Finally on The Boat

[AusieOccy]

Ordered my VRS TDI Estate in May 2014 (6 months ago).  Finally had confirmation that it is now on a boat to Melbourne.  The only problem is that it does a world wide trip before it gets here.  It goes to Germany, Belgum, UK, France, Spain, Baltimore (USA), Savanah (USA), Panama Canal, Some small pacific Island, New Zealand and then finally Melbourne.  Then it takes two weeks before it clears customs and gets registered.  Looks like pick up will be Jan 2015 (8 Month wait).

 

Has anyone waited longer then this?.  I have been very patient.  In fact if I had not test driven a VRS, I would not have beleived they existed.  Have not seen any on the roads around Melbourne.  They all must be on the same boat I guess.

[vRSNZ]

Crazy, but funnily enough (not I guess if you're waiting) we are faced with similar lead times in NZ (surprised we get them before AUS with the shipping route - must be with Wilhemsen?) for customer orders.  I was advised if I ordered a particular spec back in September it wouldn't have been here until Feb/March.

 

There's not too many to be seen here in Auckland either... expect for the nearly identical one to mine around the corner at work!

[GTR27]

Mine will be almost 7 months. Ordered may 7, ship is docking tomorrow, two weeks after that I'll get it. Mine is a lowly ambition+. Our lead times are stupidly out of control. Make the UK one look good!

[john999boy]

It'll be worth the wait!

[kiwiboy]

My Race Blue 1.8 TSI 4x4 took one day short of six month's to arrive at the dealer in NZ - I ordered back in March and was quoted 5-6 months by the dealer so Skoda just scraped in.

 

 

It was a long wait but six weeks on I'm very happy.

 

 

I've only seen four other Octy 3's in New Plymouth.  A Race Blue Hatch plus three white VRS Estates.  Quite an exclusive club.

[hobbie2k]

I wonder if my Ambition+ is on that boat, too. As of Monday my car was waiting in Zeebrugge, but it has been there a couple weeks.

[hobbie2k]

I spend most of my day on the road for work and I've seen four mk3 Octavias in Adelaide. Also, mine was ordered Aug 1.

[dajoro]

Ordered mine the week they were released in Australia - 22 March .. boat finally docks this week .. woohoo

I do think the dealer messed up the order though.

Been browsing the forum since March .. can't wait to see if reality meets expectations [emoji1]

[AusieOccy]

Makes me feel a bit better that I am not the only one with long waiting times. I have been tracking the ship on Marinetraffic.com. Very slow progress. I have been told by many people that the wait will be worth it.

[Auric Goldfinger]

I've done some research and it's on a boat called the  " Titanic "

 

Hope you specked " auto wipers and wet weather tyres "  

[Gerrycan]

I've done some research and it's on a boat called the  " Titanic "

 

Hope you specked " auto wipers and wet weather tyres "  

A little more empathy for these poor long suffering unfortunates please.

 

I spend most of my day on the road for work and I've seen four mk3 Octavias in Adelaide. Also, mine was ordered Aug 1.

If you venture into the far Western suburbs you may see my candy white wagon.

Translation for the Brits, wagon=estate car

When my wife first went to Britain in the 80's she was confused why so many people were talking about cars they had got from 'deceased estates'.

Then again she was also confused when we went by Salisbury Hall and I said we should visit the Mosquito museum sometime. She had visions of tiny insects impaled and on display in glass cabinets . It was quite a few years before that was cleared up, makes you wonder why she still married me.

[Gerrycan]

I realise I have done it again... assuming that everyone knows what I am talking about. Mosquito museum referred to is for the WWII De Havilland Bomber

[hobbie2k]

I realise I have done it again... assuming that everyone knows what I am talking about. Mosquito museum referred to is for the WWII De Havilland Bomber

I knew what you meant about the Mosquito, but I'm quite a fan of warbirds so I should know. I used to volunteer at the fighter museum at Parafield until I got a job. Was working on an undercarriage door for their Corsair.

I do get to the west side sometimes. I was at Penfolds a couple times today, Urrbrae, Glenside. I'll keep an eye out. I did see a candy white wagon on Port rd in Thebarton a few months ago.

If you're ever in the northern suburb(though why would anyone go there) in a couple months, look out for my Moon White wagon.

[AusieOccy]

A little more empathy for these poor long suffering unfortunates please.

 

If you venture into the far Western suburbs you may see my candy white wagon.

Translation for the Brits, wagon=estate car

When my wife first went to Britain in the 80's she was confused why so many people were talking about cars they had got from 'deceased estates'.

Then again she was also confused when we went by Salisbury Hall and I said we should visit the Mosquito museum sometime. She had visions of tiny insects impaled and on display in glass cabinets . It was quite a few years before that was cleared up, makes you wonder why she still married me.

The Germans call there wagons a combi.  It does not look anything like a VW combi.

[hobbie2k]

Just got word that my car is on the Grand Ruby, enroute to Aus.

[AUSKOUT]

Just got word that my car is on the Grand Ruby, enroute to Aus.

