Agreed mitch and what makes it worst for Motability customers is we can’t even be sure a car has actually been ordered and with that the danger of the car being removed from the scheme unknown to the dealer and then the stuff coming off the fan when the order is cancelled but with no come back what so ever to the manufacturer or the dealer. As we are all aware our Motability accounts count for nothing other than an approval notice and not worth the few bytes its written on.
This is wrong.
You can very much make sure the car has been ordered, by pressing your salesman on it. And i know that for a fact, i inquired when we went to order our GTE, and we got an SMS with our order number while we were still driving home.
With that number you can then request a status update from the dealership, which tells you whether or not the order is with the factory.
Our factory order was placed less than 20 minutes after we signed and put the deposit for the optional extras down.
In this internet age it can’t be that difficult to create a customer accessible database online for us to check on our individual vehicle build dates, transportation, expected delivery date etc…with notes regarding any current delays and how long that’s likely to be for.
VAG did have a database for tracking orders, that got suspended at the beginning of the pandemic. Not entirely certain why that was, but yeah, pretty sure it’s possible.
What isn’t possible is somehow suggesting a timeframe in regards to how long a delay is going to be, nobody got clairvoyance. How’s VW (or any other manufacturer who produces parts in Ukraine) supposed to know how long the war is going to last, or how long it’ll take to set up new production routes (considering that other manufacturers are trying to do the same and compete)?
That’s never gonna happen, and in fact wouldn’t make sense either. I’d argue even that it’d lead to more annoyance, if you get estimates that are, inevitably, off constantly. @Ta152 can sing a song about that.
Reality is, you/customers have no business with a car manufacturer. You got business with your dealership. They’re responsible for ordering the car, they’re responsible for delivering your order, they’re responsible for the service. They have all the info, which you can request. Again, to suggest that a car manufacturer updates millions of customers, all over the world, constantly.. It’s just not gonna happen.
That all said, the comparison with online orders is apt. Car orders work exactly the same. You order your car, you get an order confirmation – then you wait, and once you get a confirmed build date, the dealership gets in contact and lets you know. If an online order gets delayed, you don’t get info either. When i ordered my last drone from DJI, it didn’t get dispatched for two weeks. In those two weeks, i didn’t get any updates either, nobody explained to me why it got delayed etc.
It’s entirely normal, just that the timeframes are longer for car orders – due to the fact that they have to be built first.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.