[gnoway]

"Owners will have two years to decide whether to sell back vehicles..."

So the rumor is I can drive my affected Golf TDI for ~2 more years, and then get compensated @9/2015 value plus up to $5k on top of that? Honestly, that's a terrible deal for VW.

Edit: thinking more, maybe this is better for VW than an alternative where they have to make good right away. They don't have to scramble to get 500k cars repaired or off the road as quickly, and they can spread whatever makes up the rest of their hit over a longer period as well.

To me, this does signal that we're a lot more upset about the dishonesty than we are about the emissions themselves.

[adamnemecek]

It's punitive, it's supposed to be terrible.

[bpodgursky]

Yeah, but I'd prefer the penalties did something useful, and weren't just a cash transfer to people who got lucky and bought cars from an unethical manufacturer.

[privong]

> just a cash transfer to people who got lucky and bought cars from an unethical manufacturer.

They didn't "get lucky". They were lied to by the company and sold a car under false pretenses.

Edit: I had the fuel economy bit wrong, my mistake. I've removed that portion. Thanks @mikestew, @gnoway, and @GavinMcG for the correction.

[gnoway]

This wasn't exactly a fuel economy issue, it was more of an emissions cheat. I get great economy out of my Golf - higher than advertised. I agree that if they'd done the right thing w/ emissions that economy might have been worse and the car not as attractive.

[mikestew]

The reason the cars got better fuel economy than competitors is because VW cheated on emissions. IOW, the deception wasn't in the economy numbers, but in how VW managed to pull that off.

[dionidium]

They didn't "get lucky".

I agree that it's a little weird to say that they got lucky, but a pretty big hint that they actually did is that I wish I were a part of the settlement. It's not like anybody was actually harmed. These owners are getting a great deal.

[GavinMcG]

Did they have extra fuel expenses? My understanding is that VW bypassed emissions controls in order to maintain a high level of efficiency and performance. The environmental cost of that was externalized onto all of us.

[mikestew]

Yeah, but I'd prefer the penalties did something useful

I think that sticking VW's head on a pike as a warning to others that may follow would qualify as "useful". The fact that owners are compensated for not getting what they thought they were buying can be viewed as a bonus.

[superuser2]

They aren't lucky. The value of their cars dropped as a result of VW's unethical decisions. VW needs compensate them for that loss.

[twblalock]

Furthermore, if the owners weren't compensated, many of them would continue to drive these cars rather than sell them at a loss. The outcome would be worse for everyone who breathes air, not just the VW owners.

[jonathankoren]

Moving the cost-benefit analysis for breaking the law towards the obey-the-law column isn't useful?

I guess you could make that same argument about all law enforcement.

[jonknee]

This is a settlement with the owners of the cars, the Clean Air Act penalties haven't been announced yet. They will be significant.

[harryh]

It's it also supposed to get the too-high-emissions vehicles off the road? It seems like letting people drive them around for two more years is counter productive to that goal.

[admax88q]

It's not counter productive, its just not super productive.

But I think the concerns are less about getting these specific cars off the road immediately, and more so ensuring that other manufacturers are scared away from trying to pull this shit again.

[kuschku]

They’d still be legal under the 2008 emissions regulations, just not under the newer ones.

There are plenty more cars on the road from even older times, with far worse emissions.

[rando18423]

Exactly!!!

[WalterBright]

There's an environmental cost to getting them off the road, too. Making a new car consumes tons of energy and emits its own pollution.

[jonknee]

They have some incentives to be speedy and individual states may move things along even quicker (denying registration for unfixed vehicles):

> The settlement includes $2.7 billion in funds to offset excess diesel emissions and $2 billion for green energy and zero emission vehicle efforts, the source said. The diesel offset fund could rise if VW has not fixed or bought back 85 percent of the vehicles by mid-2019, the first source said.

But they are still facing stiff penalties under the Clean Air Act which could more than double the damage. There are also 80,000 larger engine vehicles they still need to deal with (which I am quite curious about since I have one!).

[int_19h]

The way I interpreted that verbiage, what they really mean is that they'll buy your vehicle back for the price that it would fetch in September 2015 _in the condition that it currently is_ - i.e. any extra mileage and wear and tear would still drive the price down, it's just that you don't have to worry about the value lost due to the scandal.

[pc86]

Correct. Current KBB good/very good value is probably a safe "it will be this or higher" number.