800 VW TDIs in storage in WA

GoFaster

Moderator at Large
Joined
Jun 16, 1999
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
Looks like some of the 2015 models that were caught up in this. They'll eventually be fixed and sold. When, and at what price ... good question.

Also, for those people who claim that these cars are being periodically driven ... that ain't happening in a place like this.
 

tdidieselbobny

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Location
Stafford,NY (WNY)
TDI
'03 Galactic Blue Jetta TDI, '15 Silk Blue Golf Sportwagen TDI
I wonder how the diesel fuel in the tanks is holding up,being that they don't ship them with full tanks.
 

HBarlow

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2012
Location
Crosby County, TX
TDI
2009 Jetta Sportwagen, 2016 Audi Q5 TDI
A few weeks ago when I was still thinking seriously about an unsold 2015 VW TDI I was talking with a salesman at a dealer in Salem,OR. He described a large number of '15 TDIs belonging to his dealership squeezed in a storage lot but also mentioned a large number of 2016s "at the port." I'm not sure now but it seems he spoke of the '16s in the past tense as if they had already been shipped elsewhere.

My guess would have been the 800 VWs pictured at the WA port are 2016s destined to be shipped to another country. Perhaps they are 2015s that had just arrived and were not yet delivered to dealers when the scandal and resultant stop-sale order was issued. VW TDIs were hot sellers at that time.

If that's the case there are many more 2015s available than I thought so demand may be quickly satisfied once they are modified and released for sale.

If that turns out to be what they are prices may be discounted to get rid of them.

Perhaps there will be some very attractive pricing on 2015 TDIs after all.
 
Last edited:

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
The service advisors at my dealer said they have a few dozen 15s sitting in a warehouse. I didn't ask if they were being driven. If those ~800 are all 15s, then there should be some decent deals in the PNW.
 

Steve Addy

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Location
Iowa
TDI
97 Mk3
I think my local dealer has about 50 cars in storage in a vacant used car lot.

Spoke with a friend of mine who's a tech there and he seemed to be of the opinion that the cars would be leaving and shipped elsewhere, aka out of the US. He believes that the costs to make the cars compliant would be enough to send the cars elsewhere, which in a way makes sense. Why would VW spend $$ refitting a car to make it complaint when it could just send it elsewhere and sell it without any hassle.

TBH I wouldn't expect to see a lot 'deals' on these. In fact I wouldn't expect to see them period. Especially if they can be sold elsewhere without the tainted image. Any cars left here that are marginal candidates for refit / fix will likely be killed like the cash 4 clunkers engines were.

I think we're probably looking at the winding down of VW tdi cars coming to the US. The image has been very badly damaged by all of this.

Steve
 

Johhny04

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Location
Markham, Ontario
TDI
2003 Jetta TDi
I think everyone is forgetting that these ~800 cars are owned by VW. If they can't be fixed cheap and sold, then they (VW) can simply place them back on a ship and move them to either South America or elsewhere (countries with lax emission rules) and sell them there. The cars already on dealer lots, which are not owned by the dealer, but are owned by finance companies i.e. VW finance, RBC, BNS, BOA, (“Banks)….. VW will credit back to the Banks the amounts financed in order to take possession again of these units or maybe the dealer will be given the option to implement the fix and then sell to retail consumer. I hope VW is at least paying the monthly interest charges or providing dealers with credits, for the units sitting on dealer’s lots or external storage.
 

redbarron55

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2010
Location
Navarre, FL.
TDI
2012 Touareg TDI Executive
For those who are holding on to their TDI for the gain in value for scarcity value II would think that there would be a glut on the market if they can repair the buy backs.
If they can't repair them then this might be a fish of a different color.
 

Dorkage

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2010
Location
Thunder Bay, ON, Canada
TDI
2003 Wagon TDI, 2004 Golf R32
Except that the only ways they're leaving the country are either fixed, or scrunched up into little bales of scrap metal.
If they can't be fixed cheap and sold, then they (VW) can simply place them back on a ship and move them to either South America or elsewhere (countries with lax emission rules) and sell them there.
GoFaster is correct.

Part of the EPA deal VW made is that VW must fix or destroy the cars before exporting them.

It's a complete waste of resources if you ask me.
 

Johhny04

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Location
Markham, Ontario
TDI
2003 Jetta TDi
GoFaster is correct.

Part of the EPA deal VW made is that VW must fix or destroy the cars before exporting them.

It's a complete waste of resources if you ask me.
This I didn't know. I do agree with you, its a complete waste of resources......unless they (VW) already know that a fix is possible.
 

vintovka

Banned
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Location
oregon
TDI
NO MORE VW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Except that the only ways they're leaving the country are either fixed, or scrunched up into little bales of scrap metal.
Its a tough time to do that. Scrap steel is so worthless you now need to pay someone to take it. Even the dump charges to take steel same as garbage. Some auto wreckers are in real trouble. Stacking cars 5+ high is also dangerous to yard workers and pickers alike.
 

BuyMeBackSoon

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2016
Location
Or
TDI
2013 golf
Does the fix or destroy edict apply to cars never sold or titled? Or is it just buyback cars?
 

