Volkswagen diesel owners in US face lost value and limbo

[SAN FRANCISCO] As the resale value of their diesel cars drops, US Volkswagen owners are stuck, unwilling to sell their polluting vehicles at a loss but lacking information on what fixes may be in store.

A month after Volkswagen admitted to regulators that its diesel cars were rigged to cheat on US emissions tests, no concrete answers are forthcoming on how the company will compensate owners, nor how dealers should deal with them.

The German automaker has said it will begin fixing the first of the nearly 500,000 non-compliant Golfs, Jettas and Passats from model years 2009-2015 in January, but earlier models will require hardware changes and could take longer.

"I'm kind of resigned to the waiting period but it's frustrating, as I feel like I'm in limbo," said a San Francisco Golf owner, Janet Kornblum. "Obviously I can't sell the car as it is and I don't really want to. But I have no idea what's going to happen."

Auto industry consultant Edmunds.com said on Monday the price of used VW diesel vehicles sold at auction by dealers to other dealers dropped 6.5 per cent, based on Sept 1-Oct 9 data.

The average price of these cars fell to US$10,586 after Sept 18, the day the scandal broke, from US$11,319, Edmunds.com said. "The drop reflects a lot of the uncertainty and speculation that's out there," said Edmunds.com analyst Jessica Caldwell.

That contrasts with healthy US used-car prices, which were 7.6 per cent higher year-over-year in the second quarter.

Volkswagen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As lawmakers and regulators seek answers on how the cheating by the world's second-largest carmaker occurred and how it will make amends, Volkswagen's reputation has suffered, reflected in fewer online searches.

Car-buying website TrueCar found a 57 per cent drop in searches for VW diesel cars since the scandal broke on Sept 18.

The overall brand was itself affected, with total searches for all Volkswagen vehicles down 9 per cent.

Swapalease.com said VW lease transfers have dropped 50 per cent thus far in October, including gas and diesel engines.

On the TDIClub.com online forum, one owner trying to sell his 2013 diesel Passat for US$14,400 on Sept 18 was told by another member: "No one here will buy an 'affected' TDI until the VW fix is implemented, and that fix, whatever it is, may take a year to happen."

REUTERS