OK this is the situation.

Octavia vRS CR TDI - Maxidot, Reverse Sensors, Race Blue and C Control. - Price £16500

Thats what I ordered 5-6 weeks ago and had to wait until next week before I can pick it up as it had to be a factory order.

Got a phone call today saying that they're just found out that the car now comes with Jumbo Box, 18" Wheels, Rear Elec Windows & C Control as Skoda have made this standard on the car.

Woohoo I think.

Nope! The price has gone up £550 to pay for the extra's. As the dealer is making no money on it previously they say they cannot absorb the increase. This I can believe as the closest price I could find from 2 other dealers was £19k.

It appears these were not standard when I ordered but were when the car was built, which is why Skoda have fit them.

The dealer haven't done anything wrong in my mind as its Skoda that have decided that I'm having these, like it or not. Saying that, it's not what I ordered anymore! Its got options I didn't need or want to pay for.

I'm not cancelling the order as I'm not going to get this good price anymore, plus I need a car.

I've spoken to Skoda UK who believe its 'unusual' and that I shouldn't have to pay any extra (£550 in this case). They talking to the dealer now.

So who's at fault here? The dealer for not realising (I'm not the only one they're ringing today) or Skoda themselves for not saying 'we can't build this spec anymore' without putting this on it?

Either way I could end up paying more than I've ordered!

Edited 3 October, 200817 yr by ardandy

If you actually have a contract to purchase, stating a price, it's illegal to charge more.

The trouble is the car cannot be built to my spec anymore as these come as standard? Its impossible to the get the exact car I want if I were to cancel and order elsewhere.

You still have a contract to purchase. You will not and should not have to pay more. If Skoda have suddenly changed the spec and increased the price, they should be compensating dealers in this situation IMO.

Don't cancel your order, Skoda and the dealer have to sort this between themselves.

The jumbo pack was £550, but has been free for ages. Whilst its been free to the public, there was a charge in the order of £300 to dealers for the pack.

I reckon your dealer has knocked this £300 off as discount, and then been told by SUK that they won't build a car without it.

Maybe offer to go halves with them, would be a shame to lose the deal. In terms of resale etc to have the 18s/rear windows/dual zone will be crucial, as 99% of Octavia vRSs now have these options as they have been "free" for so long.

I'll be going ahead with the deal either way (hopefully they dont read this!) but its just not right IMO!

I feel like I'm been held hostage! Pay this extra or you cant have the car!

As Ken said, if you have a purchase contract that you have signed that states the price, they cannot charge you more. They are over a legal barrel. It's their own fault for taking all their margin away in the deal. Whoever ends up paying the extra, it won't be you

Who's the dealer?

I seem to remember that this is a purchase through a broker.

Fancy that.....

Doesn't matter if he's signed a bit of paper with the price stated on it?

Ah, Drive The Deal. So it will be a new one.

Ah, Drive The Deal. So it will be a new one.

All DtD do is point you at a dealer and take their cut after that the contract is between you and the dealer.

If you have a contract stating a price for supply of the car they can't go back on it, but they can just give you a full refund plus interest on the deposit paid and apologise as they can't meet your order.

£16500 @ 5% APR is £825 over a year, so they're standing to lose the order over about £412 anyway then.

As Ken said, if you have a purchase contract that you have signed that states the price, they cannot charge you more. They are over a legal barrel. It's their own fault for taking all their margin away in the deal. Whoever ends up paying the extra, it won't be you

but the car they are supplying isnt the car he ordered, so technically the only thing you could do is walk away from the deal. but as has been said thats a very very good price and your getting more for your money as the jumbo pack is worth nearly 900 quid.

its the only problem when dealers do skinny deals, they loose any margin normally allocated to swallow these things

I paid a £1000 deposit to the dealer themselves, not the broker.

And the contract presumably specifies make, model, trim, engine and colour, but doesn't directly state details like registration number or wheel size?

I'm with Ken. The order is for a standard vRS + X, Y and Z as options. If the manufacturer suddenly changes what "standard" is, that's not the customer's problem.

Yes, but as Mark says, if the customer doesn't want to pay, they can turn around and say "sorry we can't honour your order, heres your deposit back". The deal still looks extremely good value, and I'd be pushing for a partial payment towards the extras.

Yes, but as Mark says, if the customer doesn't want to pay, they can turn around and say "sorry we can't honour your order, heres your deposit back". The deal still looks extremely good value, and I'd be pushing for a partial payment towards the extras.

