Dieselgate, The Canadian Edition

[Armby]

There is a shop in the Toronto area called Union Rim, they repair all kinds of damaged wheels. If you're that worried maybe give them a call...

Do not spend a dime getting it fix nor a minute worrying about it. The FAQ quoted a few posts above explicitly allows you to return a vehicle with accidental damage. There is no penalty.

 

[joey003]

I would just put it on right before the buyback. I think they're more concerned about people literally gutting cars. Seats, stereos, factory rims, etc. There is a shop in the Toronto area called Union Rim, they repair all kinds of damaged wheels. If you're that worried maybe give them a call...

Do not spend a dime getting it fix nor a minute worrying about it. The FAQ quoted a few posts above explicitly allows you to return a vehicle with accidental damage. There is no penalty.

Thanks for the tips & thoughts

 

[badger617]

Sorry for being repetitive here but just to be clear, the procedure is; send in forms, get approved, receive letter of offer, accept letter, then drop off at dealer? And the dealer should not be getting involved except at the very end is that correct?

Like many of you I'm stuck with all green checks on my documents and waiting for the letter but got a weird message on the answering machine last night from the local VW dealer wanting to talk to me about my buyback options. I really do not trust these guys and want nothing to do with them unless I have to, but just want to make sure I'm not holding up my buy back process if I don't?

 

[joey003]

Sorry for being repetitive here but just to be clear, the procedure is; send in forms, get approved, receive letter of offer, accept letter, then drop off at dealer? And the dealer should not be getting involved except at the very end is that correct?

Like many of you I'm stuck with all green checks on my documents and waiting for the letter but got a weird message on the answering machine last night from the local VW dealer wanting to talk to me about my buyback options. I really do not trust these guys and want nothing to do with them unless I have to, but just want to make sure I'm not holding up my buy back process if I don't?

Definitely the dealers aren't involved. And even at the last step, it's just that the dealerships are being used as locations for the turn in, with a claims administrator on site doing the buy back appointments (not someone employed by the dealer).

Colleague of mine is doing the process too with a TDI, and I keep him updated as I see tidbits of info from this thread. Every time I do, he tells me about wacky stories from talking to dealer reps and managers. Some are feeding info like their dealer already has 2500 appointments booked, or that its ok to made modifications / remove some parts from the car. At this point I say ignore them completely.

 

[badger617]

Thanks Joey, that's what I thought but I wasn't sure if I was missing something.
So just have to sit tight then like everyone else and wait for those darn papers to arrive...oh joy.

 

[settings]

• Live in Quebec
• Own my 2009 Jetta
• Apr 28 Created account
• Apr 29 Uploaded final document
• May 6 Document status changed to "Document Complete" (green check marks)
• May 18 Received email that documents were complete (ie. that the above happened 12 days earlier?)
• May 19 Email that offer was ready (same as the estimate earlier in the process)
• May 19 Printed, signed, and uploaded offer and release
• May 19 Email the same afternoon to schedule my appointment (June 5th was the earliest at all dealers I looked up)

• May 20 VW Claims Scheduling Centre called to verify my odometer reading and my appointment details. Nice to see they're working on Saturday morning

 

[badger617]

Well my glowplug light started flashing and the check engine light is on (this happened on Wednesday, but picked up my new car (not a VW) on Thursday. So the golf now sits idle with hopefully enough left in her old bones to get me to the dealer when they finally process my documents (that they already approved over a week ago). Man I really just want this thing to be done with.
Sorry...rant over.

 

[Lucsar]

Do not spend a dime getting it fix nor a minute worrying about it. The FAQ quoted a few posts above explicitly allows you to return a vehicle with accidental damage. There is no penalty.

Not disagreeing with you Armby; just trying to say avoid bringing it in with 4 steel wheels, especially if it's a highline model that came with 17" or 18" factory aluminum wheels. That would definitely set off some alarms, a scraped wheel or bent rim .. I can't see them turning you away for that...

