Diesel Volkswagen buybacks set to be scrapped

Dozens of Volkswagen cars parked at a lot in Hamilton’s industrial area are waiting to be recycled. Cars that have been bought back from customers following the massive emissions scandal involving its diesel engines in 2015. The car company admitted to installing cheat devices on its diesel cars which allowed engines to emit less pollutants during emissions tests than during normal road driving. The scam cost Volkswagen billions of dollars.

“Given that they are used cars some of them are probably up to 10 years old their best financial option is to take them off the road, it would be too expensive to fix them.” Brendan Sweeney, McMaster University’s automotive policy research centre.

When we asked Volkswagen Canada about it they responded by saying these cars were bought back and can’t be modified and they’ve contracted the facility to make sure they are recycled responsibly.

The company is called Pic n Save and declined to comment, not even saying how many vehicles it’s recycling or if it will be stripping them for parts.

VW agreed to repair or offer buybacks for owners of the affected vehicles. Those that aren’t fixed must be scrapped. They have until June 2019 to buy back or fix the vehicles after that date they will face hefty fines.