Volkswagen settlement: US car owners look for compensation over emissions scandal

Global Business

Volkswagen settlement: US car owners look for compensation over emissions scandal

The settlement of the class-action suit against Volkswagen will give car owners a choice: sell their diesel vehicles back to Volkswagen or have their cars repaired to meet emission standards.

CCTV’s Jim Spellman reported. 

The fix hasn’t been worked out yet, but the repairs will likely come with a drawback: a drop in mileage or performance. Consumers will also be compensated between $5,100 and $10,000.

“They can either take the buyback or they can take the fix, in either case, they get the money,” Eric Schneiderman, New York state attorney general, said. “This is really unprecedented for a settlement in a case like this. For its deceptive marketing practices, Volkswagen is also going to pay to the states an additional $1,100 per car, or over half a billion dollars nationwide.”

Peter Hayes, owner of a 2011 Volkswagen SportWagen TDI, said he would prefer to keep his Volkswagen, but doesn’t want to sacrifice performance or mileage, so he will likely take the buy back.

“We just paid off the car so we we’re not gonna have payments on it, I was planning on not having car payments for a while,” Hayes said. “Now that this is happened, it’s kind of forcing us to buy a new car. We’re not too thrilled about it.”

He said hopes the settlement will hurt Volkswagen’s bottom line enough to ensure the company will never do anything like this again.

Volkswagen has not yet formally made offers to car owners.