My Stripped (then un-stripped) Buyback attempt and experience

[TommyGun]

All,
There has been tons of arguing over if stripped vehicles are being bought back. Here is my experience:
I turned in my rattiest car today (I have 7 to turn in, all bought post 6/28); a 2010 Golf with 257,646 miles on it. I turned it in today on 4 spare tires, missing a mirror, and with the passenger seat taken out. This was my first buyback experience.
The rep at the local VW dealer was nice, and very timely. He mentioned that he had to call a supervisor about the car being stripped. I mentioned that I was well-versed in the settlement, and that the car qualifies and is eligible based on the "operable" definition provided in the final class action documents. He said he needed to talk to management about taking a "stripped car", and tried several times. We were chatting about all of this, and I played dumb and asked if people were stripping their turn-ins. He showed me an email on his tablet with the original picture from reddit (of a golf with no headlights or bumper). He said they were advised a week and a half ago to call on any stripped car before accepting it.
He finally connected with whoever he was calling, and came back into the office and said they would not take the car unless the seat was back in it. I pressed back that this could be construed as a violation of the settlement, but he didn't seem to care. I wasn't about to take a stand beyond that, so I went and put the seat back in (I brought it along in my support vehicle for this very situation). After that everything proceeded as normal.
So apparently there is a line you can cross in terms of stripping the turn ins.
Here are some pics of the car for reference. It was absolutely beaten into the ground, and I won't get to make a new office chair out of the passenger seat, but it still made me a pretty penny!

 

[FVWVWF]

Boom goes the dynamite?

 

[PacCoastFwy923]

The technicalities of what an individual ambassador will consider noteworthy is going to make these cases interesting, ex. seat but not wheels. Staying tuned for more fireworks!

 

[fookin]

And yet another purely speculative statement... I think that if you remove headlights, tail lights, bumper cover, that sort of thing, it's plausible you were in a fender-bender and you would have replaced those had there not been a buyback. Removing things like seats goes beyond that plausible circumstance and it seems like a reasonable limit.

 

[TommyGun]

The technicalities of what an individual ambassador will consider noteworthy is going to make these cases interesting, ex. seat but not wheels. Staying tuned for more fireworks!

Right. Wheels and tires are something that typically get changed (well, tires at least) as a vehicle ages. A seat being gone? Not so much.

 

[PacCoastFwy923]

Sure, but if the ambassador is a "car guy" and raises the red flag to his management, I'm betting there's a good chance for rejection. Then again, another rep might be completely oblivious to a missing back seat. Lots of room for subjectivity here. A few of these turn-aways are going to get good visibility, and that's going to help them keep others in line. My speculation, anyway. Continuing to watch with interest.

 

[atomicfront]

Car looks in pretty good shape except the missing seat. The azz who totally destroyed his car is going to be crying up a storm in a few hours.

 

[Shifty]

Car looks in pretty good shape except the missing seat. The azz who totally destroyed his car is going to be crying up a storm in a few hours.

And I can't wait to read all about it...

 

[pdq import repair]

I hope they turn away totally stripped or destroyed cars. It is only fair that they get the cars back in reasonably sell able condition.
It costs everyone in the long run for idiots that abuse the system. The costs will be passed along forward, so the jerk that thinks he can destroy a buyback will raise the price of future cars to us.

 

[Mr. Furious]

The costs will be passed along forward, so the jerk that thinks he can destroy a buyback will raise the price of future cars to us.

Wait, stripping/damaging the buybacks might raise the price of Volkswagens in the future and thus potentially imperil their position in the market? Jeez, I may rethink not doing anything other than keeping my RNS-510 and 9w7. Just doing it out of spite would be dumb and pointless, but if it could screw with VWoA...

 

[k1xv]

It is fruitless to try to argue settlement terms with the representative. He/she is on the front line of the turn in process, and follows orders from Berlin. Or in this case, Wolfburg.

Only strip your car if you want to buy yourself trouble.

