Ordered brand me car... missed delivery date... am I being lied to?

SG27

*subject should say brand NEW car*


I order a new car in December from the dealership Glyn Hopkins. I was given an estimated date of 2nd or 3rd week in January. At the end of the December the salesman confirmed the car was in Southampton. I heard nothing more until I called Tuesday for an update. He told the car was due in Wednesday and when I asked if I could collect this weekend he said "erm... I cant see why not..." (bit of a funny way to say it I thought?)

He then emailed me a registration form to sign and ask for the balance of the money. Which I paid Wednesday morning along with an email asking for confirmation money recieved.

Heard nothing Wednesday (turns out he was off, fair enough) Thursday morning I got an email from him saying "money recieved Ill keep you updated on your car" which I took to mean he would be in touch to arrange for me to collect at the weekend.

Heard nothing for the rest of the day or Friday morning. So I called in the afternoon and left him a message asking if all will still ok to collect this weekend. He called back a couple of hours later and I missed the call. He left a message saying the delivery had been delayed the car wasnt even in yet and is still in Southampton but "dont worry there is nothing wrong with your car" odd thing to say I thought? He waffled on a bit (as he does) basically saying he will update me when he gets an update from them.

So I called back and he couldnt tell me a reason for the delay. He couldn't tell me when delivery would now be but half mentioned " end of next week" he claimed he had spoken to them on the phone that day but couldn't tell me what they actually said to him. He then said there was a recall on the engine which needed to be fixed before handover, but that this would be done straight away and wouldnt delay it.

This all seems a bit far fetched to me. Surely he would have know by Tuesday afternoon the car would be delayed? This makes sense as why he was so vague about it and about me collecting this weekend. Surely the car couldnt have been sitting in Southampton since December 27th? This be costing a fortune in storage? Or is it normal?

My cynical mind is telling me it was damaged in transit and now they are trying to rush a repair through at the last minute? How can he not have a reason for the delay despite having spoke to them earlier that day, and still have no delivery date. I'll ring again Monday to probe further but I just feel like I'm being lied to?

Lorian

Tried asking Nissan customer service where it is?

https://www.nissan.co.uk/customer-service/contact-us.html

Assuming its a Nissan :-)

AdrianC

SG27 wrote: »

Surely the car couldnt have been sitting in Southampton since December 27th? This be costing a fortune in storage? Or is it normal?

All the car companies have vast import yards at the ports they use. Thousands of cars can be kept there, and there's zero marginal cost.


Has it been damaged in transit? Perhaps. It's not uncommon. I've seen estimates that around a third of new cars have had some remedial bodywork before delivery. Would that be grounds to reject the car? No. Should the salesman be honest? Yes. Might he be as much in the dark as you? Eminently possible.

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

All the car companies have vast import yards at the ports they use. Thousands of cars can be kept there, and there's zero marginal cost.


Has it been damaged in transit? Perhaps. It's not uncommon. I've seen estimates that around a third of new cars have had some remedial bodywork before delivery. Would that be grounds to reject the car? No. Should the salesman be honest? Yes. Might he be as much in the dark as you? Eminently possible.

Equally likely the car has been in Southampton awaiting distribution out the direction of the O/P's dealer. They may be waiting for a full transporter load before moving vehicles.

Worth finding out exactly where the car is right now and why, but i wouldnt assume its been damaged.

sheramber

When we bought one new car we were told it was in the country but waiting for a full transporter load of cars to come up to the dealer.

[Deleted User]

TBH I wouldn't pay the balance until I can see the car but I'm not sure how it works at these stealers as I've never bought a brand new car before.

DUTR

Deleted_User wrote: »

TBH I wouldn't pay the balance until I can see the car but I'm not sure how it works at these stealers as I've never bought a brand new car before.

I didn't pay the balance until collection, TWICE.
Plus I could see the car before the collection date PLUS, I had a code to track the progress of the order from order to build delivery etc.
Ordered in December for collection in January seems somewhat quick, unless of course it was just a vanilla model no options .

tacpot12

I suspect you won't find out if you were being lied to unless you get lucky, but so what; what dealer promise you they won't lie when they sell you a car? I would stop worrying and wait until your the dealer calls you with an update.

If time was important to you, you would have specified that time was of the essence when you signed the contract to purchase the car.

SG27

tacpot12 wrote: »

I suspect you won't find out if you were being lied to unless you get lucky, but so what; what dealer promise you they won't lie when they sell you a car? I would stop worrying and wait until your the dealer calls you with an update.

If time was important to you, you would have specified that time was of the essence when you signed the contract to purchase the car.

This car was sold to me as being available earlier, I can't remember the reason he stated, but he said he had one available in January if not it would be March/April. I originally asked for a 19 plate anyway as I knew it would take a while.so time is not of the essence as such but if they delay more than a few more weeks I would have being better off waiting for the 19 plate rather than the 68.

Plus I'm annoyed he requested the balance before the car was at the dealership and IMO he knew it wouldn't be there for some time...

SG27

If this does escalate, what right do I have to cancel? If for example the car isn't available for another month and therefore I would rather wait and order a 19 plate.

John_G_Jones

SG27 wrote: »

If this does escalate, what right do I have to cancel? If for example the car isn't available for another month and therefore I would rather wait and order a 19 plate.

Don’t start worrying about that yet, tell them to get it to you by next Saturday as you need it, and ask them to lend you one of their demonstrators in the interim.

If they say no then ask them to process a refund.