Clubsport order thread

[SRGTD]

I popped in to a dealer last weekend and was told 12-13 month wait for a new Clubsport. One dealer offered 1% off, the other 0.5%

Drive the Deal are currently offering a circa 13% discount (includes VWFS deposit contribution). No idea of the lead time if ordering through DtD but presumably similar to ordering direct from a VW dealer as DtD are merely acting as an introducing broker who’ll put you in touch with the dealer.   

DtD’s website does state ‘Quotes and offers are for cars ordered between 1st December 2021 – 31st March 2022 and delivered by 30th September 2022’, so based on the indicated 12-13 month dealer lead time, delivery by 30/09/2022 seems unlikely. Whether that means the discount won’t be honoured, who knows……….

[WelshGolf]

I wonder what this is going to do for residual values in 3 years time when most people will be trading in for a new car. Buying now with almost 0% from a dealer sound like a nightmare in 3 years. Or on the flip side because there have been so few produced, in 3 years time there will be very little on the market second hand and vaules will be good 

[Carl_45]

I have an interesting question about the lead times…

Are manufacturers such as VW, producing cars now at the past rates but have a large back order they can’t catch up with, or, are the producing less cars slower?

The later explains the price increases and fewer discounts available.

[SRGTD]

I have an interesting question about the lead times…

Are manufacturers such as VW, producing cars now at the past rates but have a large back order they can’t catch up with, or, are the producing less cars slower?

The later explains the price increases and fewer discounts available.

I suspect it’s the latter, influenced by factors such as limited supplies of semiconductors and temporary reductions in workforce caused by the Omicron Covid variant. There are probably large stocks of part built cars in storage facilities too (completed apart from missing the vital semiconductors), which will need to be moved back in to the factory to be completed once semiconductor supplies improve.

Also, I suspect that priority is being given to building electric vehicles, as a higher proportion of zero emissions vehicles built and sold as percentage of total sales will mean lower emissions-based fines for VW.

[WelshGolf]

If they are part building cars and letting them sit while waiting for parts, what are the chances of getting a new car that is effectively almost a year old as it's been sitting there waiting? Potential for it having old hardware in it as well?

[SRGTD]

If they are part building cars and letting them sit while waiting for parts, what are the chances of getting a new car that is effectively almost a year old as it's been sitting there waiting? Potential for it having old hardware in it as well?

I’ve read that some manufacturers are doing this, and some are building cars with reduced spec, removing some of the semiconductor-dependant items. Maybe VW aren’t one of those manufacturers though.

[fredgroves]

Its all of the things causing a problem.... orders backing up and component shortages.

And VW seem to be handling it very badly indeed.

TBH most of the problem comes from how the car industry works - they "just in timed" it to the Nth degree and massively shat on their suppliers. When they suddenly pulled the plug due to covid and stopped ordering their suppliers finally had enough and sought better deals with customers, drying up the supply to car makers.

[JRR1988]

It’s not only VW that are handling it badly but Arnold Clark too. They seem to be getting sh!ty with me for asking for updates (once a month) and the only reason I ask is because they don’t contact me. And it usually takes 2 or 3 emails to get a response.

Every time I contact them they tell me it will be delivered (to the dealer) next month. The last time I contacted them at the start of December they said delivery would be “early to mid January” and I responded saying “are you sure as you tell me that every month” and they replied saying “yes”. They’ve obviously never heard of managing expectations and consistently over promise and under deliver then get annoyed at me.

Considering my company has ordered 30-50 cars of them in the past year they really don’t seem to care.

[SRGTD]

It’s not only VW that are handling it badly but Arnold Clark too. They seem to be getting sh!ty with me for asking for updates (once a month) and the only reason I ask is because they don’t contact me. And it usually takes 2 or 3 emails to get a response.

Every time I contact them they tell me it will be delivered (to the dealer) next month. The last time I contacted them at the start of December they said delivery would be “early to mid January” and I responded saying “are you sure as you tell me that every month” and they replied saying “yes”. They’ve obviously never heard of managing expectations and consistently over promise and under deliver then get annoyed at me.

Considering my company has ordered 30-50 cars of them in the past year they really don’t seem to care.

Arnold Clark (AC) get generally poor feedback on many forums. Presumably your car has been built if you’ve been told delivery is imminent.

If I were to give AC the benefit of the doubt, I’d say that delivery of your car to the dealership could have been impacted by potential delivery driver shortages by the haulage companies used by VW to transport new vehicles to dealerships, or by delivery drivers self isolating due to Covid. Agree that AC could manage the situation better and manage customer expectations by providing updates without customers having to prompt them.

Hopefully not too much longer to wait.

[JRR1988]

Yeah, I can’t say I’ve ever had a good experience with them to be honest. I don’t understand why manufacturers favour them so heavily in the U.K.