So long TDI, at the end of the day, I have only one real complaint....

[astroboy]

...that there wasn't any incentive to get another volkswagen.

While trying to decide what to do, I visited several dealers to see what they could do to keep me in a vw, and none of them seemed that interested. Even my home dealer. They just treated me like a new customer.

The fact is, I had been getting them to do all my servicing for the past 5 years and when it came to the buyback, their salespeople were still playing hardball.

It wasn't until I actually handed in the keys when the buyback specialist said, "is there anything we can do to keep in a volkswagen?". Of course this was the day after I signed for a Subaru.

And the thing that tipped the scale toward an outback? The fact that the local subaru dealer saw my online activity and emailed me to tell me that I could have any new car for 3% above dealer invoice. It may not be the best deal out there, but it was honest.

The fact is, looking at where they are going with the all track, the new tiguan and the atlas tells me that vw is actually interested in Subaru customers.

If any dealers are reading this, start off with that question for the deiselgate victims. "How can we show you that we want your business?". It's not about the profit on the car. It's about all those years of servicing you'll lose

 

[Borsig]

We bought an outback too. for 3250 under, which included a 500.00 manufacturer coupon.

The alltrack is a joke vs the outback. Its not even close...... except in price.

We are turning our 15 wagon in, in 2 weeks. We bought a CPO golf tdi (15, 'fixed) for me to use as a DD, and the OB is our nice car.

 

[TurnOne]

The huge buyback amount should have been enough. It was for me. Sure more money off a new VW would be better. Who doesn't like free money?

 

[740GLE]

We bought an outback too. for 3250 under, which included a 500.00 manufacturer coupon.

The alltrack is a joke vs the outback. Its not even close...... except in price.

We are turning our 15 wagon in, in 2 weeks. We bought a CPO golf tdi (15, 'fixed) for me to use as a DD, and the OB is our nice car.

Say what you want, when we priced the Outback to the Alltrack, outback was about 3K higher, we weren't taking cloth seats, but were willing to accept VW plastic offerings.

I will admit VW priced the Alltrack too high out of the gate, should be 2K less, recent deals have been reported as 4K off MSRP as I think they over produced.

Oh and the fact we see more outbacks than Camrys on the road, call it shallow or elitist but, that was probably the biggest turn off.

 

[psd1]

The Dealership I have frequented for 8 buybacks has been 100% ineffective to retain me as a VW customer. As in, not even spoken to me. In fact, the Ambassador is in an area geographically removed from anyone from the dealership.

I actually asked the ambassador about it a couple of trips ago. She says that is standard practice, she also talked about how many salesmen have come and gone since she has been there. She told me about the manager and an employee getting into a heated argument, both yelling at each other. The manager is also verbally abusive to the employees. I shouldn't be surprised, the building they own is in disrepair, needing updates and the water damaged ceiling tiles repaired.

VW may be writing their own obituary...

 

[ezshift5]

The huge buyback amount should have been enough. It was for me. Sure more money off a new VW would be better. Who doesn't like free money?

I'm essentially with TurnOne on this.

I was chagrinned at my 2013 JSW TDI 6M selling dealer's lack of interest in selling me another VW.

However - just 17 miles south - another VW dealer provided a Jetta at - MHO - an outrageously low price.

Between the buyback and the '17 Jetta cost, I banked.......(well, you get it).......



no regrets ('specially now that HPFP/DPF concerns have departed),


ez

 

[JSWTDI09]

The Dealership I have frequented for 8 buybacks has been 100% ineffective to retain me as a VW customer. As in, not even spoken to me. In fact, the Ambassador is in an area geographically removed from anyone from the dealership.

..

I have a friend who works at a VW dealership (not a salesman). He says that the "buyback Ambassador" is NOT an employee of VW or of the dealership. They work for a 3rd party contractor handling the buybacks for the court. He also said that the VW salespeople are forbidden to try to sell a new VW to the people who are there to do a buyback. If the person chooses to talk to a VW salesperson after the buyback - then it is OK, but the dealership personnel are not allowed to initiate the conversation about buying a new VW. The dealership might not be a rude as some might assume, they are just "playing by the rules". Do not blame VW (or the dealership) for a situation they did not ask for and cannot change.

...that there wasn't any incentive to get another volkswagen.

In my case, there were 2 incentives to buy another VW (and the dealership was not one of them).
1) I fit in them (VW has always had some of the longest seat slides in the business)
2) I own VCDS for diagnostics.

Have Fun!

Don

 

[DanB36]

He also said that the VW salespeople are forbidden to try to sell a new VW to the people who are there to do a buyback.

There is no such provision in any of the settlement agreements, and plenty of people (including me) have contrary experiences. It wasn't a hard sell in my case (he asked if I'd given thought to what I'd replace the JSW with, and I pointed to the A3 I drove in), but they definitely initiated the contact.

 

[JSWTDI09]

There is no such provision in any of the settlement agreements, and plenty of people (including me) have contrary experiences. It wasn't a hard sell in my case (he asked if I'd given thought to what I'd replace the JSW with, and I pointed to the A3 I drove in), but they definitely initiated the contact.

Then I have to assume that every dealership is different. YMMV
I had already bought my new car before the buyback also.

Have Fun!

Don

 

[Borsig]

I have a friend who works at a VW dealership (not a salesman). He says that the "buyback Ambassador" is NOT an employee of VW or of the dealership. They work for a 3rd party contractor handling the buybacks for the court. He also said that the VW salespeople are forbidden to try to sell a new VW to the people who are there to do a buyback. If the person chooses to talk to a VW salesperson after the buyback - then it is OK, but the dealership personnel are not allowed to initiate the conversation about buying a new VW. The dealership might not be a rude as some might assume, they are just "playing by the rules". Do not blame VW (or the dealership) for a situation they did not ask for and cannot change.



