Hail Storm Causes

[VRStu]

Skoda's cars also come into Sheerness.

[mdk1]

Skoda's cars also come into Sheerness.

Have seen them there recently

[bahnstormer vrs]

Got told this morning my car is still at the docks in Holland, it might get onto a ship leaving Friday evening, but my dealer won't know this until it has been loaded. Dealer is being really good about keeping me updated BUT is hampered by lack of definitive info from Skoda UK. :thumbdwn:

I guess whether my car gets on the ship depends on how many damaged/repaired cars queue jump! :eek:

Double Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Been told this morning my Roomster is on tonight's ship; dealer expects to have it early next week for delivery Friday 1st August.

Yipheee

[S41NT]

So S41NT your missus is actually letting you out???? Or is she going with you lol?!?!?!?

Got a suprise on your car for you when it comes

Alowed out on my own:P, but i have to hold my brothers hand if i get scared:eek:.

Fancy coming down to santapod on the friday night or the saturday?

[Obadiah]

My 4x4 was built this week. I would like it before the Bank Holiday and my dealer says that he 'should be able to get it in 2 weeks'. Given the above do you think I should plan around that?

[S41NT]

My 4x4 was built this week. I would like it before the Bank Holiday and my dealer says that he 'should be able to get it in 2 weeks'. Given the above do you think I should plan around that?

Expect the unexpected...:confused:

[bahnstormer vrs]

My 4x4 was built this week. I would like it before the Bank Holiday and my dealer says that he 'should be able to get it in 2 weeks'. Given the above do you think I should plan around that?

Getting it within two weeks would be tight, even without the potential for delays being incurred at present.

Mr Roomster was built week of 23rd June, is on the ship at present and I expect to collect it this Friday. That's about 5-6 weeks build to delivery.

Draw your own conclusions.

[MD AF]

Think about this.....

Skoda dealer makes around £2000 profit per car.

Salesman gets commision selling car...

Dealer wants profit in bank...

Customer wants car...

There seems to be a myth from all car purchasers that dealers dont want to hand over cars to them but its far from true. They want you in the car MORE than you want it- they need the profit in the till!!! Why would they delay a car when they are making profit on it and only get that profit when the car is registered and on your drive?

Ordered a Sofa recently- takes longer to come than a car!!!

My 4x4 was built this week. I would like it before the Bank Holiday and my dealer says that he 'should be able to get it in 2 weeks'. Given the above do you think I should plan around that?

[rurwin]

As another example of the timescales:

My Octy was ordered 10th May, built June 9th and was on the docks by the 12th. From there it should have been with the dealer in two weeks. Then he has to do the paperwork and the pre-delivery inspection, for which he originally quoted me four days.

So three weeks from build, unless there are any delays. I believe the story from Skoda is that delivery times are back to normal, but that's not definite of course.

[woodenspatulas]

Think about this.....

Skoda dealer makes around £2000 profit per car.

i'd seriously love to know where you get that figure from!! :confused:

[blackspaven]

Has anyone got delivery of their 'storm damaged' car yet and if so, what's the paint/bodywork actually like?? I have visions of the odd off colour match where they've sprayed one panel as opposed to the whole car, even though i doubt that will actually happen: not worth it to Skoda!

[bahnstormer vrs]

So three weeks from build, unless there are any delays. I believe the story from Skoda is that delivery times are back to normal, but that's not definite of course.

Oh no they are not!

My car was built week 23rd June and I was initially told to expect delivery 19th - 26th July. Delays crept in and last Friday I was told "its on the ship" so expected delivery changed to 1st August and dealer kindly loaned me a Roomster to tide me over as I had sold my (wife's) other car.

