to the agreement (while VWGofA is not) and it is a (tedious) way that some of us might make our own buyback somewhat more "fair." That is not "opportunistic" and it especially is not true for me as the $ is not at all worth my time and hassle to strip.
I just hate that those without this understanding, or else without the skills, physical ability, time, emotional fortitude (me) or upfront $ to pay someone else to strip are sending good parts and great cars to a long stay in purgatory and probably car-crusher hell.
I understand the court's reasoning on using trade-in, but it is still infuriating and insulting. Major retailers, law enforcement, and the courts do not give shoplifters or fraudulent check writers sale prices. An armful of levis to feed your hungry kids, or a fake check for $200 on clearance shoes with $500 "regular price" could get you that felony strike that would put you in prison for years based on the full "retail" price - even if none of those items EVER sold at that full price. Allowing Audi, whose un-truth in engineering made me buy this car, to give me what an honest dealer gives in an honest transaction - where they are giving a little on a new car, and then making a little on the sale off the trade in - is not "fair" even with the additional restitution.
I would never ever choose to enter into even an honest trade-in transaction for any car I have ever owned for NADA value. I buy, maintain accessorize and upgrade my cars so carefully that I always privately sell for more than I paid and always get far more than NADA value. I also always have that flexibility to sell if I need cash, and I was especially counting on that with this car being so desireable, if the lies were true. It has been a significant burden for me to not have been able to sell when I was ready to buy a house. Though I'm not starving, homeless, or walking in the snow, it is not "fair."
It makes sense that the settlement has compromises like trade-in / clean valuation for "expediency." But this isn't being expedited, and VWGofA agreed to the can-drive part of that compromise. My car is so much more than "clean" but someone with serious body damage (and cash in pocket from insurance) and terrible neglect will get the same as me.
I know I'm better off than a lot of owners who are really financially suffering and very unfairly screwed, but I'm losing patience and I'm sad about the probable fate of our cars. As some of you point out, there's nothing we can do about the delays. Instead of "relaxing" though, I'm looking at the one thing I'm not left powerless over - what I will turn in at buyback.
My car has more than $3,500 (depreciated, not sticker price) in OEM accessories and even factory options (heated mirrors and seats, paint upgrade, etc.) that are not included in the NADA valuation. Those would go with my private party sale if the value had not been devastated when the lies were finally revealed after all the years of hiding and then denying. Some. like mats, racks, first aid, truth-in-engineering seat covers, 18" oem winter wheels (not to mention a couple grand in hanooks and thule ksummit cables that won't fit next car), are obviously not going with the buyback, but it's not "fair" that I have to spend my time being a used part dealer for these bits and pieces. If I don't feel like ripping off the heated mirrors and taking out the heaters from the sport seats and knowing I'm getting nothing for lifetime Serius, I might decide to save the climate control panel and the stupid RNSE+ (where's the damned Fakra) from the mice.
Highly compensated plantiffs' attorneys emphasizing to media how terrible condition is fine and how lucky we are to be able to drive for free another few years (not mentioning those that will be stolen or rendered undrivable) if we don't choose our buybacks "in the fall" = sport seat and steering wheel swap OK for me. My time to remove and sell A3-specific racks, mudflaps, etc. and inability to sell clear bra, metallic paint, etc. = spare/jack, climate control panel, air vents, shift knob might come out, too. Breach of timeline makes me nervous enough to do another oil and fuel filter change that will eentually seep into the mud = engine cover, battery cover, fuse covers, belly pan, cargo cover...? Recalled Takata airbags threatening my life and Audi will never have to deal with them = front lip, xenon lights, grill, sport wheel, paddles, shift knob..
The $ I'll get from selling this stuff is absolutely not worth the hassle to me, but "stealing" good parts from the mice, mildew, and crusher is. That makes moral sense to me, but YMoralsMV.