In my case, there were 2 incentives to buy another VW (and the dealership was not one of them).
1) I fit in them (VW has always had some of the longest seat slides in the business)
2) I own VCDS for diagnostics.

Have Fun!

Don

This is BS.

The 'ambassador' at Ourisman sold me my outback. The 'ambassador' at flow in charlottesville got the deal on my 15 golf this weekend.

Nonsense. Maybe they arent allowed to sell during the appointment, but both were dealership employees.

And dealership interprersonal nonsense has nothing to do with VW. Just most VW dealerships, like kia,or hyundai, etc are low brow and dont attract the best people.

Flow in Charlottesville seemed to have an excellent staff, however. Most VW places Ive been in have horrible employees who hate thier job.

 

[duratitus]

This is BS.

The 'ambassador' at Ourisman sold me my outback. The 'ambassador' at flow in charlottesville got the deal on my 15 golf this weekend.

Nonsense. Maybe they arent allowed to sell during the appointment, but both were dealership employees..........

Wrong. (At least partially)
The "Ambassador" is a dealer employee, but the "Buyback Specialist" is hired by a third party, and is not allowed to be employed by Volkswagen.

 

[elcid86]

I asked the ambassador about why the sales guys were not even a bit aggressive towards “buy-backers” when I was with her. She basically said they would talk to me about replacement vehicles if I wanted to and spoke to them. To me it seemed odd (I didn’t know it was in the court order) and I thought they were missing a big opportunity. They actually seemed to disappear as I was leaving—unlike most car dealerships...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DanB36]

To me it seemed odd (I didn't know it was in the court order)

It isn't.

 

[lb71]

...that there wasn't any incentive to get another volkswagen.

While trying to decide what to do, I visited several dealers to see what they could do to keep me in a vw, and none of them seemed that interested. Even my home dealer. They just treated me like a new customer.

The fact is, I had been getting them to do all my servicing for the past 5 years and when it came to the buyback, their salespeople were still playing hardball.

It wasn't until I actually handed in the keys when the buyback specialist said, "is there anything we can do to keep in a volkswagen?". Of course this was the day after I signed for a Subaru.

And the thing that tipped the scale toward an outback? The fact that the local subaru dealer saw my online activity and emailed me to tell me that I could have any new car for 3% above dealer invoice. It may not be the best deal out there, but it was honest.

The fact is, looking at where they are going with the all track, the new tiguan and the atlas tells me that vw is actually interested in Subaru customers.

If any dealers are reading this, start off with that question for the deiselgate victims. "How can we show you that we want your business?". It's not about the profit on the car. It's about all those years of servicing you'll lose

You sound like my co worker. The VW dealer treated her like a nuisance, so she went down the street and used her buyback on a new Subaru. They didn't have to work very hard, she was happy with her Golf TDI. But talk about lost opportunities.

 

[Magpie]

I just got the EFT for my 2014 6MT Sportwagen. 53 K wonderful and fun cross country miles. I got more from the buyback than I paid for the car (w/o taxes). Drove an auto Alltrack, which was OK. But the deal breaker was the smaller fuel tank (13.2 gals) and the dealer telling me they can order a 6MT, but couldn't tell me what it would cost. I ended up with a 2018 Premium Outback with zero financing leaving my EFT from VW in the bank for other fun stuff. The Outback has a lot more going for it than the the Alltrack. The local VW Ads here in Ohio are pushing the Atlas, which is too piggy for my purposes.

 

[TDI in PA]

We bought an outback too. for 3250 under, which included a 500.00 manufacturer coupon.

The alltrack is a joke vs the outback. Its not even close...... except in price.

We are turning our 15 wagon in, in 2 weeks. We bought a CPO golf tdi (15, 'fixed) for me to use as a DD, and the OB is our nice car.

It's funny because IMO the Outback is a joke compared to the Alltrack.

Both my dad and brother-in-law have newer Outbacks (2016+) and they don't compare to even my base S Alltrack.

The driving experience of the Outback is horrendous, the interior looks more dated than my 2010 JSW TDI that I just turned in last week, and there are no words for the CVT transmission.

 

[Borsig]

It's funny because IMO the Outback is a joke compared to the Alltrack.

Both my dad and brother-in-law have newer Outbacks (2016+) and they don't compare to even my base S Alltrack.

The driving experience of the Outback is horrendous, the interior looks more dated than my 2010 JSW TDI that I just turned in last week, and there are no words for the CVT transmission.

2018 has many changes.

No - its not sporty.

Good luck with the alltrack in any real off road or more than 6" of powder. I've already had mine in sand. Its like a 4x4.

It's also twice the size

 

[kjclow]

I think the court decree said that VW could not do anything to link the buyback to having to purchase a new(er) VW product. It didn't say that anyone entering the building for a buyback was supposed to be treated like they had the plague.

From my experience, the sales people were cordial but really asked no questions after we told them we were there for the buyback.

 

[DanB36]

I think the court decree said that VW could not do anything to link the buyback to having to purchase a new(er) VW product.

The settlement said VW couldn't try to sway owners toward either option--i.e., offer incentives to sell the car back rather than get the fix, or vice versa. I expect the primary concern was that VW would try to convince owners to take the fix, since that would cost them less, though that's just my speculation. Nothing in any of the agreements prohibits VW from offering incentives on a new VW to owners of Dieselgatemobiles, but for whatever reason* they haven't done so.

* Rumor, reported in other threads here, suggests that the reason may include a concern that such an incentive would be seen as trying to steer owners toward doing the buyback. It's certainly possible that discussions among counsel (and perhaps the judge) have raised this concern, but it's not stated in the documents themselves.