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
All 2.0l VW diesels from 09-15. The 3.0l engine details have not been announced.
 

MarsBar

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Location
San Jose, CA
TDI
B4V#2 "Flash", 2000 Jetta GL, B4V#1 "PaTuDI" (2008-2018 RIP)
If they're stuck "in port", that sounds like they haven't finished the importation process and could still be sent elsewhere.
 

Steve Addy

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Location
Iowa
TDI
97 Mk3
Except that the only ways they're leaving the country are either fixed, or scrunched up into little bales of scrap metal.
That may be correct, I haven't read the documentation, but it's illogical to think that if this is the case that these vehicles will be anything other than scrap after they're taken back. Financially it's too expensive to fix / refit these to be complaint, I would expect them to all go away one way or another.

I will say though that if VW anticipated exporting all of the cars repurchased it seems excessive for the EPA to mandate that they be US complaint before they depart for another location. They might already be complaint depending on where they're going or the new destination might not care.

If they're stuck "in port", that sounds like they haven't finished the importation process and could still be sent elsewhere.
This may be true for the new ones that weren't allowed in to the US. I would have thought that the first sign of trouble about this that VW would have loaded them back up and sent them elsewhere, but apparently that didn't happen.

Steve
 

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
Since these cars are on US soil, they have to comply with US regulations before they can go anywhere. That's why VW couldn't just throw them back on the ship. In addition to the emissions needing to be complaint with both EPA and the receiving country, the saftey requirements can be (probably are) different. This could be a much more expensive under taking than reprogramming the ECUs on these cars. Remember, these are all 15 (and possibly a few 16s) and the speculation is that these will need an ECU tweak to start with and then another adjustment later.
 

drucifer

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2013
Location
fredericksburg virginia
TDI
2004 jetta sw tdi pd
I work part time at a national auto auction. At the specific auction I work at there are at least 1600 vw cars being stored. I believe they are '15 & '16 gas and diesel cars. Again only storing. There are 90 plus auction locations.
 
Last edited:

GoFaster

Moderator at Large
Joined
Jun 16, 1999
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
Is the definition of "destroy" going to be crushing, or just the 3 inch hole in the engine blocks?
... and what would the difference be?

If there is a 3 inch hole in the engine block (and by the way, nothing in the consent decree requires them to do that! - it is the ECU and the DPF and the LNT that have to be rendered inoperative, not the engine itself) the rest of the car is headed for the recyclers.

There is nothing in the consent decree that stops VW from stripping and selling useful parts from these cars - just not the ECU and not any of the emission control components.

What will limit the usefulness of that course of action ... is the enormous oversupply of all non-engine-related parts that this would cause. It isn't cost-effective to strip and save ALL of the useful parts from ALL of the bought-back cars - most of them would end up never being bought anyhow.
 

meerschm

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 18, 2009
Location
Fairfax county VA
TDI
2009 Jetta wagon DSG 08/08 205k buyback 1/8/18; replaced with 2017 Golf Wagon 4mo 1.8l CXBB

this story, with the speculated need for DEF system in the 2009-2014 cars with NSC, ignores the proposed fix for gen 1 cars outlined by VW in January, and described in the draft we saw in June.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/file/871306/download see page 92

this is consistent with video recently posted, lifted from Audi training sites.

(not "yet" approved, but consistent)

looking again at this, the detection of particulates from the DPFs that tend to crack is included....
 
Last edited:

Doc

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2000
Location
Greenville, RI,USA
Last week I was at Quonset Point in Rhode Island and saw hundreds of VW diesels in a large fenced in lot. This area is a shipping and receiving port, as there were hundreds of new cars there also. My guess is that the diesels are to be shipped out.
 

bbexotics

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2012
Location
albuquerque
TDI
2004 Passat,2006 Jetta, 2003 Jetta wagon, 2017 Cayman S
BS. They are selling them at Dealers Auction, two largest dealers Auctions being Manheim, and Adessa!!!!!!!!
 

1854sailor

Resident Curmudgeon
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Location
Westerly, RI
TDI
2015 Golf SE SportWagen, 2015 Golf SE Hatch Back.
Thousands at the marine terminal here in Baltimore being loaded on RORO ships...
 

Ton

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Location
Free Union,VA
TDI
early 2001 jetta
Scrap iron prices are improving. A good scrap yard uses a crusher to flatten cars into pancakes.
 

2000alhVW

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2018
Location
Silver Spring, MD
TDI
2000 Golf
Scrap iron prices are improving. A good scrap yard uses a crusher to flatten cars into pancakes.
Literally worthless.

My local scrap yard is now paying 4 cents per pound for iron/steel.
You can bring a literal ton of steel in and walk away with $120.

Or...you can bring in about 50lb of copper for the same $$$.
Scrap iron is a joke.
 

Ton

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Location
Free Union,VA
TDI
early 2001 jetta
I just met someone in Millbank, Ontario,Canada that makes his living cutting up old cars for scrap iron. It's not get rich scheme that's for sure.
 

Ton

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Location
Free Union,VA
TDI
early 2001 jetta
2000alh you are right about scrap metal being worthless. The problem with high scrap prices is that you have druggies pulling up man hole covers and selling them for scrap.
 
Top