Dieselgate compensation details revealed and explained

Last fall, September 18th of 2015, to be exact, a scandal known as “Dieselgate” rocked the world. The mega-automaker Volkswagen had been employing cheat software that allowed certain cars to pass emissions testing by recognizing when they were hooked up to test equipment. It would have been bad enough if it was just a glitch, but it was eventually revealed that the company knew what it was doing.

2013 volkswagen beetle tdi diesel badgeThe value of the affected cars sunk faster than a greased rock in warm Louisiana swamp. Ok, I made that expression up, but you get my drift. So the owners of said cars were left wondering what would happen to them and how they would be compensated. Fast forward to this week, the last week in June of 2016. Details of the settlement have been revealed and it will be a major blow to the manufacturer once it finally has to pay out.

The document that was released has a lot of legal-ish writing but the gist of it is this:

If you own(ed) an affected vehicle VW will buy it back at a value based on mileage, options, etc., based on the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). On top of the buyback value, owners will receive an additional 20% of the value plus another $2,986.73. If you leased an affected vehicle, you can surrender your lease without early termination charges and receive about half of the compensation that owners will get. If you prefer not to sell your vehicle back to VW or surrender your lease, you are still eligible for the same restitution payment an owner or lessee will get. For those who keep their car, the issue will be corrected via a yet-to-be determined “Approved Emissions Modification.”

All in all, estimates place the hit to VW at around $15 billion USD. Check out the video above to get all of the information we have so far on the Dieselgate compensation settlement.