In Retrospect. Why could it not have gone this way?

[kaamacat]

Ok....Back in time.... Purchased a super nice A3 TDI back in 2013 with all intentions off keeping it. Paid for Audi-Care. Did the extra oil changed between service visits. Did clear-bra on the front. Car is an easy 9.8/10 as she sits with <47K miles. Told this car emissions are less than the gas version. Life is good. THEN THIS.

At that moment I/we were sold a false bill-of-goods by VW/Audi.

What really should be happening is ---->

1) Fill out the Portal forms to register and get the estimate and your
Claim#. (Same as today)
2) Take that Claim# and the (3) forms of paperwork needed that got you
up thru Step15 to the dealer. (no different than if you were trading in
your car. NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL. Right. When you take a car in for
trade they get your ID, registration, and SS# for the payoff (or you
may just have title-in-hand). The dealer, just as the would today, have
just done the verification of ownership, $$$ owed on that day or not.
3) Get a check from "VW", let VW handle all the paperwork, payoffs and
such.... and get their respective refunds/etc.


Lets face it. How many people got the VW or Audi cards? At that very moment VW knew exactly who you were and what car you owned. The only difference is they may not have known miles on the car. (Right?)

If you look at the various forums, there is not real clear reason for any timetable of what is taking place. You can't compare person-2-person
either. (And mine is financed a bit still through Audi. I mean really that
should make it even simpler).

 

[30_Yr_Dsl_Veteran]

I got the $500 general credit (to be used anywhere) and the $500 dealer credit (which was TOTALLY used up for our 120,000 mile service) some time ago, and REALLY appreciate it. Got over $2000 for we paid for our '09 Jetta (3 years prior) in the buy back PLUS the $1,000 cards for a total of $3,000 advantage, so we made out EXTREMELY good.

Our 2009 Jetta was equally as good of an investment as our 1998 Jetta TDI for around $16K in 1997, which our son STILL drives at over 1/4 million miles and STILL runs great!

 

[k1xv]

Actually, if memory serves me correctly, they did want a mileage reading when validating the goodwill cards.

The process was designed to minimize dealer involvement. There was likely concern that if dealers had a major role, they would have undue influence on owners decisions of what kind of replacement car to buy or lease, or otherwise result in dealers acting in their own interest. As a result, the system was set up to give them a de minimis role.

 

[30_Yr_Dsl_Veteran]

Actually, if memory serves me correctly, they did want a mileage reading when validating the goodwill cards.

The process was designed to minimize dealer involvement. There was likely concern that if dealers had a major role, they would have undue influence on owners decisions of what kind of replacement car to buy or lease, or otherwise result in dealers acting in their own interest. As a result, the system was set up to give them a de minimis role.

I do not recall reporting mileage for the Loyalty Cards.

 

[kaamacat]

Actually, if memory serves me correctly, they did want a mileage reading when validating the goodwill cards.

The process was designed to minimize dealer involvement. There was likely concern that if dealers had a major role, they would have undue influence on owners decisions of what kind of replacement car to buy or lease, or otherwise result in dealers acting in their own interest. As a result, the system was set up to give them a de minimis role.

Good point...I actually can not recall. Now, imagine if VW used the workforce from all of the dealers to assist in this. To me when I walk into VW, Audi or Porsche, the are all VW backed. I'd also imagine the % of rejections for one reason or another with the whole fax or scan/fax process could be greatly reduced.

While they want the dealers in this (lets say) at a minimum, they sold the cars to us, they are in it plenty deep as-well. On the side of potential "pressure", heck you can't even walk thru a dealer and mention what you have w/o someone asking if you are coming back for one of their new cars. (I had the GM at an Audi dealer locally do that just the other week when I was in for some use of the credit card......"You plan on getting another with rings on the front right?" )

 

[fookin]

Not sure what your beef is kaamacat. You like your car so shut up and keep it. Take the compensation or sell it back. No one is forcing you to do anything. VW of America and dealers are separate companies. Why should the dealer be implicated in VW AG's fraud? They are NOT in it "plenty deep" as you write. I admonish the dealership business model in the US but they are not to blame.

Also, you did not get a false bill of goods from Audi. You got a good car that is still a good car. VW/Audi's problem is legal and with the EPA, not with you. You are offended, but not defrauded.

 

[kaamacat]

Not sure what your beef is kaamacat. You like your car so shut up and keep it. Take the compensation or sell it back. No one is forcing you to do anything. VW of America and dealers are separate companies. Why should the dealer be implicated in VW AG's fraud? They are NOT in it "plenty deep" as you write. I admonish the dealership business model in the US but they are not to blame.

Also, you did not get a false bill of goods from Audi. You got a good car that is still a good car. VW/Audi's problem is legal and with the EPA, not with you. You are offended, but not defrauded.

My posting was purely fact. I was sold a fraud pure and simple. I work hard for my $$ as anyone does, and simply want this to be done with in a timely manner as anyone would. Two months and counting is just unacceptable to me, when the reverse of this (the purchase) is done in 1hour-2max. VW is a large enough entity to make this happen in a much faster method than is taking place now.

