Volkswagen deal approved

Federal judge OKs $15 billion settlement for owners and leaseholders.

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge approved the largest autoscandal settlement in U.S. history Tuesday, giving nearly a half-million Volkswagen owners and leaseholders the choice between selling their cars back or having them repaired so they don't cheat on emissions tests and spew excess pollution.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said the nearly $15 billion deal “adequately and fairly” compensates consumers and gets the polluting vehicles off the road as soon as possible.

The German automaker acknowledged last year that about 475,000 Volkswagens and Audis with 2-liter, four-cylinder diesel engines were programmed to cheat on emissions tests.

Under the agreement, owners can choose to have Volkswagen buy back the vehicle regardless of its condition for the full trade-in price on Sept. 18, 2015, when the scandal broke, or pay for repairs. In either case, Volkswagen also will pay owners $5,100 to $10,000, depending on the age of the car and whether the owner owned it prior to Sept. 18 of last year.

Volkswagen has agreed to spend up to $10 billion compensating consumers and could start buying back the cars as early as next month. Regulators have not approved any fixes.

The settlement also includes $2.7 billion for unspecified environmental mitigation and $2 billion to promote zero-emissions vehicles.

“We're going to sell it back as soon as humanly possible and try to put this behind us,” said Joe Azam, a 35-year-old attorney in New York who owns a 2014 Jetta wagon.

Still, Azam said he thought Volkswagen “got off easy” in terms of how much it was paying vehicle owners.

Blair Stewart, a 2012 Jetta wagon owner in Palo Alto, California, said Volkswagen should have paid owners the full purchase price of their vehicle, given the company's fraud.

“This is not enough to deter the kind of behavior they did,” he said.

Breyer concluded that affected car owners were not entitled to a full refund because many had “received a great deal of use out of their vehicles.” He also raised the specter of bankruptcy for Volkswagen if it had to pay the full purchase price.

The scandal has damaged Volkswagen's reputation and hurt its sales.

The company is still facing potentially billions more in fines and penalties and possible criminal charges.

It also will pay up to $324 million in attorney fees and $8.5 million in out-of-pocket costs, and has agreed to pay its U.S. dealers up to $1.2 billion.

Volkswagen has agreed to spend up to $10 billion compensating consumers.