 

[Rob_MacCara]

Have you heard of anyone being turned away for turning in their car on four donuts? No.
I fully intend to turn mine in with the winter steelies on it now, and saving my alloys which I'll save for my 'new' winter tires for my trade in on a Q3.

 

[Kenshin]

Have you heard of anyone being turned away for turning in their car on four donuts? No.
I fully intend to turn mine in with the winter steelies on it now, and saving my alloys which I'll save for my 'new' winter tires for my trade in on a Q3.

Let us know how that goes for you, just interested. I have nothing to remove myself as even my winter tires were on black alloy rims...that reminds me, I'm supposed to put them up on Kijiji.

 

[PlaneCrazy]

Definitely the dealers aren't involved. And even at the last step, it's just that the dealerships are being used as locations for the turn in, with a claims administrator on site doing the buy back appointments (not someone employed by the dealer).
Colleague of mine is doing the process too with a TDI, and I keep him updated as I see tidbits of info from this thread. Every time I do, he tells me about wacky stories from talking to dealer reps and managers. Some are feeding info like their dealer already has 2500 appointments booked, or that its ok to made modifications / remove some parts from the car. At this point I say ignore them completely.

Dealer's only interest is to make money off of us. The only money they'll get is the purchase of the new TSI wagon. The TDI will stay within the buyback parameters.

Update for me, our new wagon is now sitting at the dealer. Dealer agreed to hold it without deposit until this whole gong show is over.

Although if the dealer agreed to a trade-in for the exact same amount as the buyback, I'd probably take it just to bypass this whole sorry mess, but there's about zero chance of that.

 

[joey003]

Not disagreeing with you Armby; just trying to say avoid bringing it in with 4 steel wheels, especially if it's a highline model that came with 17" or 18" factory aluminum wheels. That would definitely set off some alarms, a scraped wheel or bent rim .. I can't see them turning you away for that...

I agree. A friend of mine wants to bring his highland in with a set of 16's from a comfortline on, and keep the original 17's for other use. I wonder if they'd recognize a different OEM wheel or not.

Have you heard of anyone being turned away for turning in their car on four donuts? No.
I fully intend to turn mine in with the winter steelies on it now, and saving my alloys which I'll save for my 'new' winter tires for my trade in on a Q3.

Well, we haven't heard of anyone being turned away yet as buyback appointments have yet to begin. I don't think they're going to accept the vehicle without the original wheels, but who knows.

 

[Lucsar]

I agree. A friend of mine wants to bring his highland in with a set of 16's from a comfortline on, and keep the original 17's for other use. I wonder if they'd recognize a different OEM wheel or not.
Well, we haven't heard of anyone being turned away yet as buyback appointments have yet to begin. I don't think they're going to accept the vehicle without the original wheels, but who knows.

Completely agree; now if you threw some OEM VW hub caps on there, the kind the dealer installs over the black steel winter wheels(Trendline Models) then yes, I can't see a person having problems at turn-in time. Only if that's the style of wheels the car came with from the factory. Just my honest opinion...By removing original factory OEM aluminum wheels that came with the vehicle when purchased, to me is removing a part of the vehicle that is being paid for in the "Fair Market Value" calculation. Just my $02

 

[DRfez]

The question is do you want to go through the hasel of being rejected at turn out n time because you wanted to keep your rims and have to set up a new appointment and come back. It's one thing to not have the original rims but another thing to have them at home.

 

[Smokin_Joe]

I see by the FB page BC residents can apply for a PST rebate for their returned TDI's.

That is for a purchase made after March 2013...
I wonder if a rebate is possible for a purchase made in Nov 2010?

 

[joey003]

Well, my second TDI just got all green checkmarks. Initially uploaded documents on May 16, on May 18 (I think) they all went green except one that I screwed up, and today the last one that I had to re-upload has gone green as well.

Completely agree; now if you threw some OEM VW hub caps on there, the kind the dealer installs over the black steel winter wheels(Trendline Models) then yes, I can't see a person having problems at turn-in time. Only if that's the style of wheels the car came with from the factory. Just my honest opinion...By removing original factory OEM aluminum wheels that came with the vehicle when purchased, to me is removing a part of the vehicle that is being paid for in the "Fair Market Value" calculation. Just my $02

Agreed. Of all the uncertainty that's occurred in this process, removing factory materials from the car doesn't seem like the best move.

