How long to wait for a build date/week

[mrjubei]

Well, I ordered an RS TSI wagon back in mid July. I was told by the dealer back then there would be quite a long wait as I have gone for the manual with pano roof and tech pack. I'm all fine with that. I would have thought though that buy this stage I would have been assigned a build date our build week.
My last communication with my dealer was there was no additional information in the system..build date our otherwise.
What should I be expecting at this stage? Should I be worried or concerned?

[woofy]

If you look at the other threads here you will see that's pretty much normal. Would be expecting it to be 6mths from your order, the specs don't make it any later, just it meant they couldn't grab a DSG sitting in the queue already. That seems to rarely happen anyway with the tight limits of orders for Aus. VWAustralia get 40 Octavias a month for all of Australia so you can see the issue. Customer orders get priority over dealer stock, but some dealers are now getting stock by keeping cancelled customer orders in the system...bit sneaky but can see why they do it. I would expect you will be told soon and it should start going into build this month or next.

[team_v]

So you put a deposit down without specifying a delivery date?

[mrjubei]

I was told to expect about 6 months from when I ordered... totally fine with that. I was just wondering what the norm was in terms of being given a build week or build date..

[GTR27]

I didn't get a build week till august some time (can't remember when). I ordered at the very start of may.

[mattaus]

Are the build times still around 6 months, or are the 12 month comments I'm hearing accurate?

[parisfrance]

Are the build times still around 6 months, or are the 12 month comments I'm hearing accurate?

It appears to be luck of the draw. If your order matches the specifications and configuration of a vehicle already on its way to OZ you can be very lucky and have a vehicle within weeks or you can wait up to almost 12 months as several people who post on this site can attest, including myself. I was originally told our vehicle would be delivered sometime between August and October 2014, however we wouldn't be getting a reverse camera in the Tech Pack, as they wouldn't be available until 2015. Then in July 2014 we were told our vehicle wouldn't be delivered until 2015, at which point I demanded our vehicle be built in 2015 for reasons of depreciation. I innocently thought our vehicle would be built early in 2015, but no it was built on 24/2/15. It then has been delivered to the port in Belgium at the beginning of March only to "miss the boat". It has finally left the port in Belgium today and is due in Fremantle on 20/5, approximately 51 weeks after we ordered it.

So it definitely seems that when you get your vehicle is a bit of a crap shoot!

You may be lucky and experience a dealer who is diligent, is strongly customer focused and who works hard on your behalf, or you may have a dealer who doesn't appear to care and simply portrays the image that it is what it is and if you don't like it you can cancel your order. When I indicated back in October that was what I was thinking of doing I was offered the extended warranty for free.

I apologise for the lengthy post and it isn't intended to depress you or suggest that an Octavia isn't worth the wait, they certainly are. If there was a comparable car I would have walked but can't find anything that meets all our needs.

Just be forewarned you can be in for a lengthy wait.

[mattaus]

This is my problem. I don't need the car until October/November. However I cannot really be without one after that point for more than a month or two (way too much big stuff happening in the new year to be without my own car).

I make it worse for myself by wanting a DSG Wagon RS with the tech, black, and comfort packs, plus a pano sunroof. Turini wheels too if I can help it. In either white or black (TBD).

If only I had started looking in January!

[parisfrance]

I can see your dilemma, do you order now with the hope it arrives on time or run the risk. Maybe you can try and get a delivery date on the contract, but then if they don't meet that date you would have to take them to court for breach of contract as that is the only way I can see of you getting any financial compensation.

Alternatively, if you religiously follow the online car sales sites you might find a vehicle that meets your needs around the time you want it, but you may have to purchase interstate. We recently found one in QLD advertised online but it had no Pano roof, was a hatch and was Red. We could live without the pano roof and even the colour, but we definitely want a wagon so no good.

Good luck!

[techdave]

This is my problem. I don't need the car until October/November. However I cannot really be without one after that point for more than a month or two (way too much big stuff happening in the new year to be without my own car).

October or November is still a long way. Just put a clause that allows you to cancel the order and get your deposit back if you can't get it by a certain date. The dealer wouldn't have much to lose anyway as they would be getting floor stock! Customer orders are prioritised higher than floor stocks from what I've heard.

My dealer was ok for me to cancel the order anytime.. as long as I didn't spec it with the flat grey colour (can't remember the colour code)..lol.. No offense for those with this colour! I actually quite like it.. But not the Mrs.

[lucmor444]

My dealer was also happy to add a required delivery date clause in my contract. They know that the car is in demand and would be easy to sell once it arrived with the options I specified.

[mattaus]

October or November is still a long way. Just put a clause that allows you to cancel the order and get your deposit back if you can't get it by a certain date. The dealer wouldn't have much to lose anyway as they would be getting floor stock! Customer orders are prioritised higher than floor stocks from what I've heard.

My dealer was ok for me to cancel the order anytime.. as long as I didn't spec it with the flat grey colour (can't remember the colour code)..lol.. No offense for those with this colour! I actually quite like it.. But not the Mrs.

One potential problem I have with simply cancelling my order if the fulfillment date is not met, is that I will most likely be leasing. I have to check, but once I sign the lease agreement and the car is ordered, it's impossible to cancel without financial pain. As I said though, I need to double check however I do know someone at work that had this problem.