Got a call from my dealer this morning "Sorry; car wasn't on Friday's ship and Skoda UK can't (won't) tell me which ship it will now be on. My car has now been sitting at the docks waiting for about month now, whist 'storm damaged' repaired/replaced cars, by all account, queue jump. Argh. :eek:

OK, I'm taking a relaxed view on the whole situation and my dealer has been fantastic; I'll get my car sooner or later and in the meantime my wife has a car to use. I feel sorry for my dealer as he must be 'getting it in the neck' from umpteen customers and there is precious little he can do about it.

On balance I feel that Skoda UK (and perhaps VW, Audi and SEAT as well) have made a BIG BIG mistake in apparently giving preferential treatment to those with storm damaged cars at the expense of all their other orders; rather than keeping the non storm damaged orders 'on-time' and just having a relatively few storm damaged orders running late; this would also be a lot easier to stage manage and organise. i.e. it would be better to have delivery of 50 cars 12 - 16 weeks late than (as it appears is happening) 500 cars 4 - 6 weeks late.

[rurwin]

I don't agree, but I'm sure you wouldn't expect me to It doesn't seem to be quite what happened either. My dealer was certainly taking delivery of cars built after the hail storm, some weeks ago. Damaged cars may be getting preferential access to delivery, but I think the main problem is just the disruption caused by having so many cars hanging around the port and then going back to the factory and obstructing ongoing production and transportation. There's just too many cars taking up resources. I don't imagine they ever plan to run trains, ships or transporter lorries half empty or idle half the time. Suddenly they have more cars to move, but the same resources to do it with. I imagine it was quite fun at the factory as well, with hundreds of cars coming back for repair, but only the same amount of people and workspace as is normally required for production.

There's a gotcha on the tracking screen - the Port of Exit Release field is positioned on the screen after the Arrived Port of Exit field, but is dated before the car leaves the factory - at least it is in my case. An inexperienced salesman could see that and assume it had been allocated a ship.

[MD AF]

Well like Ive said before...can anyone tell me the best possible price on the following car:

Skoda Octavia 2.0 TDi 170bhp VRs 5 door with free upgrade pack in corrida red

Whats the best OTR anyone can find for this car?

i'd seriously love to know where you get that figure from!! :confused:

[Dr Zoidberg]

i'd seriously love to know where you get that figure from!! :confused:

What's the margin at full list price? 8-9%?

On a mid spec octavia at £15k then that's £12-1300.

Add to that the bonuses that you get when you hit target and it's probably not too far wrong.

Clearly it will be less on a base Fabia but more on a high end Octavia or Superb.

[blackspaven]

Yeah, i'm with Rurwin, when your car is within grasping distance of the UK to have it snatched away by a freak storm, just having an extra 6 weeks+ waiting time while you go to the back of the queue is NOT a good thing to experience. Your view of it would be different if that was your experience, trust me! If I order my same spec car AFTER someone else, possibly by some considerable time, even weeks, to be honest i'd EXPECT my car to turn up after thiers out of courtesy otherwise you'd end up with people complaining about queue jumping and VAG would probably take a hammering over that. Bias aside, I think the way they've run it is probably the most logical way to do it to keep customers happy, especially the unfortunate, but possibly that doesn't take into account the me, me, me people. Shipping times are only a guideline though so it's all irrelevant.

However, I do think it'd be bad practice if there were ships waiting to go when the empty spaces COULD be taken up by cars which are ready as long as the ships can get back in reasonable time to collect the repaired ones without too much delay. That'd just be plain daft! But I assume that that isn't what's happened, so again a bit irrelevent.

I sold my car on the basis that up until the last second it was all going to plan and had been confirmed out the factory so it was a right pain in the ****. Luckily, Rainworth in Mansfield have been absolutely excellent and have given me a courtesy car until September(!) cos I live about 200 miles away and collection timing was a bit tricky so at least my previously damaged car will at least be a '58 plate instead of a very late '08. Bonus!!

[Obadiah]

Now getting suspicious about the claim that they can deliver mine mid August. Salesman knows I am away for two weeks, but he says that he cannot give me a reg no to get the insurance sorted until the car is in the country? Is this right?