The question is do you want to go through the hasel of being rejected at turn out n time because you wanted to keep your rims and have to set up a new appointment and come back. It's one thing to not have the original rims but another thing to have them at home.

Bingo. After this whole process, is it really worth jeopardizing the final step of the buyback over VW wheels?

 

[steve1479]

Okay but here's a scenario,

Last summer I actually broke two of my alloy rims driving through a construction zone in Toronto and all I have is my winter's because I haven't had the time or money to buy new summer rims or repair my cracked 17's

Then what?

Or how many people sell the OEM rims when they get their car to put something nicer on, I don't think you'd be returning your buyback car with a nice set of 3DSM's or BBS's now would you?

 

[Lucsar]

Okay but here's a scenario,

Last summer I actually broke two of my alloy rims driving through a construction zone in Toronto and all I have is my winter's because I haven't had the time or money to buy new summer rims or repair my cracked 17's

Then what?

Or how many people sell the OEM rims when they get their car to put something nicer on, I don't think you'd be returning your buyback car with a nice set of 3DSM's or BBS's now would you?

Steve, I hear ya bud., respect what you're saying. For sure I wouldn't return my vehicle in the buyback if I had installed a set of expensive aftermarket wheels either... i bought a set of WeatherTech floor liners for my Passat , they won't be going with the car when I do my turn in

 

[GoFaster]

Okay but here's a scenario,

Last summer I actually broke two of my alloy rims driving through a construction zone in Toronto and all I have is my winter's because I haven't had the time or money to buy new summer rims or repair my cracked 17's

Then what?

Or how many people sell the OEM rims when they get their car to put something nicer on, I don't think you'd be returning your buyback car with a nice set of 3DSM's or BBS's now would you?

It's not an issue to return the car with steelies installed, even if the car came with alloy wheels. It has to have "wheels". (I would not push your luck by returning it on 4 temporary spares, though. That could be interpreted as "stripping" and that's a no-no.)

It's not an issue to return the car with an aftermarket radio. If it came with a radio (and they all did), it has to have a radio. It doesn't have to be the stock one. It doesn't have to be working. It has to have "a radio". It could be the broken AM radio from the junk '74 Buick that your neighbor uses as a field car. But it has to have "a radio". Otherwise it could be interpreted as "stripping" and that's a no-no.

It's not an issue to return the car with dented and scraped fenders and the bumper cover hanging. It came with fenders and bumper covers, it has to go back with fenders and bumper covers. They don't have to be pristine. It has to have "fenders". It has to have "bumper covers".

And so on, and so on. I don't know how else to explain it. It has to be "the complete car". It doesn't have to be "in pristine original condition". It just has to run, and it has to be (essentially) all there so that you can legitimately say that the car is not "stripped".

If you return a car with collision damage, it's highly unlikely that someone is going to make a fuss about MINOR missing parts that could legitimately have gone missing as a result of the collision.

The one that my sister has, which she inherited from my dad (who bought it new), is going back with evidence of ownership by an eightysomething owner ... there was a wee bit of parking by feel towards the end, by the look of it. My dad never had knowledge of VW's shenanigans ... thankfully.

 

[Armby]

I agree. A friend of mine wants to bring his highland in with a set of 16's from a comfortline on, and keep the original 17's for other use. I wonder if they'd recognize a different OEM wheel or not.



Well, we haven't heard of anyone being turned away yet as buyback appointments have yet to begin. I don't think they're going to accept the vehicle without the original wheels, but who knows.

Lots of owners in US turned theirs in on steelies without issues. Don't think its going to be any different here.

 

[Torqlvr]

Not disagreeing with you Armby; just trying to say avoid bringing it in with 4 steel wheels, especially if it's a highline model that came with 17" or 18" factory aluminum wheels. That would definitely set off some alarms, a scraped wheel or bent rim .. I can't see them turning you away for that...

