VW diesel owners to get $1000 in gift cards and vouchers

Owners must register for the offer by April 30.

The package mainly includes a Visa gift card worth $500 and a $500 store credit to be used for services and merchandise from VW dealers.

“In the meantime, we are providing this goodwill package as a first step towards regaining our customers’ trust”, Horn added.

Volkswagen, in an effort to appease owners of small diesel-powered cars involved in an emissions cheating scandal, is offering them $1,000 in gift cards and vouchers, the company said. The offer is meant to assuage the proprietors of the 2-liter diesel fueled VW autos as the car maker chips away at repairing the vehicles influenced. Once you get the cards from VW, you then need to drive your affected 2.0-liter TDI vehicle over to a VW dealer, who can activate the cards. It has conceded that four-chamber diesels from its 2009 to 2015 model years have the product that can undermine contamination tests.

While owners thought VW might throw them money as a way to keep their business, those same owners were leery of small print included in any offer, especially concerning legal matters.

The senators said VW “should offer every owner a buy-back option” and “should state clearly and unequivocally that every owner has the right to sue”.

Customers who are accepting this Goodwill Package are not required to waive their rights or release their claims against VW nor will they forfeit their right to any potential future compensation.

Belgium has opened an enquiry into the Volkswagen emissions scandal, theBrussels prosecutor announced Tuesday. In Australia, the tally of Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen passenger cars and commercial vehicles linked to Dieselgate has reached nearly 100,000 vehicles.

A source at VW said the executive and supervisory boards initially sought to have the whistleblower program run through the end of the year but, encouraged by recent positive feedback, made a decision to set the more ambitious end-November deadline.

In a statement, the two said the program is “a fig leaf attempting to hide the true depths of Volkswagen’s deception”. The company has halted sales of cars under investigation which it admits were fitted with software capable of cheating government emissions tests.