Indeed if your deposit plus interest is less than the loss they will make they won't sell you it and you won't get any more than that in court.

All you can do is let skoda deal with it and if skoda can't come to an arrangement offer them something like 1/3rd of the option price (so £550/3 in this case).

Indeed if your deposit plus interest is less than the loss they will make they won't sell you it and you won't get any more than that in court.

All you can do is let skoda deal with it and if skoda can't come to an arrangement offer them something like 1/3rd of the option price (so £550/3 in this case).

yeah but by the sounds of things theyve done a deal with no margin so they simply cant pay anything towards the cost. its better for them to just say heres your deposit back and he'd have to wait another 12 weeks for a delivery.

the dealer isnt the issue here, nor imoa is skoda. the problem is brokers offering these deals in the first place making sure dealers have to follow suit. they end up with no margin to cover these things and therefore have to off load it to the customer.

i think the choices are simple go for it and be pleased you still got the best deal and enjoy your car. or kick up a fuss and watch them give you back your deposit. it wouldnt be a problem if they had margin to use, but whos gonna want to sell a car and loose money!

I've got more info now.

Basically whats happened is that the free options ('big pack') were been marketed through Skoda dealers as a 'free upgrade'. What they were'nt telling people is that if you didn't want the free upgrade you get a £300 (I think) discount. Dealers would prefer you to go for the upgrade as they'd earn more! This is a deal concocted by their marketing dep in the UK, not a Skoda offer.

I'd bought mine knowing this and got my car cheaper.

What the dealer didn't realise is that the factory had effectively amended all orders placed by adding these options on for every car, thus removing any £300 discount offered to the dealers by the marketing department!

The dealers have got caught short and are now moving the loss onto me for options I didn't want!

Skoda UK are on the case, been speaking to a guy who's from Keighley as well so we're on a good footing already! Let's see what happens!

yeah but by the sounds of things theyve done a deal with no margin so they simply cant pay anything towards the cost. its better for them to just say heres your deposit back and he'd have to wait another 12 weeks for a delivery.

the dealer isnt the issue here, nor imoa is skoda. the problem is brokers offering these deals in the first place making sure dealers have to follow suit. they end up with no margin to cover these things and therefore have to off load it to the customer.

i think the choices are simple go for it and be pleased you still got the best deal and enjoy your car. or kick up a fuss and watch them give you back your deposit. it wouldnt be a problem if they had margin to use, but whos gonna want to sell a car and loose money!

Sorry but rubbish.

If the dealer couldn't supply the car for that cost it shouldn't have made the offer to supply at that price to dtd.

All dtd was point a customer at a dealer and let the dealer and customer hammer out the deal, albeit assisting via the website.

You can't blame the broker as the dealer offered it at that price. You should always put an amount into your "best" price to cover for the loss and this £300 looks like it was quite predictable. They could have stated £500 more than they did and probably still got the sales.

As for the who will lose money on it, well that depends.

If you have to give your client back their deposit plus interest and then have a registered car sitting on the forecourt losing money every week you might decide to take the smaller hit.

It isn't the customers fault for searching for the best price, it what everyone would do. It isn't Dtd's fault as they are just searching for good prices same as a supermarket does for their customers.

At the end of the day if the dealer can't supply it then they shouldn't have offered it.

If they have to give they guy his deposit back that's all well and fine, but then they will no doubt do their reputation no good.

I've got more info now.

Basically whats happened is that the free options ('big pack') were been marketed through Skoda dealers as a 'free upgrade'. What they were'nt telling people is that if you didn't want the free upgrade you get a £300 (I think) discount. Dealers would prefer you to go for the upgrade as they'd earn more! This is a deal concocted by their marketing dep in the UK, not a Skoda offer.

I'd bought mine knowing this and got my car cheaper.

What the dealer didn't realise is that the factory had effectively amended all orders placed by adding these options on for every car, thus removing any £300 discount offered to the dealers by the marketing department!

The dealers have got caught short and are now moving the loss onto me for options I didn't want!

Skoda UK are on the case, been speaking to a guy who's from Keighley as well so we're on a good footing already! Let's see what happens!

Isn't this exactly what I wrote in my first post in this thread?? :P

Isn't this exactly what I wrote in my first post in this thread?? :P

Maybe!