Put on the donut spare and leave the damaged rim in the trunk.
Keep your steelies for Kijiji

 

[tobianogreg]

That is for a purchase made after March 2013...
I wonder if a rebate is possible for a purchase made in Nov 2010?

Worth a try. Exceptional circumstance.

 

[GSW]

Just curious about the documents that are being asked for:

Ownership - Assuming we are talking about the Ontario ownership, are you providing copies of both the car and plate portion, or just the car portion? Why would a copy of the plate portion be necessary?

Personal ID - Is everyone providing front/back copies of driver's licence, or are you blanking out any of the numbers for privacy?

 

[Lucsar]

Just curious about the documents that are being asked for:
Ownership - Assuming we are talking about the Ontario ownership, are you providing copies of both the car and plate portion, or just the car portion? Why would a copy of the plate portion be necessary?
Personal ID - Is everyone providing front/back copies of driver's licence, or are you blanking out any of the numbers for privacy?

I was only asked for 3 copies. 1. Front of ownership. 2. Rear of ownership
3. Ontario Drivers licence(front only)

I am in an early lease termination.

 

[GSW]

I was only asked for 3 copies. 1. Front of ownership. 2. Rear of ownership
3. Ontario Drivers licence(front only)
I am in an early lease termination.

the whole ownership (car part and the plate part)?

the ID section is asking for both sides.. did they accept your DL since you provided the front side only?

 

[SteveW928]

After the first software update(not the fix) I feel like the mileage went down a bit.

Same experience here. Mileage drops after firmware updates, especially the one a bit prior to the scandal breaking.

Seems like a lot of people are parking their TDIs to prevent adding kms but, I don't have that luxury.

I'm sure for people who drive tons of miles, that might make sense. But, I'm guessing most of us who are parking (who are able to) are doing so to avoid potentially getting in an accident between now and then. We've even got the TDI under the carport and another vehicle out, just in case a tree falls.

My 2nd visit with the salesman told me that they weren't changing the tires because for the last 2 years they claim the cars were moved a bit and then the next month same process. I said that must have been a bit tricky moving them around in all the snow, no response.

I'd be careful there and check with a good VW mechanic. I recently almost bought a pristine BMW... that didn't come out well in the pre-purchase inspection, as it had been sitting nearly a year. The mechanic said he wouldn't touch it, as it had rusted a good bit, but worse, pretty much all the bushings and such would need to be replaced (i.e.: several thousand $ in work).

He said sitting is about the worst thing you can do for a car (at least a BMW in this case). You want the well maintained higher mileage ones... not the one the granny drove once a week to the local supermarket!

 

[questman]

I sent whole ownership, front and back. The ID section is only asking for one side, DL is what I sent. I finally got my nice, green check marks yesterday. So nice to see the evil blue eyes disappear, but as stated earlier, the green check marks are overrated.

 

[Kenshin]

Same experience here. Mileage drops after firmware updates, especially the one a bit prior to the scandal breaking.

yup that's the one I'm talking about. I feel like I lost about 100km per tank same kind of driving. Used to get about ~740km on a tank now it's about 630-660km

 

[vwtdi04]

I have notice about 60 km loss that is based on 4 full tanks that I have recorded, and sluggish acceleration and some additional noise from engine bay under heavy acceleration, it is still not bad comparing to gasoline engine if I compare to GWS 1.8t 4motion

 

[NSTDI]

Got my offer letter today.

So I was out of town, had to wait until I got back Friday, to print off the offer. It was for a BUYBACK, not a trade..................

Called Friday night, they told me I'd need to be reset to step 8................ and reload all my documents. Argued for a while with a supervisor, I wanted them to just reset my case to the trade, which I am sure it was, and then reapprove my documents without me having to reload, rewait, etc. Can't be done apparently.

So I went back to step 8, where I was on April 28th. Not got the Blue stare going again.

What a cocked up process. It has no flexibility, even when they are making mistakes.

They should have built in an override system so someone with authority could make it right without starting over.