Anyone else waiting for the delivery of a VW?

jaybeetoo

I was supposed to take delivery of a new Polo in March.  The car has been built (probably in January) and has been sitting on a dockside somewhere in Europe for a few months waiting for a car transporter ship to bring it to the UK. VW can’t give me a delivery date.  I suspect the car is slowly deteriorating in the salt air.

I’m thinking the car will no longer be new by the time it gets to me and it could have long term problems with the brakes, suspension, battery, aircon, tyres and engine to name a few.

Is anyone else in the same position (I was going to say the same boat 😂) waiting for the delivery of a VW that’s been built but can’t be transported to the UK?  Am I being fed excuses by VW or are there genuine transport problems?

Grey_Critic

Just how long do you think cars/vans/trucks sit around in compounds? Back in the day Ford got rid of the Granada and replaced it with. I think the Scorpio - For warranty purposes we had a link to Fords and whenever a vehicle came into the workshop we downloaded the vehicle details. I often found that vehicles had sat in a compound somewhere for 2/3 years depending on specification. I have no doubt that the same applied with other makes/models.

jaybeetoo

If it was in a normal compound in the middle of England I wouldn’t have such an issue.  It’s because it’s being kept in a salty environment where it’s been subject to lots of short journeys that concerns me.  The first ship it was put on broke down and it had to be towed back to port where my car was unloaded and has been sat waiting for another ship.

I expect the battery is flat and the brakes are rusty.  The engine will have been started multiple times without the engine warming up.  The tyres will probably have flat spots.

The motor industry is in a mess.  There are long waiting lists for new cars and when they can produce cars they can’t deliver them.  I’ve been told that when my car eventually gets to the UK it could be sat at the docks for weeks because of a shortage of UK delivery drivers.

Herzlos

Cars can sit around for years before being registered, there shouldn't be an issue there. It'll have a pre-delivery inspection before you pick it up and the warranty will start from the registration date.

Brexit has made travelling to the UK no longer worthwhile for truck drivers - 2+ days of waiting at each end to deliver something just doesn't make sense. Most EU trucking companies won't force drivers to take on UK loads.

I don't know if the car needs to already be in the UK to be registered, but you can always ask if they can send your car to a VW dealer in France, fly over and drive it home. You'll get to wait at customs for a while but not as long as a queue of trucks.

daveyjp

Something must be seriously awry with car transportation if a car which has been sold has been on a dockside for 4 months.

It's a few years since I bought a new Audi, but it left the production line and was in the showroom for pick up three days later having crossed Germany, loaded onto a ferry and delivered to the dealership.

Car_54

jaybeetoo said:

If it was in a normal compound in the middle of England I wouldn’t have such an issue.  It’s because it’s being kept in a salty environment where it’s been subject to lots of short journeys that concerns me. 

Apart from anything else, a quayside in Spain is probably drier than a compound in the middle of England.