Are some car dealers taking advantage of U.S. Volkswagen owners affected by the emissions scandal?

There have been reports of car dealers seemingly taking advantage of Volkswagen owners by using a loophole to profit off the back of the Volkswagen scandal buyback scheme in the U.S., and there are fears similar activities could happen here in the U.K.

Dealers can apparently make a five figure profit by purchasing an affected car and then claiming compensation from Volkswagen.

Although VW is currently refusing any form of compensation here in the U.K., we are working with U.S. lawyers and keeping a close eye on things over there; especially when there are warnings to take heed of which may reflect over here when our fight for justice hopefully catches up to theirs.

The buyback scheme

The offer to buyback the 482,000 TDI diesel cars was initiated with the intention to get the affected cars off the road and compensate the customers.

After the scandal broke, owners found themselves owning polluting vehicles that had depreciated in value.

Not all owners were made aware of the buyback schemes as some customers were not directly contacted and offered the buyback or free repair schemes.

Dealers cashing in?

If the owner chose the buyback scheme, they can recover what they paid for the car and a lump sum on top as ‘owner restitution’. Volkswagen apparently offered between $5,100 to $9,800 as additional compensation for their wrongdoing.

However, some car dealers (who were aware of this scheme) have out set to take advantage of it by purchasing affected vehicles and then submitting their paperwork as the newly registered owner, claiming thousands under this scheme.

Concerns were raised in that prior owners were the real people affected by the scandal and should be ones who are compensated by Volkswagen, rather than seemingly opportunist car dealers.

Those who were hasty in getting rid of their cars and didn’t know about the schemes may have sold their cars, mostly at auction, to eagerly awaiting dealers. The dealers then registered themselves as the new owners of the affected vehicles and were eligible to claim compensation from Volkswagen under the buyback scheme.

There were reports that some dealers used their friends and family to register their names for a share of the profits.

Questions over the buyback scheme setup

Volkswagen created a website for users to check if they are eligible for the buyback scheme on www.vwcourtsettlement.com. Using the website’s eligibility questionnaire, current owners may be eligible, even if they bought the car solely to profit from them.

There appears to be no distinction between an original owner and someone who bought the car just to return it for a profit.

For previous owners who may have been ‘scammed’ by sly dealers, they may still be eligible if they bought their vehicle before the 18^th of September 2015, and then sold it or transferred ownership between the 18^th of September and 27^th of June 2016.