So, like many other people, my provisional build week has been pushed back. My question is, how has it been delayed so catastrophically?

I ordered on the 16th October 2013, and was quoted a 14-ish week lead time, with expected delivery at the end of January (order form shows est. delivery date 22nd January). 

Mid-January I popped into the dealer (Westover Skoda, if anyone's interested) to pick up a second-hand car with a friend. I enquired then whether anything had developed with my order, and was told 'ah, you're realistically looking at March sometime'. Slightly miffed, I took some consolation in the fact I'd definitely be getting it on a 14-plate, for all that's worth. 

Today, I phoned the dealer to see if anything else had developed, given that many people on here have been reporting that their provisional build weeks have been moving forward, and thought that maybe a provisional march build may have sneaked into a provisional late february. 

At this point, I was told, 'ah, provisional build week of, erm, 18...'

 

So: May.

Given that it takes roughly 3 weeks from build to delivery, that would give me roughly 7 months from order to delivery. This seems faintly ridiculous. I appreciate it's a popular car, but 7 months. Seriously?

For all the good it will do, I feel like I might phone SUK direct this week and have a rage little chat about a 14 week lead turning into a 30+ week lead, with nothing like an explanation from the dealer. 

Spec wise it's a candy white vrs estate with black pack, standard cruise control, canton, and columbus. As far as I'm aware these aren't massively problematic options, certainly compared to ACC and the panoramic roof.


*RANT OVER*

Oh dear, that's bad.

I was in Westover Skoda (presumably B'mouth?) on Saturday, test drove a vRS TDI Estate. I'm all for non-pushy sales but the guy clearly didn't want to sell me a car! He said it had a 22 week lead, which I wonder if he thought would put me off so didn't pursue the sale maybe?

I went to Heritage Skoda in Yeovil yesterday and SO much better... Going to order from there this weekend - they are suggesting 18-20 week lead time as of now.

 

My experience of buying VAG cars with long lead times is sadly as follows...

Dealers get a monthly allocation, so if you order with them in October and they have had a busy few weeks, you may find they don't place the order with the factory until even December for example. They of course won't tell you this and will just give you an estimated delivery based on ordering that day, or even pie in the sky.

Once they place the factory order you will get a far more realistic date, which in theory should only move forward as more similarly spec'd cars to yours hit the factory books and they fill the build weeks slots.

 

Its a dodgy practice but happens all the time, the way around it is to be aware of it and press them to show you the order status (with Audi at least you can ask to see confirmation of the ASSE Date which they can only get when placing the order with the factory).

 

I'm not saying this is what has happened for sure, but, given their vagueness and not wanting to sell me a car (because they possibly can't place any new orders for another few weeks) it sounds a bit suspect to me!

I was in Westover Skoda (presumably B'mouth?) on Saturday, test drove a vRS TDI Estate. I'm all for non-pushy sales but the guy clearly didn't want to sell me a car! He said it had a 22 week lead, which I wonder if he thought would put me off so didn't pursue the sale maybe?

I went to Heritage Skoda in Yeovil yesterday and SO much better... Going to order from there this weekend - they are suggesting 18-20 week lead time as of now.

 

My experience of buying VAG cars with long lead times is sadly as follows...

Dealers get a monthly allocation, so if you order with them in October and they have had a busy few weeks, you may find they don't place the order with the factory until even December for example. They of course won't tell you this and will just give you an estimated delivery based on ordering that day, or even pie in the sky.

Once they place the factory order you will get a far more realistic date, which in theory should only move forward as more similarly spec'd cars to yours hit the factory books and they fill the build weeks slots.

 

Its a dodgy practice but happens all the time, the way around it is to be aware of it and press them to show you the order status (with Audi at least you can ask to see confirmation of the ASSE Date which they can only get when placing the order with the factory).

 

I'm not saying this is what has happened for sure, but, given their vagueness and not wanting to sell me a car (because they possibly can't place any new orders for another few weeks) it sounds a bit suspect to me!

