How much notice of vehicle arrival do you get?

[K1W1]

My RS has been on order since early August so the 3 month wait will be up in a couple of weeks. I understand that the three months is a bit arbitrary and "missing the boat" could add up to another month but what I would like to know is how much notice of an actual delivery date have people been getting?
With VAG's supposedly worlds best assembly process I would have thought that as a company they would know at any day exactly where any vehicle is in their system but I seem to be getting no response at all from my dealer for a vehicle that should by all reckoning be 3/4 of the way here on the boat by now.

[Graybags]

We were told that they can track the arrival.
I remember reading a post about a link where if you know the VIN you can check on a transport companys websight to track yourself. Ill see if I can fin it.
-Gt

[gregozedobe]

This thread might help :)

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newforum/upload/showthread.php?t=13989&highlight=vin

[aslsw]

So, this three month wait is real? I was just about to order one in August before getting a short-term job in Switzerland. I will be home at Christmas and then away for one more month, so I should put my order in when I'm home because it won't turn up until March anyway (when hopefully I will be back at my 'real' job and able to salary package).

Of course, all of this depends on the salary packaging company allowing me to set this up whilst I'm still on leave without pay.

[K1W1]

The three month wait is only if you order something that is not already in the country or on it's way to the country.
At the moment Skoda seem to be bringing in mainly base spec vehicles in any version. If you want any sort of option (say leather or Xenon lights on a vRS) then it's a factory order with the three month wait. I'm sure that over time that will change but at the moment they are selling to a relatively small market and this is one way of ensuring no excess stock therefore no fire sales therefore the brand holds it's value. Personally, as an almost owner I like this approach better than the Asian flood the market and slash and burn method.

[gregozedobe]

I'm not sure if it affects Oz factory orders or not, but over in the UK the Briskoda forum people have been whinging a lot recently about excessive delays in getting some Octys built at the factory. I'm not sure the reason for the delays, but it might have been supply problems for some components. So a factory order may be even longer than 3 months.

A switched-on Skoda salesperson may have more info about this issue, so if anyone finds out more info about what this means for Oz buyers, please post on here.

[woofy]

I don't think its just Skoda Aus Kiwi, VAG in general can be quite slow, and a lot of orders are built to order. Mazda do much the same unless what you have is in stock. From what I recall last year Skoda had extra stock as they were trying to launch a new brand, but now they are on the normal order cycle that the rest of the world gets. Obviously the more units they sell in Aus the more stock sitting around though. I was lucky, the colour I wanted with the sunroof I wanted was sitting there, I just scored front sensors as a bonus. I didn't really care either way if they were there or not, but didn't want to pay more for them, so didn't. At the time though all GPS fitted cars were still a factory order, as were the diesel RS.

[Sales @ Mentone Skoda]

I understand that the three months is a bit arbitrary and "missing the boat" could add up to another month but what I would like to know is how much notice of an actual delivery date have people been getting?
.

Hi Kiwi, speaking from experience the VW group world wide works on what is called a just in time system. The whole process is planned from the day a VIN No is allocated (around 4 weeks after the inital order is inputted to germany) so planned production day, shipping and tranpsort are all designated to the end user which is the dealer before the car has even been physically assembled.

We would normally know an approxiamte within 2-3 weeks accuracy after the car has been built. You need to ascertain with you dealer whether the car has been built and whether it is being shipped or still waiting for a ship. Even if their webbased system does not show this information (may occur occasionally) one phone call to head office logistics and about 5 minutes of their time should yield the answers you are after.


Good luck, i hope you get some good news

[davidh]

My Skoda order is coming up on 16 weeks from order, although I had specific options that would have been from factory. It arrived in Australia (Fremantle) almost 2 weeks ago, so I expect the keys by early next week. I tracked it by VIN through the Wallenius Wilhelmsen tracking system (https://att.2wglobal.com/gstattweb/ocean.do?method=getDefaultOceanQuickSearchPage).

[K1W1]

Thanks guys we are all under control now. I will be a slightly early Christmas present for me by the looks of things. :banana: