VW agrees to pay consumers biggest auto settlement in history

Volkswagen's deliberate cheating on emissions tests will cost it a record $14.7 billion. And that's just the start of its problems.

by Chris Isidore and David Goldman

The settlement is only a preliminary step in the case; the automaker still faces possible criminal charges, as well as civil penalties for Clean Air Act violations. The Department of Justice is investigating possible criminal charges against both the company and individuals, said Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

Volkswagen's wrongdoing constituted "the most flagrant violations of our consumer and environmental laws in our country's history," said Yates. "We cannot undo the damage that's been done to our air quality, but we can offset that damage."

Up to $10 billion of the funds will be paid out to owners of the 487,000 affected diesel cars in the U.S., sold under the VW or luxury Audi brands. How much an owner gets will depend on whether an owner chooses to fix their car or just have VW buy it back -- they have until May 2018 to decide.

Repurchasing the cars will cost VW between $12,500 to $44,000 per car. The $14.7 billion settlement estimate assumes that all the cars are repurchased.

Owners who elect to get their vehicles fixed will also get a cash payment of between $5,100 and $10,000 to compensate them for the lost value of the cars, as well as for Volkswagen's deceptive promise of "clean diesel." Most of the buyers paid extra for a car with a diesel engine.

To date there is no EPA-approved fix to bring the cars into compliance with environmental regulations, although EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said she hoped there would be a solution within six months.

In addition to the customer payments, Volkswagen will pay $2.7 billion for environmental cleanup and $2 billion to promote zero-emission vehicles. The clean up money will be used by individual states to cut other diesel emissions by replacing older, government-owned trucks, buses and other diesel engines now in use.

The cars had software installed that strictly limited emissions when the cars were being tested, then dumped up to 40 times the allowable levels of some pollutants when on the road. VW admitted to the wrongdoing in September.

"We take our commitment to make things right very seriously and believe these agreements are a significant step forward," said VW CEO Matthias Müller. "We know that we still have a great deal of work to do to earn back the trust of the American people."

The settlement amount dwarfs other payouts by other automakers.

9 Commercial Real Estate Companies That Are Nailing It on Instagram

The Wall Street Journal recently wrote a nice story on Instagram’s role in real estate.

This is an important topic, and it’s one that real estate marketers should note.

While residential marketers have already jumped on the Instagram bandwagon, commercial real estate professionals have been slower to climb aboard.

The fact is, images are essential to commercial real estate marketing.  As an image-based platform, Instagram is a tool that commercial brokerages, asset managers and financiers should no longer ignore.

But here’s the catch – you don’t have to use it for marketing at the property level.

The WSJ’s Peter Grant puts it nicely when talking about CBRE’s success with the platform:  “Instagram…is gaining traction in commercial real estate more on the corporate level. CBRE’s new Instagram focuses on its use for branding beyond the narrow world of commercial real estate.”

While the article cites success among commercial real estate giants CBRE, JLL and Cushman & Wakefield, we’ve assembled a few more in the commercial sector who are nailing it, Instagram style:

@ICSC

The International Council of Shopping Centers is rocking the Instagram house.  With 2,695 followers, the organization is actively using Instagram photos, videos and contests to engage its audience.  Kudos to you, @ICSC!

@Hines

Hines’ Instagram feed is peppered with stunning photography of extremely visually interesting commercial properties.  With roughly 780 followers, the firm is positioning itself as an extremely high-quality company.

@Cool_Working_Space

As its name suggests, this is a very cool Instagram feed.  The whole feed features some of the coolest, most visual workspaces in the world.  With close to 5,500 followers, this Instagram user is certainly attracting views.

Here’s the catch – we can’t see if it’s connected with a company.  That’s actually one of the secrets to good content marketing – create content that people love first.  From here, the company behind @Cool_Working_Spaces can connect with and direct message its followers in order to build relationships that are already warm and welcome.

@DTLARealEstate

DTLA Real Estate has attracted 778 followers with the cool, urban photography in its feed.

@MurroHill

Ok – this one is interesting.  Murro Hill, a full service commercial real estate brokerage in Manhattan, has 544 followers, and only 9 Instagram posts.  How did they do it?  We’re just guessing here, but we think they likely did what every good marketer should do – told all of their agents to follow them on Instagram, and had each agent ask their contact list to do the same.  And voila!  An audience.

@nyc_spaces

This feed, owned by Manhattan tenant brokerage R&A, has attracted 562 followers by integrating unique, engaging hashtags such as #TallTuesday and #BuildingofTheDay.

@LuxurRealty

This New York commercial and residential real estate firm has a clear strategy to attract and engage followers – instead of property photos, they use quotes.  The result is a consistent, visual brand and 284 followers to date.

@BrandyWineRealty

With interesting photography and hashtag filled comments, @BrandyWineRealty is demonstrating their beautiful work visually while making themselves easily findable via Instagram’s search function. With 746 followers, they’re making a name for themselves.

@CoyDavidsonCRE

This one isn’t a company, but it’s worth a mention.  Coy is a broker for Colliers, and we are super impressed with his social media savvy.  Coy has assembled close to 400 followers, and fills his feed with images of commercial properties, peppered with happy family photos. He looks like a great guy – the kind of guy you’d want to work with.

As the commercial real estate world continues to realize the value that can come from social platforms, we feel confident we’ll see more companies and professionals nailing it on Instagram.

By Team BMC on June 25, 2015

Maximize Your Engagement "get the times"

Largest one-time giveaway in TV show history

Many Americans find themselves like the rest of the country... in debt. There are certainly many unforeseen life occurrences that can happen that will lead people to get in to debt in today's world. But imagine if your debt could be wiped clean at a fraction of the cost. Wouldn't everyone want that?
Well, John Oliver forgave $15 million of medical debt from Americans living in Texas and its hard to not be happy for those people benefiting here.

“Look, it is pretty clear by now—debt buying is a grimy business, and badly needs more oversight, because as it stands, any idiot can get into it,” Oliver said. “And I can prove that to you, because I’m an idiot, and we started a debt-buying company. And it was disturbingly easy.”

In April, Oliver and his team spent $50 to incorporate an online debt buying agency in Mississippi called Central Asset Recovery Professionals (CARP), “named after the bottom-feeding fish,” according to the host. With little more than a website, they received an invitation to buy almost $15 million in medical debt in the state of Texas for less than half a cent on the dollar — a little less than $60,000 in total.

Instead of using the names and contact information they purchased to hound debtors for payment, Oliver forgave the debt, essentially “giving away” $15 million in one fell swoop. While debt forgiveness isn’t quite as exciting as Oprah giving 276 studio audience members brand new cars worth $28,500 each—for a total giveaway cash value of $7.866 million—Oliver still celebrated the moment with almost as much energy.