Tornados hit Chatanooga

[jumpinjoe]

Does anyone know if there was damage to any of the cars outside the plant or to the plant itself?

 

[tdi90hp]

ooooo noooo not the cars??? what about the PEOPLE. who cares about metal?

 

[Diesel Ed]

I agree. I hope everyone down there is OK. I also hope the plant wasn't hit, but that's a lesser concern...

 

[edsiajb]

All I know is that they are in the process of installing a 5 million dollar "hail net" over the new vehicle parking/staging area. I wonder if it was installed in time...

 

[jumpinjoe]

ooooo noooo not the cars??? what about the PEOPLE. who cares about metal?

My prayers go out for the people. I didn't think that needed to be said.

 

[edsiajb]

There were several dozen folks injured in the Chattanooga area, but thankfully, no lives lost. There were fatalities in Alabama very close to the Tennessee border....about 100 miles from Chattanooga.

 

[tdiatlast]

In all fairness to Jumpinjoe...we would have heard about "people" casualties in the news.

His question was quite fair, and just out of curiosity, I'm sure.

 

[tdi90hp]

just trying to make a point. metal is replaceable. people did get injured. Some families lost everything....parents and all kids....and jumpinjoe i do hope VW did not suffer too much damage.

 

[Knarrly Viking]

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2012/mar/05/vw-assessing-possible-hail-damage-cars/?breakingnews

Evidently the hail net isn't complete yet.

My car I'm sure hasn't started it's build process yet, but that would suck if it were on it's way to dealer with hail damage...

 

[heck]

I drove by the plant Sunday, for the most part the cars looked good.
Many were loaded into the rails cars and many under the Hail screens. I guess many 150 cars were outside protection.

Even the Volkswagen manufacture owned cars were outside and were fine.....must have been 50 of those parked in the general parking area.

To be honest the Tornado E3 hit Harrison area much worst.
No deaths thank God, as it hit before 6PM and most folks were at work.
http://www.newschannel9.com/news/tornado-1009566-nws-max.html
and
http://www.newschannel9.com/news/days-1009571-homes-storms.html

 

[gergg]

My prayers go out for the people. I didn't think that needed to be said.

Now that was a classy reply.

 

[heck]

Here is the lastest information:
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/mar/06/vw-barrage-of-hail-scars-area-vehicles/?local

 

[jumpinjoe]

http://askavwsalesguy.com/blog/2012/3/8/hail-storm-damages-969-passats-at-chattanooga-plant.html

 

[VeeDubTDI]

I want to buy one of the damaged TDIs for a steep discount, but I doubt that's a possibility... insurance auction maybe?

 

[rotts4u]

I drove by the plant Sunday, for the most part the cars looked good.
Many were loaded into the rails cars and many under the Hail screens. I guess many 150 cars were outside protection.

Even the Volkswagen manufacture owned cars were outside and were fine.....must have been 50 of those parked in the general parking area.

To be honest the Tornado E3 hit Harrison area much worst.
No deaths thank God, as it hit before 6PM and most folks were at work.
http://www.newschannel9.com/news/tornado-1009566-nws-max.html
and
http://www.newschannel9.com/news/days-1009571-homes-storms.html

Its good to see another local on here. I have not been to the plant yet to inquiry about damaged cars at the plant but the local VW dealer in Chattanooga got hammered for sure. Lots of damaged cars there. They put up all the Audis inside but many of the Jettas and passats had to brave the storm and got dinged up pretty good.

 

[tomo366]

Talked to Chris at VW of Langhorne today.....447 Passats 115 are TDIs and they will all be crushed.....

 

[VeeDubTDI]

That's a shame. We would have given one of them a good home.

 

[turbocharged798]

I don't get it, why won't VW sell them? Something is seriously wrong there. Putting a brand new complete TDI in the crusher....now that is just wrong.

 

[tomo366]

They have to if there is over 500 in damage they cannot be sold

 

[tdiatlast]

Is this serious, or is "they will be crushed" just a figure of speech?
I find it hard to believe, because of sheet metal damage, that VWoA would NOT yank the usable parts out of these cars. Wonder what kind of manpower is required to disassemble all the "totalled" cars?

 

[tomo366]

Yes......they cannot sell them...I encountered this one time when I was putting a leather interior in my new at the time 2002 Jetta I found an interior at at wrecking yard in new York
The car had 68 miles on it and sold it for salvage had not much damage but they could only sell parts off the car.....I hope that's what happens with theses cars

 

[MyAvocation]

I find it hard to believe, because of sheet metal damage, that VWoA would NOT yank the usable parts out of these cars. Wonder what kind of manpower is required to disassemble all the "totalled" cars?

I think you answered your oun question. It's a business decision, not an emotional one. Costs are unjustified AND losses recovered through insurance.

 

[Papachristou]

i think a similar thing happened when a ship rolled on its side for a few weeks/months. It had about 4000 new cars that were undamaged that had to be destroyed. insurance pays for them so it isnt like VW is losing money.

 

[angrynewyorker]

Was expecting my new passat tdi se next week. Got a call from dealer that MY tdi was totaled in the storms. Been waiting for car since December. Not the phone call I wanted.

 

[BlackLab]

I ordered mine November 4th. Got notice that it was "In Transit" on the day of the hail storm. I would not doubt my car was totaled but have had no word.

 

[angrynewyorker]

I got lucky today and found a dealer about 100 miles away that just got in a reflex/black tdi se manual in and yep I just parked it in the garage. Car that was totaled was tungsten but I actually think I like this reflex silver better and I got it before my other car would of been delivered so no complaints.

 

[angrynewyorker]

.

 

[r11]

Feel bad for those waited all this time. Folx, do go to cars.com and/or autotrader. There IS some inventory out there. I've seen no less than 4 6MTs sitting in the lots over last 2 or 3 month, all about 20 miles from NYC.

I'd be crushed if I waited 4 months and then wuz told that my brand new car got destroyed before the paint had a chance to cure.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

A lot of people are special ordering cars to get exactly what they want. There's inventory out there, but you'll likely have to settle for an option or color that you don't want.

 

[DaMidget]

Talked to Chris at VW of Langhorne today.....447 Passats 115 are TDIs and they will all be crushed.....

They will not be crushed, the hail damaged cars are being repaired and offered to employees through our employee lease benefit