"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
11/03/2016 at 09:00 • Filed to: None
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"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
11/03/2016 at 09:00 • Filed to: None | 7
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As we all know by now, VW got caught with a cheat device on their “Clean” TDI Diesels. Which were anything but clean. So now they are offering a payout to those who got snookered. And the payout looks good.
There has been a lot of controversy on this topic - that is: Is the settlement they are offering a good deal? From the viewpoint of an attorney in this field (automotive warranty law), the offer is a good one.
Remember: The law is not designed to make you rich simply because you have a case. I have seen people freaking out about how much they “deserve” because of the brazenness of VW’s cheating. But that is different. The law is designed to make you whole. And VW is offering to buy your car back from you at a price based on book value of year ago AND pay you $5,100 to $10,000 on top of that value. Or, fix your car and let you keep it - AND pay you the $5,100 to $10,000. This, on top of the two $500 Visa gift cards they gave you earlier.
Here is the audio:
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And the video.
[And No, no one is “paying” me to say this. Almost every podcast I do now where I appear to be saying that an industry or a company is good or bad, someone accuses me of taking payments for my opinion. That’s not happening. BUT, if you want to pay me to take a position for you, by all means, CONTACT ME AND SEND ME MONEY! So far, no one has offered to do that for me.]
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Steve Lehto has been practicing law for 24 years, almost exclusively in consumer protection and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! He wrote !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .
This website may supply general information about the law but it is for informational purposes only. This does not create an attorney-client relationship and is not meant to constitute legal advice, so the good news is we’re not billing you by the hour for reading this. The bad news is that you shouldn’t act upon any of the information without consulting a qualified professional attorney who will, probably, bill you by the hour.
jimz
> SteveLehto
11/03/2016 at 09:30 |
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a tech site I’ve been hanging around for a long time gets similar accusations regularly. I’ve pointed out more than once that they must have a really good thing going to be on the take from Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Nintendo, and Samsung all at the same time.
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SteveLehto
> jimz
11/03/2016 at 09:41 |
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It’s a toss up as to which is worse: Those accusations or the death threats. It’s amazing how people think nothing of threatening to kill someone for voicing an opinion on the internet.
My favorites though are the hate comments I get from car dealers and RV dealers. The most popular video I have done is called “Don’t Buy an RV!” It has more than a million minutes of viewing time and I get at least one or two comments I have to delete daily.
Good times.
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jimz
> SteveLehto
11/03/2016 at 11:44 |
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you might have seen this already:
Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
> SteveLehto
11/03/2016 at 12:06 |
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One of my friends had a VW Jetta TDI (wagon) that got hit with the recall stick and he intends to keep it - plus use the cash to buy an enthusiast-grade PC .
Lucky bastard.
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jimz
> SteveLehto
11/03/2016 at 21:11 |
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oh, though about this while listening to the podcast on the way home- out of curiosity, would there be any income tax implications from accepting the payment from VW? I don’t know how things work when you receive money from e.g. settlements or restitution.
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SteveLehto
> jimz
11/04/2016 at 07:16 |
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No. It’s not “income.” The consumer is being reimbursed for money they are owed. Think of it as someone paying back a loan. Which makes sense, since the consumers are being given money to be made whole.
ateamfan42
> SteveLehto
11/04/2016 at 15:41 |
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Great discussion as always, Steve. We are very lucky to have some free legal advice here— most folks have to pay good money for that!
The final tally is pretty amazing: $16 Billion from trying to cheat the system to sell more cars. I’d love to see the formal risk-benefit analysis for that decision!