Volkswagen to spend £2.19 billion to buy-back and retrofitting vehicles in the U.S. – yet STILL no compensation for U.K. victims!

Volkswagen Group are reportedly set to take another £2.19 billion from third quarter budgets to cover the costs of its “buy-back” and “fix” schemes for cars fitted with so-called “defeat devices” in the U.S… Adding to the already monumental cost of the scandal that amounts to over £15 billion so far. The company said they’re increasing their budget to cover these costs as it was “proving to be far more technically complex and time consuming.”

“Yes, we’d already assumed this may be the case…”

News of the additional costs has reportedly had an impact on shares, reportedly dropping by 3% as investors may be losing further faith in the company. Some sources expect the scandal to cost Volkswagen up to £22.5 billion in total, yet U.K. victims are still neglected by the German automotive giants.

U.K. customers ignored…

The major car company was outed in 2015 for cheating official car emissions testing through the use of illegal so-called “defeat devices” to allow vehicles to pass strict parameters of official testing labs yet spew out way more dangerous NOx emissions of 40 times higher in real-world driving conditions.

Volkswagen have since paid out billions in penalty fines, settlements and lawsuits in the U.S. In a bid to regain trust and confidence, the company has initiated schemes to buy-back affected vehicles or attempt to “fix” them in the U.S.

Yet U.K. victims are being refused compensation because VW are trying to claim that the so-called “defeat devices” are not technically “defeat devices” in the context of U.K. and EU law. We strongly refute such assertions as absolute nonsense!

What does the so-called “fix” entail?

A German newspaper reports that Volkswagen could get into further trouble by not properly informing authorities exactly what these so-called “fixes” entail, and how emissions controls are affected. The U.S. currently has about 500,000 affected Volkswagen group cars, and thousands of owners have had the software “fix” applied.

However, what does the fix entail and how does it “fix” the emissions problem? Is there a compromise to the vehicle’s performance?

CEO of U.S. VW, Hinrich Woebcken, was reportedly unable to provide answers, and when asked if the updated software was another so-called “defeat device” itself, he said “not of my knowledge.”

The “fix” is on for U.K. victims

Here in the U.K., Volkswagen have not offered a buy-back scheme, and are merely offering Volkswagen group owners the software update “fix” to apparently resolve the emissions problem. However, we are seeing a significant number of people complaining about problems with vehicle performance after having this “fix” applied; notably, increased fuel consumption, reduced power and unhealthy noises coming from the engine!

It’s unclear exactly what Volkswagen is trying to do. In providing these so-called “fixes” that may only cause more problems and costs for owners.