My buyback experience
As of last Saturday, I've officially left the TDI fold, though still have another diesel vehicle, and stuck with VW for my TDI's replacement. This was my experience with the buy back, and while I expected the worst hearing the stories that some have experienced, I had nothing but a positive experience.
I had a 2014 Passat TDI, manual transmission. The car was phenomenal, it was fun to drive, had great fuel economy, and gave us no trouble. When the scandal first broke, I could not imagine giving up the car, and until more recently, maintained that stance. So what tipped me?
Little things pushing me towards accepting the buy back were:
- Takata recall taking a very long time. I know it isn't VW's fault, but my family is still riding in this vehicle with potentially defective airbags.
- Heater core issues some have. Yes, the warranty was extended, but it could rear its ugly head on me at some point outside of the warranty.
- Adblue heater is the same story. As is the potential for turbo failure (though my replacement has the EA888, so as with any turbo vehicle, that is a risk that remains).
- Low washer fluid light comes on in cold temperatures, regardless of fluid level. I understand it is caused by Rain-X and other similar formulations of washer fluid.
- Very slow, weird waxy/oily leak seeping from between the bumper and left rear quarter panel. Never had it looked into.
None of those things by themselves, or even combined would have made me want to ditch the car, but they definitely were straws that were added to the scale that tips it in favour of the buy back for me.
Then there were other things that were more uncertain - particularly, just how would the car behave, and would its service life be affected by the fix. And that's the other part - will there ever be a fix for the Gen 2 manuals?
The big one for me was what we were offered - if we did a straight buy back, we would have been shy a few hundred dollars of what we paid for the car new in 2014, or we would have been ahead with the trade in option counting the reduced taxes on the replacement vehicle. Where on this earth can I ever again get such a deal? I drive a car where I am paying (outside of maintenance, fuel and insurance), either next to nothing, or getting paid to drive it for more than 3 1/2 years? I know not everyone's numbers worked out that way, but mine did.
We made the decision in May this year to pursue the buy back. This would be an opportunity to switch the type of vehicle to more closely suit the current needs of the family. Among the contenders were the 2018 Tiguan and the still yet to be announced diesel CX-5. We needed to wait to see at the very least, the Tiguan in person before we could make a decision what to replace the TDI with, and when it became apparent that the CX-5 diesel still would not be here in the forseeable future (if at all), we actively tried out all our contenders at the end of the summer, to settle on the Tiguan. Now we knew we were choosing the trade in, versus the straight buy back.
So here's how it all went down:
Our profile had already been created on the portal, and we made it to the point where we entered the kms, but did not choose an option. Now, we had to have scanned the following documents:
- original bill of sale
- vehicle registration (did the insurance too, but turns out it wasn't needed)
- drivers licences of both of us (both on title)
With those ready to go, I clicked that I was choosing the trade in. I clicked through, confirmed current kms, and uploaded these documents.
Within a couple of days, we were "approved" and got our offer letter and indemnity release, which we needed to download, sign with a witness, and then upload again. Again, we got "approved" within a couple of days.
We were presented with a calendar to choose available buy back dates/times at our selected dealership.
Shortly after, we got the phone call to confirm the km and appointment time. The figures changed, however. Total remained the same, but a small amount shifted from the trade in allowance to our cheque. Amounts to about $14 extra for me in GST, but knowing how this works with others before me, I figured it wasn't worth the quibble for such a small amount.
Meanwhile, we started the ball rolling on the 2018 Tiguan, made our deposit on the vehicle, and were planning to take delivery when the buy back day came. The dealership was anxious to have the sale posted sooner, and our salesman (a good friend of one of our friends who works at a different VW dealership in another province, helped us get a good price on the vehicle), was going to be on vacation when out buy back day rolled around. They were okay with releasing the Tiguan to us, so long as the Passat was parked on their lot and we gave them the keys, and we paid everything except for the trade in allowance. So we got our Tiguan 2 weeks before we were officially TDI free.
The Passat was returned in near stock condition, save for me returning it on 16" Costco cheapie aluminum rims with the horrible Michelin X-Ice Xi3 winter tires, and me keeping the OEM 18" Bristol wheels. The OEM all season tires will be thrown for sale on classifieds. I used those wheels for the winter tires for the Tiguan. (The Bristols look like they belong on the Tiguan too). The add on Monster rubber mats we kept, for now being used in the Tiguan until we decide on which ones to order for it, and then to be sold in the classifieds.
The buy back appointment was painless, except for the sadness of seeing a car we all loved go. The lady, who incidentally works for a company contracted by RicePoint, had my wife start and move the Passat back and forth (it was moved in from storage the day prior by the dealership, but she works for this third party company, so needs to verify this herself). We signed a release for the cheque (and for the trade in allowance to go to the dealership), and then she gave us out cheque. In a matter of minutes, we were done. Chatted a bit with her - she was very pleasant. Looks like she may have done this gig as a transition to retirement from some of what she was saying, and she shared some stories that made us shake our heads.
At the end of the day, as great a car as the Passat was, we needed to take a realistic, non-emotional look at the situation. A car is a depreciating asset. It also eventually goes out of warranty, and things wear and need eventual replacement. A 3.5 year old car is closer to that than a brand new one. We got to drive the Passat for free, and now we get to reset the clock on our vehicle in terms of wear, depreciation and warranty coverage.
.
