VW Giving $1000 to auto Owners in Emissions Cheating Scandal

Volkswagen AG, reeling from an expanding scandal involving diesel cars it has admitted it rigged to pass USA pollution tests, announced Monday that owners of the vehicles will receive $1,000 in what the company calls a “goodwill” gesture. But he added: “VW should take full responsibility for its deceit and harm to almost 500,000 customers by offering to buy back defective cars at their original prices”.

The $1,000 gift card is but one step the company taking to correct the issue, not the least of which involves an actual fix for the cars.

In the meantime, we’re providing affected 2.0L TDI owners with a $500 Volkswagen Prepaid Visa Loyalty Card, a $500 Volkswagen Dealership Card, and no-charge 24-hour Roadside Assistance for three years*. VW is promising its staff they will keep their jobs and will be exempt from damage claims if they shed light on the scandal, the paper said.

VW hasn’t provided many details yet, but it sounds like the cars were producing significantly less Carbon dioxide during emissions certification testing than in real-world use.

Volkswagen announced the gift package to the U.S. customers on Monday on its web page titled ‘We’re Working to Make Things Right’. Owners and lessees, also, have no later than April 30, 2016 to register for the goodwill package. VW will send the cards by mail. Affected vehicles includes those equipped with two-liter, four-cylinder diesel engines.

“I bought this vehicle because of good mileage”, said Joe Kolash, who owns a 2012 Jetta that gets about 45 mpg.

The company says about 11 million cars worldwide have the deceptive software, but this offer is only for USA customers.

To be eligible, consumers must be the registered owner or lessee of a Volkswagen diesel with the 2-liter TDI engine as of November 8. The EPA reported the device allowed VW vehicles to pollute 10 to 40 times over the legal limit.

It’s still unclear which cars from which automakers were shown to have high emissions.

A Volkswagen Australia spokesman said the carmaker had not yet outlined a plan locally to support owners affected by the recall.

As stated earlier, VW says this part of the agreement concerns the bank’s terms only and has nothing to do with the offer from VW.