 

[Squalo]

All,
There has been tons of arguing over if stripped vehicles are being bought back. Here is my experience:
I turned in my rattiest car today (I have 7 to turn in, all bought post 6/28); a 2010 Golf with 257,646 miles on it. I turned it in today on 4 spare tires, missing a mirror, and with the passenger seat taken out. This was my first buyback experience.
The rep at the local VW dealer was nice, and very timely. He mentioned that he had to call a supervisor about the car being stripped. I mentioned that I was well-versed in the settlement, and that the car qualifies and is eligible based on the "operable" definition provided in the final class action documents. He said he needed to talk to management about taking a "stripped car", and tried several times. We were chatting about all of this, and I played dumb and asked if people were stripping their turn-ins. He showed me an email on his tablet with the original picture from reddit (of a golf with no headlights or bumper). He said they were advised a week and a half ago to call on any stripped car before accepting it.
He finally connected with whoever he was calling, and came back into the office and said they would not take the car unless the seat was back in it. I pressed back that this could be construed as a violation of the settlement, but he didn't seem to care. I wasn't about to take a stand beyond that, so I went and put the seat back in (I brought it along in my support vehicle for this very situation). After that everything proceeded as normal.
So apparently there is a line you can cross in terms of stripping the turn ins.
Here are some pics of the car for reference. It was absolutely beaten into the ground, and I won't get to make a new office chair out of the passenger seat, but it still made me a pretty penny!

So you bought 7 cars to basically flip? No wonder the LEGITIMATE TDI owners are experiencing delays in getting their LEGITIMATE buybacks processed. Unbelievable!

 

[TommyGun]

So you bought 7 cars to basically flip? No wonder the LEGITIMATE TDI owners are experiencing delays in getting their LEGITIMATE buybacks processed. Unbelievable!

I purchased 7 vehicles from dealers at their asking prices to sell back to vw. Nothing "basically" about it. I nor any of my arbitraging cohorts did anything to increase the number of affected cars, and nothing about any of my cars or any car being flipped is illegitimate, unless someone stole the car or is committing fraud.

 

[k1xv]

Well, he didn't cheat VW, but he may have taken advantage of the ignorance of some other car owners.

I am sure he did not read them a disclosure statement, telling them about the buy back program. But if he really did buy them from used car dealers, they probably, or should have, been aware, and just wanted to get the cars off their lots.

 

[galligs]

I completed my buyback yesterday (I did not strip anything from the car). I asked the rep if anyone had returned a stripped car. She told me that she has had a few come in that were in pretty bad condition, but none had been intentionally stripped. I then asked her what would happen if someone rolled up with no doors, no seats, etc. and she told me as long as it could move on it's own power it was good to go. She was aware of the car that was returned with no headlights and no bumper, but she was very clear that as long as it could be powered by it's own motor she would accept it.

It seems (not so surprisingly) that there is some miscommunication between VW and their buyback reps. What might be rejected at one dealership may very well be accepted at the next. I guess we will just have to stay tuned...

 

[TommyGun]

Well, he didn't cheat VW, but he may have taken advantage of the ignorance of some other car owners.

I am sure he did not read them a disclosure statement, telling them about the buy back program. But if he really did buy them from used car dealers, they probably, or should have, been aware, and just wanted to get the cars off their lots.

Some of the dealer's I bought from knew about the settlement, they just didn't care. I never brought it up at most of them, because they're in the business of buying and selling cars. I'm just the sucker that paid full asking price over the phone without ever seeing the car.

 

[NRU73]

I completed my buyback yesterday (I did not strip anything from the car). I asked the rep if anyone had returned a stripped car. She told me that she has had a few come in that were in pretty bad condition, but none had been intentionally stripped. I then asked her what would happen if someone rolled up with no doors, no seats, etc. and she told me as long as it could move on it's own power it was good to go. She was aware of the car that was returned with no headlights and no bumper, but she was very clear that as long as it could be powered by it's own motor she would accept it.

It seems (not so surprisingly) that there is some miscommunication between VW and their buyback reps. What might be rejected at one dealership may very well be accepted at the next. I guess we will just have to stay tuned...

Where did you return your car? Just curious. From the scheduling thing it seems that Dealers will only have the Rep certain days of the week.
My Dealer in Glastonbury only has Wed-Fri to do BB's.
I assume that one Rep bounces around to different Dealers different days of the week.

 

[k1xv]

TommyGun, you were like the JG Wentworth of TDi cars.

"They had their structured settlements, but they needed cash now?"