[rurwin]

Yes. At least that's what I've been told all the way through too.

Relax. If they miss by a couple of weeks, you get a 58 plate

I think things are settling down, even if they're not back to normal. But even if they were normal, this is a long way from an exact science.

[blackspaven]

Obadiah, just get Skoda to pay for your insurance: Your dealer will have a number of a Skoda subsidiary (linked to Direct Line or some other insurance company) who'll give you the first weeks insurance completely free!

Saw a poster in my local dealer when I was testdriving and when I put the order in with the eventual dealer I went to, I asked about it and they said that they never get any requests for it (doesn't appear to be well advertised though). This surprised me as it means you can pick up your car on whatever day it's due and if there's any problems, you haven't shelled out for the insurance already, so if god forbid you don't accept the motor for some reason, you've not lost out while it's being sorted. Once you've got the car, drive it home and it gives you a week to shop around for policies, or just drive home and start your pre-arranged policy safe in the knowledge that you haven't paid insurance on a car you haven't even said yes to yet! I started it but got called away by a firecall (fireman by trade) so couldn't finish the details with the guy on the phone. I think to get the weeks freebie, you have to agree to getting a quote off this insurance company, and that's it! Since you're gonna be doing that with a new car anyway, didn't see the problem.

Bit long winded, but I hope that makes sense?

And, yes, i'm looking forward to my '58 plate now; it'll be registered September 1st just to pose!!

[bahnstormer vrs]

On balance Skoda UK are, in all probability, on a 'dammed if you do' and 'dammed if you don't' position; so they made a decision as to which way logistically they were going to work and are now sticking to it. Right or wrong.

I appreciate the arguments on both sides and do sympathise with those who have had their cars 'storm damaged'; but do feel that it would be better to have 50 upset customers rather than 500.

[VRStu]

They shouldn't give out a reg number until the car is at the dealership and the VIN can be cross checked, although some dealers will allow you to select one from a list and reserve it for you. You'll need to go in and sign a form, V5C I think, before they register it. Dealers do the registrations onsite now so there isn't really any delay and as above the Skoda Free Insurance scheme caters for these type of issues. You give them your normal details required by an insurance company and then they liase with the dealership, emailing the certificate immediately to them. I used it when I bought my car.

[MD AF]

We have had two arrive yesterday. Perfect cars.

SKoda wouldnt release them if they werent. It seems that all the Skoda dealers on here and Skoda Uk are getting a real slating due to a freak "act of god" causing some unprodicted damage to a few cars.

Imagine the fuss if they didnt bother and they read forums like this and all the amazing conspiricay theories about priority shipping, que jumping and dealers deliberatly with holding information and not actually wanting to give their customers their cars and thought, do you know what? lets just deliver these cars as they are to shut everyone up!!!

Cars get damaged every day- scratches, stone chips dents etc on route from factory to uk- after all they go on a train, a boat and about 5 transporters too before they even get to dealer, its just as this was published on the news everyone new about it.

Has anyone got delivery of their 'storm damaged' car yet and if so, what's the paint/bodywork actually like?? I have visions of the odd off colour match where they've sprayed one panel as opposed to the whole car, even though i doubt that will actually happen: not worth it to Skoda!

[Obadiah]

Blackspaven.VRStu Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to look at these. My real problem is that I bought the car from a guy who promised to keep me updated every 2 weeks, when I tried to contact him 2 1/2 weeks later, he had left. So the guy I am dealing with I have never met and he seems evasive!!

[blackspaven]

Yeah, Skoda have been mucho, mucho unlucy with that hail storm! I know it applies to other makes as well, but hopefully they won't do the same as Ford a few years ago when that sea water flood at their port caused rust issues a few years later. Big claim, big mistake. I don't think Skoda would keep topping all these opinion polls if the did so I'm happy mine'll be fine, just obviously got a bit of 'concerned parent syndrome' going on at the mo.

[blackspaven]

That and i've got a great dealer.