As for the dealers. If they are selling the brand....they are VW, whether Audi, VW or Porsche. You either stand with your product line or you do not.

Back on track.....in retrospect if the dealerships of the VW brand would have an active part in this, the process would/could go much faster. (I'd also suspect that the loss of current "VW" customers would be of a lesser hit). Looking at various forums now, it is very clear that the extreme time taken has more-and-more owners saying they will never go with the brand again. That is not my feelings but taken directly from many-many other owners posting about this. There is something called Brand Loyalty that is being erased here.

 

[flargabarg]

I'm pretty sure if the VW dealers were involved it would have been harder for them to audit it, and there would have been much more fraud.

 

[fookin]

Kamcat.... You were sold a car, not a fraud, and it's still a car under all the terms and conditions you bought it under (warranty, performance, etc). Be reminded that you were not required or expected to verify and sign off on VW emissions compliance with the EPA. That, essentially, is none of your business. You and many others seem to feel that your being offended deserves some attention, if not compensation. Again, you can ignore everything and do nothing.

BTW I'm not affiliated with anything automotive or legal.

 

[bird67]

kaamacat, Ignore fookin. He's an attention-seeking troll. Your point is valid and worthy of discussion. Carry on.

 

[ottomatic]

kaamacat, Ignore fookin. He's an attention-seeking troll. Your point is valid and worthy of discussion. Carry on.

X2.
In fact I agree completely with what you stated.

The whole thing got fooked up when a third party got involved that doesn't know what thy are doing.
Dealerships have the man power & knowledge

that's where the Lawyers & Judge fooked up

 

[bubbagumpshrimp]

X2.
In fact I agree completely with what you stated.

The whole thing got fooked up when a third party got involved that doesn't know what thy are doing.
Dealerships have the man power & knowledge

that's where the Lawyers & Judge fooked up

Dealerships are independently owned and operated. I doubt very much that the average dealership owner would have wanted their employees to have to deal with this $h1t show.

Add to that the fact that it is not reasonable to expect a business that exists solely to sell and maintain vehicles to be fair and impartial towards people that are coming in for the sole purpose of turning over their keys and getting a check. I'm not saying that it would have been the norm, but you'd have had a BUNCH of dealers throwing out extra incentives. ex. "If you agree to sign this POA and sign your check over to us today...we'll give you an extra $1,000 towards a new VW."

The courts and plaintiffs attorneys would have been fielding phone calls and emails from people complaining about facing high pressure sales tactics when they thought they were just going in to drop their car off. Taking the dealerships and their employees out of the equation was absolutely the right thing to do.

 

[GoFaster]

I agree that it was the correct approach. It's only that in some ways, the implementation was clumsy and inflexible. It needs some "undo" and "edit" functions that seem to be missing ... and requiring people to set up a new bank account so that they can receive an EFT through a specific bank seems arcane.

In Canada, any person who has an email address and a bank account can sign up for online banking with that bank and can e-transfer money to anyone else that has an email address and is signed up for online banking, even if it's at a different financial institution. If they require people who already have online banking capability to create a new account with a specific bank in the Canadian banking system (it won't be Chase, because they don't operate in Canada!) ... VW is officially insane.

 

[Rico567]

Dealerships are independently owned and operated. I doubt very much that the average dealership owner would have wanted their employees to have to deal with this $h1t show.

Add to that the fact that it is not reasonable to expect a business that exists solely to sell and maintain vehicles to be fair and impartial towards people that are coming in for the sole purpose of turning over their keys and getting a check. I'm not saying that it would have been the norm, but you'd have had a BUNCH of dealers throwing out extra incentives. ex. "If you agree to sign this POA and sign your check over to us today...we'll give you an extra $1,000 towards a new VW."

The courts and plaintiffs attorneys would have been fielding phone calls and emails from people complaining about facing high pressure sales tactics when they thought they were just going in to drop their car off. Taking the dealerships and their employees out of the equation was absolutely the right thing to do.

This is pretty much completely correct. Some people need to see beyond their own interests and view this as an issue of conflict of interest between the VW dealer network and the buyback process being implemented in the settlement. It IS about compensating us; however, the highest priority was NEVER about making it convenient.

 

[DanB36]

and requiring people to set up a new bank account so that they can receive an EFT through a specific bank seems arcane.

Not sure where you got this information from, but it's incorrect. You can have your funds transferred to any existing US checking or savings account. You get the email from Chase, you create a login with them (or log in, if you've previously set up a login), you enter the details of the account you want the money to go to (if you haven't already done so), and hit transfer. The money's in your account the next morning.

I'll agree that involving Chase does seem to make the process more cumbersome than it needs to be--a much simpler process would have been either (1) enter routing/account numbers online in the claims portal, or (2) bring a voided check to the buyback appointment. But in either case, VW now has that information, and if their system is compromised, that's a lot more sensitive information out there.

 

[S2000_guy]

Yeah, I don't think I'd feel good about having my banking information in a computer system that has as many problems as VW's settlement website. I'm guessing that the Chase system already existed and has been more thoroughly tested than the VW claims site.