Scams are not limited to being perpetrated by career criminals.  Sometimes they are done by legitimate companies and that is the case with today’s Scam of the day which deals with the illegal system that Volkswagen put in its automobiles in order to hide the fact that its diesel automobiles, which it advertised as “clean diesels,” did not comply with federal environmental standards.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated a legal action against Volkswagen, which manufactures not just Volkswagen automobiles with diesel engines, but also Audis with diesel engines as well.   According to the FTC, Volkswagen sold or leased more than 550,000 diesel Volkswagen and Audi automobiles between 2009 and 2015 that did not meet federal emission standards, but appeared to be compliant because of the illegal masking system put into the vehicles.  Making things worse, Volkswagen touted its clean diesel in its advertising, claiming that it met “stringent emission requirements” and complied with the laws of all fifty states when the truth is they did neither.  The resale value of these cars has been dramatically reduced due to Volkswagen illegal actions.  In its lawsuit, the FTC is asking for Volkswagen to financially compensate affected customers.

TIPS

The automobiles that are affected by this issue are the 2009 through 2015 Volkswagen TDI diesel models of Jettas, Passats and Touareg SUVs and TDI Audi models.  I will keep you informed as to the progress of this lawsuit and when a resolution has been reached, I will let you know how to receive your payment if you are one of the affected car owners.