Sadly I think this is true of a lot of dealers. They seem to think that motability order build slots are just a way for them to get build slots in the system that can be swapped to a retail sale without any comeback from motability. It is a shame that motability don’t want to get involved with existing orders being swapped and just leave it to us to fight our corner with the dealer. In these instances we are always on the losing side as the dealers will blatantly lie to us and motability don’t really mind if the lead times change just as long as the order goes through eventually. We can take our business to another dealer but the dealer that swaps an order won’t care because he has his retail sale.
Ianfca we are both on the same wave length!
NosherN – I agree that it’s down to individual dealers. My recent experience with our X1 order was excellent. Ordered 31st March, took delivery 23rd July. Whilst dealers do make more from a private sale, Motability orders still make a significant difference to their earnings. £230 fee from Motability plus the order counts towards their dealership, group and manufacturer targets, which can be significant. My dealer offered me almost £1,000 discount off the AP and optional extras and still made a health profit on the transaction. I’m afraid that the long delays that are reported daily on this forum (from many different manufacturers) are almost always the exact same issue – the dealership took a Motability order whilst having no available build allocation slots. All sorts of excuses are given, but the problem is always the same.
Glos Guy – I totally accept that most dealers make there own commercial decisions and that your recent experience of sourcing your X1 was a stroke of luck given that your dealer had a build slot available. The point I made in my previous post was that dealers from most manufacturers do not need to discount their vehicles due to strong demand, and the fact that they can meet their quotas on the more lucrative retail sales realises that these sales will take priority over Motability sales, so their sales targets will be met without any input from Motatbility sales hence the reason why the experience of many Motability customers is similar to mine.
Historically, new car sales tend to drop off during the winter months which is why dealers are pushing Motability sales towards that period. However, the present car market will dictate that order books will continue to be healthy throughout this period and that Motability customers will likely be fobbed off again with excuses as to why their orders are being delayed time and time again.
@NosherN same happened to my order it got cancelled and I got new order number apparently they give what they call ghost numbers to put order in if the dealership doesn’t have any slots when a slot is available they cancel that and give you the correct number I ordered mine 6th April date I have at min is 25 th October week to be delivered I’m not holding breath but got everything crossed it stays that date
Shellie the ‘ghost order numbers’ you refer to are essentially the dealerships contractural sales targets with the manufacturer. Once a sale has been agreed the sale is entered into manufacturer order system which then reduces the sales target of that particular model. If the dealer manages to exceed its monthly sales target they will carry any additional sales of that model over into the following month. However, and this is my point, typically, if a dealer needs to sell five X1’s per month and they manage to sell six vehicles, if one of those six vehicles is a motability order which only provides a £230.00 fee when all the other retail sales orders provide £2-3,000.00 per car in profit and commission which sale do you think is going to be carried over to the following months quota? and if this scenario continues in the following 3, 4, 5 or 6 months you can see where I am coming from in relation as to why Motability sales are being deferred and delayed.
My niece ordered her X2 three weeks after my X1 and both are manufactured in the same facility, there is no feasible excuse why one vehicle derivative should take three months to manufacture and the other eight months. I hope this makes sense to you.