Where'd the money go?

[Jogeephus]

Just heard that Volkswagen was laying off 30,000 something workers as a result of the $14.7 billion fine they had to pay over their emissions tinkering.

I was just wondering where the money went.

Was also talking to someone in Detroit today and the gov't made them do a recall on their vans. I forgot how many they had to recall but the reason for the recall was so they could put a little piece of paper in the owner's manual showing how to use the jack. The jack? Wonder how much this cost people in their time and inconvenience. Not to mention the carbon footprint to drive to a dealership so they could stick a piece of paper in your manual.

 

[Bestoutwest]

There was a payout of $10,000 per car, or VW would buy the car back. Whichever the owner wanted. Also, they had to pay a big fine to the government, but I can't remember how much.

 

[HDRider]

My uncle sold his 2 year old VW back to them for more than he paid for it new.

 

[Jogeephus]

I'm glad the customers got the money. I have a friend who is an big liberal and he was extremely pizzed about this because he touted his diesel as green and progressive. Don't think any amount of money would smooth his feathers. I kindof find it funny.

 

[D2Cat]

I remember seeing some cars a few years ago without a spare time. The salesman said statistics show very few people ever used their spare. So the manufactures saved the space and weight and had an 800 number to call for getting a flat fixed, and included a can of quick inflate!

But maybe the government figured the information was critical to the car owners and the USPO wasn't capable of getting the paperwork there?

 

[kjonesel]

I see this BS every day. Just got the electrical job on a 30 apartment building to house the homeless. I wondered what was wrong with a homeless shelter.

 

[boondocks]

Now hold on a hot minute. The company commits fraud that went all the way to the highest level (and then hid it); the government fines them; the customers who were defrauded are made whole; and somehow it is anyone's fault other than VW's that they had lay-offs?
No, they had lay-offs because no one wants to buy cars from a fraudulent company and their sales have tanked: http://www.autonews.com/article/2016082 ... f-poaching

 

[True Grit Farms]

Now hold on a hot minute. The company commits fraud that went all the way to the highest level (and then hid it); the government fines them; the customers who were defrauded are made whole; and somehow it is anyone's fault other than VW's that they had lay-offs?
No, they had lay-offs because no one wants to buy cars from a fraudulent company and their sales have tanked: http://www.autonews.com/article/2016082 ... f-poaching

VW is doing just fine and builds a good product. Sales are only down 14%, and diesel vehicles made up 20% of VW sales before the Gestapo halted them. Hopefully our new president will roll back the diesel emissions, and do away with the EPA.

 

[HDRider]

Jo,
I reread your question. It is a good question. Who did get the money for the fine? Who in the government got that $14,700,000,000?

 

[greybeard]

Them kind of fines are usually just donated to some do-gooder non-profit of the month, such as planned parenthood or the clinton foundation. ;-) :lol: :hide:

 

[1982vett]

I remember seeing some cars a few years ago without a spare time. The salesman said statistics show very few people ever used their spare. So the manufactures saved the space and weight and had an 800 number to call for getting a flat fixed, and included a can of quick inflate!

But maybe the government figured the information was critical to the car owners and the USPO wasn't capable of getting the paperwork there?

Been my experience too. I have a 12 year old Tundra I bought a couple years ago. I hit something and a tire went flat....first flat I've had on the road in a long long time....put the spare on and crossed my fingers it would make it to a friends house for more air. Anyway, it appeared it was the first time it hit the ground. Tire guy said the tire was made in 2012.

I like to keep matched sets of tires on a vehicle so I rarely ever get good use of an OEM spare. Since I needed new tires on the front, I kept one of them for a spare and the "like new" but 14 year old tire went to disposal.

 

[Jogeephus]

Jo,
I reread your question. It is a good question. Who did get the money for the fine? Who in the government got that $14,700,000,000?

I was glad to see the owners of vehicles got some money. It seems typical, like in the stock market, for them to uncover fraud and charge a big fine and the stockholders get nothing. So I was glad to see they got something. Did some digging and saw where about $10B went to the owners and the remaining $4.7 went to two "causes". One was something to do with promoting clean diesel.

I guess you can look at this two ways. One they cheated on their emissions and they should be fined. The other is why is the federal government so bent on pushing regulations down companies' throats. For instance, there is a mandate on the books where in 2018 all vehicles including trucks must get at least 50 mpg or the manufacturer will face steep fines. How is this going to be possible when the technology is not there. Will this mean we'll be hauling cattle to the barn in our Priuses? Hey, I'm all for a clean environment and all that stuff but shouldn't we be sensible?

 

[Nesikep]

I don't think the EPA should be done away with.. I'm certain far too many companies would abuse that... But I think they should be limited... It's one thing to strive for perfectly clean burning diesels, but don't force it on the market so fast that the manufactures can't catch a breath or properly test new technology... it seems like every couple years we have a new "Clean diesel" tier, and each one is more problematic that the previous..
Seriously.. does a tractor need all this crap on it? Thanks, but I'll stay with the primitive tech I can fix

 

[Margonme]

I don't know how states handle penalties.

EPA can assess civil penalties as an incentive for corrective action or as an assessment of the damage committed.

To encourage action, EPA often uses a per day assessment that continues until corrective action is completed.

A compensation penalty assesses the environmental damage. For example, loss of recreation such as fishing and hunting. Or actual damage as in destroying a resource such as timber, water, air, etc.

The funds collected go to the US Treasury or they can be used to perform restoration.

 

[Jogeephus]

I watched the EPD nail a guy once. County forest ranger told him he couldn't use tires to burn up the carcasses of poor cattle he would buy at sale barn and try to turn around. Those that died he'd just heap tires on them and burn them. Ranger was nice to the guy but got cussed out. Ranger called EPD in and the guy cussed him out too. When it was all said and done he was fined something like $2000 for each tire he burnt and those steel belted radials made the math easy. Personally, I think the guy got what he deserved and he's no longer burning tires.

 

[greybeard]

Been my experience too. I have a 12 year old Tundra I bought a couple years ago. I hit something and a tire went flat....first flat I've had on the road in a long long time....put the spare on and crossed my fingers it would make it to a friends house for more air. Anyway, it appeared it was the first time it hit the ground. Tire guy said the tire was made in 2012.

I like to keep matched sets of tires on a vehicle so I rarely ever get good use of an OEM spare. Since I needed new tires on the front, I kept one of them for a spare and the "like new" but 14 year old tire went to disposal.

I just recently pulled the still 'new' factory spare out from under my '08 Silverado and put it in the back of the truck. All my flats have been at home, and I just jacked it up and hauled the flat into town and had it fixed or fixed it myself. Spare is 8 years old and has never touched pavement or dirt. Still had 35 psi air in it too. The other 4 wheels have seen 3 sets of tires put on them.
(the spare weighed about 70 lbs from all the dirt and dried mud caked up on it tho)

 

[Jogeephus]

Been my experience too. I have a 12 year old Tundra I bought a couple years ago. I hit something and a tire went flat....first flat I've had on the road in a long long time....put the spare on and crossed my fingers it would make it to a friends house for more air. Anyway, it appeared it was the first time it hit the ground. Tire guy said the tire was made in 2012.

I like to keep matched sets of tires on a vehicle so I rarely ever get good use of an OEM spare. Since I needed new tires on the front, I kept one of them for a spare and the "like new" but 14 year old tire went to disposal.

I just recently pulled the still 'new' factory spare out from under my '08 Silverado and put it in the back of the truck. All my flats have been at home, and I just jacked it up and hauled the flat into town and had it fixed or fixed it myself. Spare is 8 years old and has never touched pavement or dirt. Still had 35 psi air in it too. The other 4 wheels have seen 3 sets of tires put on them.
(the spare weighed about 70 lbs from all the dirt and dried mud caked up on it tho)

Did you find the directions on how to use the jack helpful? :lol2:

 

[greybeard]

huh? --there's instructions???
there was a huge axs spiderweb under that seat tho.

 

[Kingfisher]

Jo,
I reread your question. It is a good question. Who did get the money for the fine? Who in the government got that $14,700,000,000?

It seems I read on Edmunds they don't really have to pay 14.7 billio $ fine. They are able to get credits or buy land bank credits to pay a portion and be good.

 

[greybeard]

Volkswagen--Hitler's Revenge.