SAN FRANCISCO – Volkswagen diesel owners can choose to either sell their car back to the company or get a repair that could diminish the vehicle’s performance under a settlement of claims tied to the German automaker’s emissions-cheating scandal.
The settlement will cost VW $14.7 billion, a person briefed on the settlement talks said Monday, but does not resolve all the legal issues stemming from its admission that nearly a half million vehicles with 2-liter diesel engines were programmed to turn on emissions controls during government lab tests and turn them off while on the road.
The figure represents the largest auto scandal settlement in U.S. history. The deal sets aside $10 billion to repair or buy back roughly 475,000 polluting Volkswagen vehicles. Whether they choose to have BW buy back their vehicle or repair it, they will receive a payment of $5,100 to $10,000, the person said. The person asked not to be identified because the deal will not be filed in court until Tuesday, and a judge has ordered attorneys not to talk about it before then.
How VW would repair the vehicles to bring them into compliance with clean air laws has not yet been finalized, the person said.
Owners who choose to have VW buy back their cars would get the clean trade-in value from before the scandal became public on Sept. 18, 2015. The average value of a VW diesel has dropped 19 percent since just before the scandal began. In August of 2015, the average was $13,196, and this May it was $10,674, according to Kelley Blue Book.