VW Will Pay Off Its Dealers

Volkswagen badge (Credit: Volkswagen)

It looked like Volkswagen was going to leave its dealers in the United States out of any financial compensation moves, but thankfully that seems to have changed. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that VW executives promise to compensate dealers who were damaged by the Dieselgate scandal.

Dealers are also being kept in the loop about exactly how the company will handle giving out around $15 billion to the government and vehicle owners. The final court approval of the buyback/vehicle repair plan is still pending, but most experts think it will go through. Then the process will start up in October, so dealers will need to know how to handle all those TDI owners that will show up on their doorstep.

One detail that’s of course being left out by Volkswagen is how non-VW dealers were affected by Dieselgate. Dealerships that franchise with other automakers took a hit from the scandal, as did purely used car lots. There’s been no indication any of those businesses plan to sue, but they probably lack the resources to actually do it, so they probably won’t.