Told New Car Delayed for 3/4 months

teally

Hi,

I ordered a new car from Audi at the beginning of December with an Estimated Delivery Date of 31st March 2011. Back in Feb I received an email saying the order had been accepted and they would get back to me with a build date. After a few weeks that hadn't happened so I contacted the dealer to be told there was a shortage of the alloy wheels for the car and this had caused a delay. Last week I received a letter to say that a build date had been given for "sometime in June". As this approximate build date was 3 months after I had expected the car to be delivered I emailed the dealer expressing my annoyance that the delay was so long and that I hadn't been kept informed about the progress of the order. Basically I was told there was nothing I or they could do about it as there was a shortage of the engines for the model ordered and was offered an apology. The T&C's state that the deposit will be refunded only if the delay is more than 28 days from the estimated delivery date and if the delay was down to the dealership. Not that I want the deposit back as I want the car ordered but I don't want to have to wait that long for it. Is there anything I can ask for the dealer to do in the meantime?

geo555

Unfortunatly this is a knock on from the recession. Lots of factories suppling parts to all the big motor manufacturers reduced production and some even closed down. Now things are picking up, especially in far eastern markets, there is a shortage of components.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Not only that but a lot of manufacturers are gearing sales towards Europe rather then us as they are shifting more there then here so this also causes a delay.. Was something in the motoring forum about this not so long ago.

PZH

Also, more and more Audis are being sold as company cars.

I got my company car (Audi) last April and there was a big delay even back then.

teally

Yeah I realise there is a delay on new cars being manufactured in general and I understand the reasoning behind it but should the dealer give a date that is woefully underestimated as they have? Should they be allowed to come back to you with such a delay and get away with it? I'm not going to cancel the order as I'd be back at square one but this delay does have knock on effects with the insurance among other things.

PZH

You were supplied with an "estimate" date first and this would probably be based on the latest information they had.

Once ordered, the factory would then have supplied an actual "build" date and this has been passed on to you by the dealer.

The trouble is - the "build" date really does depend on numerous factors (orders received by the factory, parts availabilty, etc..) and has therefore differed greatly from the estimate.

Hintza

They make more money selling cars almost everywhere else so in the UK we are at the bottom of the pile and build for cars here are fitted in as and when. Buyers here should really insist on a delivery date that suits them being incororated into the contract and nt some airy fairy date in the future. VW did the same to me about 5 years ago.

anotherbaldrick

Bet is was an order for a diesel ! Audi, VW, Skoda, Seat group have all got big problems on supply of diesel engines due to problems in their manufacturing chain at the moment.

Flyboy152

teally wrote: »

Yeah I realise there is a delay on new cars being manufactured in general and I understand the reasoning behind it but should the dealer give a date that is woefully underestimated as they have? Should they be allowed to come back to you with such a delay and get away with it? I'm not going to cancel the order as I'd be back at square one but this delay does have knock on effects with the insurance among other things.

That is not the dealer's fault though. They can only give estimates from what the factory tell them. The estimate would have been the standard lead time at the point of ordering, but obviously things happend that affected the build date over Christmas.

There is little you can do at this stage, because the dealer can do nothing either. You could always cancel, get your deposit back and order a different car; but then you won't have the car you really want. The dealer is not getting anything out of it, because they don't get paid until you take delivery.

Flyboy152

phoodless wrote: »

You were supplied with an "estimate" date first and this would probably be based on the latest information they had.

Once ordered, the factory would then have supplied an actual "build" date and this has been passed on to you by the dealer.

The trouble is - the "build" date really does depend on numerous factors (orders received by the factory, parts availabilty, etc..) and has therefore differed greatly from the estimate.

Also, build dates are not established on order, but when the factory decide to build the car, for some models this can take some month to get a date for.