Funnily enough the RS I looked at in a dealership last weekend was the flat grey. Hideous. Each to their own

[woofy]

It appears to be luck of the draw. If your order matches the specifications and configuration of a vehicle already on its way to OZ you can be very lucky and have a vehicle within weeks or you can wait up to almost 12 months as several people who post on this site can attest, including myself. I was originally told our vehicle would be delivered sometime between August and October 2014, however we wouldn't be getting a reverse camera in the Tech Pack, as they wouldn't be available until 2015. Then in July 2014 we were told our vehicle wouldn't be delivered until 2015, at which point I demanded our vehicle be built in 2015 for reasons of depreciation. I innocently thought our vehicle would be built early in 2015, but no it was built on 24/2/15. It then has been delivered to the port in Belgium at the beginning of March only to "miss the boat". It has finally left the port in Belgium today and is due in Fremantle on 20/5, approximately 51 weeks after we ordered it.

So it definitely seems that when you get your vehicle is a bit of a crap shoot!

You may be lucky and experience a dealer who is diligent, is strongly customer focused and who works hard on your behalf, or you may have a dealer who doesn't appear to care and simply portrays the image that it is what it is and if you don't like it you can cancel your order. When I indicated back in October that was what I was thinking of doing I was offered the extended warranty for free.

I apologise for the lengthy post and it isn't intended to depress you or suggest that an Octavia isn't worth the wait, they certainly are. If there was a comparable car I would have walked but can't find anything that meets all our needs.

Just be forewarned you can be in for a lengthy wait.

OK this makes more sense now, couldn't figure how your time blew out to 12mths. If you make any change you slip to the bottom of the list. By requesting it be built in 2015 you lose your place in the queue and slip down to the end of the line. You are lucky they gave you the extended warranty as it seems you changed your mind a few times, the dealer wouldn't be obligated to do anything. In reality if I understand it right, your order was made in July as that is when they would have resubmitted a new one to make the build date. Early Feb build is pretty much as good as your could hope for with Xmas/NY breaks in there. I had the local dealer call up last week and any order placed now would arrive in Nov. He said that the factory upshift in RS hasn't had much effect as that was taking that into consideration. Everytime someone amends they order, effectively making a new order, the dealer gets to keep the original order so they aren't really fussed as it's the only way they get floor stock, or can turnaround a sale quicker.

[parisfrance]

OK this makes more sense now, couldn't figure how your time blew out to 12mths. If you make any change you slip to the bottom of the list. By requesting it be built in 2015 you lose your place in the queue and slip down to the end of the line. You are lucky they gave you the extended warranty as it seems you changed your mind a few times, the dealer wouldn't be obligated to do anything. In reality if I understand it right, your order was made in July as that is when they would have resubmitted a new one to make the build date. Early Feb build is pretty much as good as your could hope for with Xmas/NY breaks in there. I had the local dealer call up last week and any order placed now would arrive in Nov. He said that the factory upshift in RS hasn't had much effect as that was taking that into consideration. Everytime someone amends they order, effectively making a new order, the dealer gets to keep the original order so they aren't really fussed as it's the only way they get floor stock, or can turnaround a sale quicker.

Thanks for explaining why our order has taken so long. It would have been nice if the dealer had explained the situation to us. We haven't been in a hurry to get the new vehicle, although I have had a new buyer for the existing car and he is now in Europe for several months so it means I have had to keep licensing it for 3 month intervals which is a bit of a nuisance.

It is really about expectations! To originally be told in May that the vehicle would be arriving between August-October, which I assumed meant it would be November at the worst and then in July to be told it would in 2015; note at this time we had made no change to our original order. It was only in July upon being given that news we changed the colour from Candy White to Black Magic and the dealer added the RVC. Then we received a call from the dealer in October advising of the availability of the Comfort Pack, which we immediately added to the order.

If the dealer had advised us at that time that this change would delay our order we would have been prepared. Instead we optimistically thought we would have the vehicle by Easter 2015 and had planned a nice road trip.

Dealers do themselves no favour by not being upfront with their customers. At no point has the dealer ever explained that any changes would delay our order, in fact she had indicated in October that the order was in a hold status and hadn't been given a manufacturing date.

At least it is now on the boat and heading for South Africa.

[woofy]

Dealers don't know what is going on a lot of the time unfortunately. It's there that Skoda OZ HQ could step up and help them, but seem to be either non existent or hanging onto the coattails of the senior VAG Oz people hoping for a promotion. There is apparently a time period where the specs can be altered, but it seems it isn't always true or the dealers don't understand how to do it as most times it pushes it into a new order. I've been debating whether I would be better off having the car arrive early next yr, and then of course it will come even later and by the time they actually get here, the MY17 orders have started. I think the best option is to get a late year build and have it arrive early in the year. If there were shorted delivery times, it wouldn't be so bad, ie Mazda build and deliver in around 3mths. But when you have 6-7mths time lapse it's hard to get things to align properly. If you want build date and compliance in teh same year you are looking at a July-Dec delivered car, but by then the next MY is already well and truly on the way making yours lose value already.