I was thinking it was a bit suspect myself. As you've said, a 22-week lead would mean an order placed to the factory early December. Doesn't make sense if dealers are still quoting 20-ish week lead times to find I'd be waiting 30 for mine.  

I intend to phone SUK this week to find out what the dickens is going on. Won't be screaming and shouting about it, because ultimately I don't NEED the car, but will not take no for an answer if they fail to provide me with the details I would like. 

If it turns out Westover have screwed me around, I shall have to be having words with them, and will take my three years free servicing elsewhere, and let another garage claim that back from SUK (Meadens springs to mind, or indeed Heritage, as you've found they're good). 

We shall see. Might be totally legit...

I don't see how it can be. I ordered the same car in November but with a few more options...including pano roof...and it's being built this week. Sounds like your order went in later than you thought?!

Within my (non-automotive) industry it is common practice to bump a sale into the following month if the current months targets have already been met or are impossible to meet. It should however only delay things by a max of one month and is usually only done for orders placed within the final few days of said month. I am not saying this happened to OP, but it is a possibility.

 

The other more likely scenarios are that some option or colour choice is on back-order, or factory slots have been reallocated to reduce overall delays. I still believe that Skoda have a big bowl full of numbered balls which are chosen randomly. If you are lucky you sneak through quickly, otherwise you get stuck at the bottom for eternity.

 

My car ordered during mid-October from Preston Motors who estimated 16-20 weeks for delivery. In December I was allocated a provisional BW 13, but was recently moved forward to a confirmed BW 6 (this week). Maybe someone else cancelled or maybe Skoda reallocated slots for Manual Race Blue VRS TSI Estates. Anyway, 16 weeks to build date and 19-20 weeks to actual delivery time means that Preston Motors initial estimate was pretty accurate for me. I know other Dealers were still quoting ~12 weeks at the time.

Edited 4 February, 201412 yr by Orville

The build slots are all based on the spec...

 

So for example, they will build a batch of RHD Estate with Pano Roof all at the same time so they can program the robots to repeat this body type over and over...

 

So if you happen to order and your spec falls into a batch whereby lets say a batch consists of 1000 vehicles, and you are vehicle number 997, then only 3 more orders and they will fix your BW pretty quickly after that.

If you are number 4 in a batch (as your batch type was just built last week) then you will be waiting ages for another 996 similar orders before they allocate you a BW.

I'll have to disagree there - robots (I program them for a living...in BIW) are designed to switch over from one car to the next.  These changeovers might invoke a pattern of build, but its usually per 10 or 20 vehicles - nothing when you have plants kicking out 40-50 units an hour.

 

What DOES cause problems is on the trim lines - certain features take over TAKT time, meaning that to claw back the "over cycle" time, lower spec vehicles get built between the high spec ones.  Depending on what it is, it might mean a 1 in 4 or worse scenario to achieve overall time over an hour or shift.  Certain models attract a cumulation of these over-cycle features meaning they might only be able to be built 1 in 10.  That means the higher the spec car, the longer it might get taken to get slotted into the build.

 

Add in the fact the more goodies on the car, the more chance of supplier delays kicking in as well (i.e. ACC)

The video of the Skoda factory build process shows Octavia (what's the plural or Octavia?) of different body formats and colours rolling along the production line. The robots must be able to jump from one directly to the other, so significantly longer than average delays must be determined by component shortages (or the lucky dip lottery).

Edited 4 February, 201412 yr by Orville

My comments are based on first hand experience talking to factory employees at Audi, but they said it is the same across the VAG group... I also admit my nice round number of 1000 is completely made up and the batches are potentially/likely smaller.

 

Maybe Skoda do it differently from VW/Audi/Seat? I'd be surprised though.

 

HOW they group the vehicle is anybodies guess though, again my example of RHD, Estate with Pano roof was just a guess.

 

I am yet to work out why the factory refuse to give answers on how they schedule the builds - maybe it is because it is lucky dip and they don't want to admit it!

