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Summary: Owners now have an option to sell back their car to Volkswagen or wait for a fix in a settlement approved by a federal judge.
Volkswagen is finally getting a resolution to their auto emissions cheating scandal. A federal judge approved the $14.7 billion settlement, the largest settlement in U.S. history for an auto-scandal. The deal allows 475,000 Volkswagen and Audi owners of 2-liter diesel engines to either have their cars bought back or be fixed by Volkswagen. The owners can also seek additional cash compensation.
Perhaps the bigger part of the deal is that Volkswagen will give billions of dollars to environmental programs as well as reduce emissions and promote zero-emissions vehicles. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco called the deal “fair, reasonable and adequate.†He has been overseeing the litigation since the beginning.
Read Do You Want a Big VW Bug?
The Volkswagen scandal erupted a year ago when they admitted to installing “cheat devices†in their diesel cars starting in 2009. The device limited the emission of pollutants during tests but not during actual road use. In six years, nearly 600,000 cars were affected in the United States and 11 million worldwide.
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Owners will receive between $12,500 and $44,000 from the German automaker to buy back their car. Those that have leased a car will have the lease terminated without penalty. Once a modification method is discovered, owners can opt for that option. Either option also comes with a cash payment of $5,100 up to $10,000.
See Porsche and Audi Models Added to VW Emissions Investigation.
Volkswagen will hire 900 additional people to handle the buyback process, with one employee at each U.S. dealership. There are 652 dealerships. There is a specific website that provides all the details for car owners to visit to learn more. In total they will be spending up to $10 billion depending on how many people take advantage of the options.
The settlement does not cover the 3.0-liter engines. Negotiations are still being conducted to reach a settlement for those affected cars. Volkswagen reached another agreement to pay U.S. dealers $1.4 billion for compensation of lost profits due to the emissions cheating scandal.
Do you think this is a fair settlement for the car owners? Tell us in the comments below.
To learn more about the scandal, read Nearly 200 Class Action Suits Filed Against Volkswagen.
Photo: inhabitat.com