 

[galligs]

Where did you return your car? Just curious. From the scheduling thing it seems that Dealers will only have the Rep certain days of the week.
My Dealer in Glastonbury only has Wed-Fri to do BB's.
I assume that one Rep bounces around to different Dealers different days of the week.

I returned it to Executive in North Haven. The rep there told me that she is working at that dealership 5 days a week and is processing 8 buybacks everyday.

 

[740GLE]

Wonder how far it would have gone to force the situation.

If you're turning in 6 more of these, you guys are going to be a on first name basis!

 

[KITEWAGON]

I hope they turn away totally stripped or destroyed cars. It is only fair that they get the cars back in reasonably sell able condition.
It costs everyone in the long run for idiots that abuse the system. The costs will be passed along forward, so the jerk that thinks he can destroy a buyback will raise the price of future cars to us.

Did you look at that car? 247K? That car is not getting fixed and sold. Its getting crushed.

The same goes for ours. Its been in an accident and it is thoroughly trashed inside. Its getting crushed and I'm taking any useful little bits that I can. I'm not removing seats, headlights, body panels....just "loose" items that come off easily and might be useful for us in a future VW or useful to other owners.

I agree that stripping a nice resellable TDI is not a nice thing to do. But I don't think its black and white.

 

[turbobrick240]

We don't get to make the determination which cars get parted out and which get fixed(if). That is entirely VW's perogative. I think they are doing the sensible thing by turning away vandalized cars.

 

[DancingDiesel]

Either the only requirement is that it "drives in under its own power" or it is not.
Can you say CONSISTENCY VW?!?!
The reps have NO right to not follow what was ordered and agreed upon by the court.
Legally, I am sure that is the case. Ethically is a different thing.
And, Ethics is a matter of the individual....not what has been ordered.
So that rep is Wrong and should be reported to whoever.....and we all know that who whoever is is not known LOL

 

[GoFaster]

Those aren't the exact words.

One key word is "operable". Another key word is "vehicle".

Lengthy court cases have been battled upon the meanings of single words in a contract. There is a fair argument that "operable" and "vehicle" could each imply "legally operable" and "legally a vehicle", and that's not the case if parts required for legal operation have been removed.

Simple ethics indicate that if VW is paying you to buy your vehicle back, that they are paying you for the whole vehicle. It is people who are trying to test the limits that are causing the problem here.

 

[pdq import repair]

247K on a TDI would not scare me at all it the rest of the car was cared for too. You can bet they are going to sell as many of these as they can so they can recoup their losses.

I agree with Go Faster on the key word issue. I am sure it will be argued in court and I feel that the word "vehicle" will be defined.

 

[PacCoastFwy923]

The reps have NO right to not follow what was ordered and agreed upon by the court.
Legally, I am sure that is the case. Ethically is a different thing.

Turning down a buyback is not an unlawful or unethical order from their management. Of course the buyback specialists are expected to follow direction from their employer. They're not lawyers or (and if they were they're not representing us) , and they're not being asked to do something illegal.

 

[TDIsaver]

So you bought 7 cars to basically flip? No wonder the LEGITIMATE TDI owners are experiencing delays in getting their LEGITIMATE buybacks processed. Unbelievable!

Unbelievablely awesome!

Sincerely,
Another Legitimate TDI(s) owner

 

[bhazard]

I really want my seats. They are some of the best seats I've ever had in a car.

I can put a seat out of a Ford Festiva in to turn it in. Then can they say anything? There's a seat. A real car seat.

Only thing is I wish mine didn't have power recline. Dumbest thing ever.

 

[ss~zoso~ss]

haha you went through all that effort and gave them a half tank of diesel !

 

[tsingtao]

Okay, so you are hired to do a job: process VW buybacks. Probably the case of a severely stripped vehicle was not covered in training.

Stripped vehicle shows up. Some reps would take it because it came in under its own power. Some wouldn't because it seemed to fly in the face of common sense that people were supposed to return cars in operable condition. Some would call their supervisor and it starts all over depending on who the supervisor is.

You can't really fault them. Some may really be trying to do their job and when they see a vehicle, which has been obviously stripped, it just seems wrong. Put yourself in their position.

Try this out: Take a dicey return (no reciept, product heavily used) to a retail store in a chain after Christmas. Try the same return in 20 different stores in the same chain. Some will take it no questions asked, some will call their supervisor, some will refuse it outright. it is just the way large operations fly.