 

Amuse yourself for the next few months tracking it progress around the world.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/details/ships/372399000

 

As of 3 minutes ago it was at;  Area: Celtic Sea   Latitude / Longitude: 48.99332° / -5.501°

 

Looks on the map as if it's leaving the English Channel, plenty of ships in that area.

 

Cheers, Rob

 

Edited 21 November, 2014 by AUSKOUT

[dajoro]

Well here is my saga .. mine arrived in Brisbane two weeks age (ordered in March).

Got a call on Monday from the adminisrator appointed as the dealer has gone into receivership .. arghhh

So my car is stuck on the dock ..or somewhere .. betwen VW/Skoda and the dealer and a bunch of lawyers and accountants :(

Lucky I am patient .. probably kiss good bye to my deposit though and the trade-in I locked in.

[hobbie2k]

That utterly sucks.

[GTR27]

Well here is my saga .. mine arrived in Brisbane two weeks age (ordered in March).

Got a call on Monday from the adminisrator appointed as the dealer has gone into receivership .. arghhh

So my car is stuck on the dock ..or somewhere .. betwen VW/Skoda and the dealer and a bunch of lawyers and accountants :(

Lucky I am patient .. probably kiss good bye to my deposit though and the trade-in I locked in.

 

Sounds like yours was on the same boat as mine (Carmen?), and at the same dealer! I have been in talks with Skoda about my car, and they told me my two options were wait for the new owner to take over the dealership (~2 weeks + backlog of cars) or cancel my contract, go to another dealer, negotiate a new contract for the car and Skoda will transfer the VIN number to be allocated to the dealer. I chose the latter, and Gold Coast Skoda (Speak to Rob he has been fantastic) now have a contract with me, for the car I originally ordered. If i'm a very lucky boy, I will pick up the car sat next week (6th Dec) but most likely it will be sometime the week after. For me, that will be 7 months, 1 week from order to delivery of what is the UK equivalent "SE spec" with a few options. Pretty miserable wait times for us poor folk in Australia.

 

At least I have light at the end of the tunnel, I was actually expecting to have the car sold out from under me, but skoda gave assurances that that couldnt happen.

[dajoro]

Well .. time to say goodbye ... 9 months wait .. dealer goes into administration .. so VW let me puckup the car from another dealer .. very excited .. BUT .. first dealer screwed up the spec and the car is not as I ordered it .. despite having emails that reconfirm the spec last May and a worthless signed contract with a bankcrupt dealer.

Goodbye Skoda .. Hello BMW M225i

Anyone in Queensland want number plate VRS001 .. as I have no use for it now :(

[Yogi-Bear]

Hello BMW M225i

 

Jeez... you really do get screwed over in Oz, don't you?  Over here, we get an M235i...  :p

[GTR27]

Well .. time to say goodbye ... 9 months wait .. dealer goes into administration .. so VW let me puckup the car from another dealer .. very excited .. BUT .. first dealer screwed up the spec and the car is not as I ordered it .. despite having emails that reconfirm the spec last May and a worthless signed contract with a bankcrupt dealer.

Goodbye Skoda .. Hello BMW M225i

Anyone in Queensland want number plate VRS001 .. as I have no use for it now :(

**** mate, that must be absolutely gutting! It's happened a few times to guys in oz (dealer screwing up the order). I was so relieved when mine came through perfect.

Who did the order? Was it Josh or someone else? Did you try and pick up through Brisbane prestige? I went to the gold coast because prestige are knobs. Gold coast were bloody awesome!

Haha, I looked at a beemer as well (3 series wagon) but it was more than double the price of the Octavia. We get screwed on prices for BMW/merc in oz.

31.5k aud vs 70-75k aud....(for a 328 wagon)

[hobbie2k]

Finally picking up my car on Tuesday. I stopped at the dealer today (Closed on Sunday), but could see a light coloured O3 estate with sunroof in the showroom with a cover on it. Pretty sure it's my car.

Close as makes no difference to 6 months...

[GTR27]

Finally picking up my car on Tuesday. I stopped at the dealer today (Closed on Sunday), but could see a light coloured O3 estate with sunroof in the showroom with a cover on it. Pretty sure it's my car.

Close as makes no difference to 6 months...

Great news! Hope everything is as expected and there are no bad surprises

[AusieOccy]

Got mine on the 19th of December after ordering May 19th.  Exactly 7 months.  Went to pick it up and waited 2 hours and was told I could not get it until the next day.  They had problems paring the keys (Kessy system). 

 

The thing that annoyed me was they previously told me what ship it was on and gave me a link to track it.  I tracked it for over a month and had the ship 5 days away from Melbourne when I get a call saying your car has arrived.  All that wasted time on the net seeing where the ship was.  I was glad though that it arrived early.  They could not explain why it was on a different ship.

 

Have done 2000K in it now and it was worth the wait.  Had a Holden VE Calais before and the VRS TDI Wagon is so much better.  Goes faster, handles better and great fuel economy.    Pitty I had a bad experience with the Skoda dealer.  I refuse to talk to them now.  Had a call from Skoda customer service to do a survey on my experience with Skoda.  I let them have it with both barrels.