Some production lines are multi-model and could well be tooled up for one model for 2 days a week and another for 3 days a week.  Given the apparent (I've not worked with VAG) "common" rollout with the MQB platform, anything is possible if it really is a true modular vehicle.

For sure the Audi A4/Q5 share a line in their China plant... But it looked from the pics as you say it was a day by day rotation as it was a row of Q5s in the ones I saw (with a banner above saying 'A4/Q5 Production Line').

So, following a phone call to Skoda UK customer services, they have elevated the situation for a case manager to look in to. The representative I spoke to didn't seem surprised by my tentative proposition of tomfoolery by Westover Skoda... 

I've been told to expect a phone call back from a case manager in two to three days.

Will see what comes of that.

FAO bichti, I used your order as an example (I hope you don't mind) to illustrate the fact that someone who has ordered later than me and who has ticked more option boxes is already having their car built, and yet I'm told mine won't be built until May.

Hi. Just joined this discussion. Quoted provisional wk12 last month. Monday went to dealer as my current Octy needs a service. Quoted wk21. But is coming down.

Email Sk Uk Monday & included the rumour that priority is given to cars ordered through dealers with smaller order books.

They Comfirmed my order was accepted 6 Nov. With a lead time of 20 wks. Can't confirm until week beforebuild. They ignored the "rumour" question. So assume it's true as not denied. Still I don't want it before April as I already have my 14 plate.

If it ain't built by now, it ain't making a 63 plate, 3 weeks shipping & PDI so, I think your 14 plate is safe.

 

Regards

T

BTW. I'm sure you meant to say March & not April.

Edited 6 February, 201412 yr by themanwithnoaim

Just got an email today from my dealer.... BW21! That means delivery late june!

I was first quoted BW4-6, then BW13 and now BW21. Thats 7 months from order to delivery.... I'm seriously thinking of taking another car, I mean another brand. 

Oops, sorry, yes I meant March although I am away part of that Month so the airport parking folk would be looking after it. Don't worry I usually note the mileage......

I have become quite addicted to Briskoda. Is there a cure once my car arrives. ...

So 13weeks from order, no contact from dealer apart from two that I instigated. Called SUK today to find their systems down, no call back as yet. Called dealer, all sales on phone or with customer, said they would call back, no call.

No sure if everyone gets the same piece of paper as my dealer gave me upon order that clearly states your sales rep will contact you every two weeks to give a status update! Clearly they haven't been. I wasn't too concerned initially as my pcp ends in May so wanted a 14plate but as supposed delivery gets closer I'm starting to rage!!!!

Yep, I phoned SUK to see if I could get a build week, and was told the order system is down ... they hope its fixed for Monday.

 

Best start giving those factory workers some well paid overtime

So, SUK phoned today. Firstly, Westover haven't done anything wrong in terms of submitting the order (was submitted on the day of order, and accepted by the factory on November 5th), so all is well there (although their communication has been woefully non-existent). 

Couldn't give any reason for the delay, but on reflection most people who I'm comparing my order to are getting diesels, whereas mine's petrol, so I'm putting it down to that...

Anyhow, my provisional has been moved from BW18 to BW11, so that's a big improvement.

I live in hope that it will be confirmed soon

My vRS will be 3yr old in June and I was thinking of an 'upgrade' to the MKIII but the increased price and horrendous build and delivery times are not making it very attractive. I've still to actually see a MK III vRS on the road or in the dealer. They only have a demonstrator estate vRS for £20K which doesn't even look like a vRS with the boggin silver plain wheels.

 

 

Could be change of marque I think.

Just got an email today from my dealer.... BW21! That means delivery late june!

I was first quoted BW4-6, then BW13 and now BW21. Thats 7 months from order to delivery.... I'm seriously thinking of taking another car, I mean another brand.

When did you order, I have BW21 with a Dec 30th petrol DSG VRS order.

Well then. 

Confirmed BW11. 

Excited doesn't even come close; even though I'm still a month away from collection