Wish We'd Bought a Jetta TDI

When we were looking for a car for my Wife,we looked at Jettas,
but bought a Protege instead.
Now I see where VW is buying them back for the original purchase price,
plus thousands of $$ in compensation.

I saw that, I almost bought one a couple years ago too, but the dealer wouldn't budge on the price. Wish I would have bought it now.....

My Son in law totalled his 2 days prior to the payout. No money for him.

AngliaGT said:

Now I see where VW is buying them back for the original purchase price,
plus thousands of $$ in compensation.

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Not original purchase price. It's a complicated formula based on the Sept 2015 NADA Blue Book value of the car, plus adjustments for mileage and options on the car with additional payments for restitution. https://jalopnik.com/heres-exactly-how-much-volkswagen-will-pay-you-for-your-1782745097 What's going to happen to these cars is interesting: https://jalopnik.com/heres-what-will-happen-to-the-thousands-of-diesels-volk-1782815084

Son bought a 2014 Jetta wagon tdi wolfsburg edition but here in Canada he will have to wait to see what happens.

If we had one, they wouldn't get their hands on it!

Jerry said:

My Son in law totalled his 2 days prior to the payout. No money for him.

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Actually, as long as you owned it before September 18 (?) 2015, and did not sell after June 28 (?) 2016, you are eligible. The Jalopnik blog has a link to the details. (My dates might be off a few days.)

I own a 2012 Jetta TDI -- I assure you, it is not a full purchase price buyback.

I honestly do not know what I am going to do with mine. It has 94,000 miles on it. I treat it like a truck. It hauls all kinds of stuff for me. I average about 38 - 39 mpg in mixed driving, and can usually get in the high 40s out on the highway. Part of me wants to see how badly the "fix" will affect the performance. Part of me wants to take the car "underground" and start doing all the maintenance myself and leave it unmolested.

True station wagons are rapidly becoming extinct. As a musician, I need the room for my gear. My choices are pretty limited, either a very expensive Volvo or BMW, which would be wholly unsuited for the way I use a wagon, a bloated and equally expensive crossover SUV, or a small pickup truck, and they are not so small anymore. Mazda used to make a really good looking station wagon with their Mazda 6, but that has been discontinued. Part of me is kicking around looking for an older 3-series Bimmer, preferably with all wheel drive.

Actually, I looked up the settlement for my car. I was quite surprised. It was far better than any previous offer VW made to me. I have no idea what I'm going to do.

I have a '10 JSW tdi and I'm ****** about the whole thing. I love the car as it's the perfect combo of fun to drive utility and fantastic fuel mileage without having to drive like prius owners. Other than having to change out a glow plug and a new battery after 5 years it's been perfect. While the buy back offer would be pretty fair if there were comparable current options there is nothing on the current market like it. Station wagons are now incredibly rare and the few out there are not cheap nor offer the same amount of space in the back.

Just the thought of having to start car shopping again. I think I would rather do 5 mgb windshields than have to deal with buying a new car.

So what happens if you keep the car? Does it mean that you can't get it smogged, or what?

If you keep the car, they will do the "fix" and pay you 5 to 6k based on my car and mileage. Maryland doesn't emission test diesel cars.

Leaning towards the buyout. I've suddenly got the hankering for a BMW 328 wagon with Xdrive...could pick up a 2012 model for a near swap with VW's buyout on the Jetta.

Take a good look at some of the sites interpreting the settlement (which isn't final yet as the court needs to approve it, next hearing is scheduled for July 26) It appears that owners will have until May 1, 2018 to decide on the buyback/ Since the buyback price is determined by the Sept 2015 book value of the car, it appears you can drive your car up until May, 2018 and still get the same payout as if you make a decision at the first opportunity. Seems like owners that don't mind killing the rest of us with their noxious fumes could do pretty well financially by holding off until 2018.

HealeyRick said:

Take a good look at some of the sites interpreting the settlement (which isn't final yet as the court needs to approve it, next hearing is scheduled for July 26) It appears that owners will have until May 1, 2018 to decide on the buyback/ Since the buyback price is determined by the Sept 2015 book value of the car, it appears you can drive your car up until May, 2018 and still get the same payout as if you make a decision at the first opportunity. Seems like owners that don't mind killing the rest of us with their noxious fumes could do pretty well financially by holding off until 2018.

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There is a deduction table for the amount of miles on the car, for every x miles, you have to deduct x dollars from the buyback. At my current rate of driving, I'd be up at 140k by May 2018. What I wonder is if a TDI car gets totaled, would the insurance pay the buyback amount, or the current blue book?

SaxMan said:

There is a deduction table for the amount of miles on the car, for every x miles, you have to deduct x dollars from the buyback. At my current rate of driving, I'd be up at 140k by May 2018. What I wonder is if a TDI car gets totaled, would the insurance pay the buyback amount, or the current blue book?

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Looks like you can drive approx 1000 miles a month between Sept 2015 and May 2018 without incurring a mileage penalty. You're going to be way over that, but I didn't do the math to see how much of a hit you'd take. You'd have to balance the loss you'd take on the mileage adjustment against the per mile cost of whatever replacement vehicle you get to see how the numbers work. As far as insurance goes, who knows what those vipers will do.

At first I thought if you liked your car taking the money would be the way to go, but from what I read that means you have to get it fixed, it doesn't sound like they have a fix yet, and when they do it may affect performance and/or mpg adversely. If the car was going out of warranty soon might make sense to take the buyout.

SaxMan said:

There is a deduction table for the amount of miles on the car, for every x miles, you have to deduct x dollars from the buyback. At my current rate of driving, I'd be up at 140k by May 2018. What I wonder is if a TDI car gets totaled, would the insurance pay the buyback amount, or the current blue book?

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You can be sure the insurance company would pay the lesser amount.