You need to make that call sometime!
I’ve gone for T30 SWB H/L Kombi 150 DSG, LEDs, electric tailgate and sliders, rear camera, heated and swivel seat, 80l tank. I think my van is causing the semiconductor shortage!
Finally got around to calling my dealer yesterday (JCB Van Centre, Ashford). I spoke to a guy called David Riley and I asked him to confirm (or deny!) the rumour that VW would not be honouring their price guarantee for any van that cannot be delivered before the end of March 2022.
I'm disappointed (but unsurprised) to have to tell you that he confirmed that was definitely the case. He waffled on about base price and options, but the up-shot was (I think) a 2.5% price increase across the board.
He told me that, initially, their dealership had intended to write to all affected customers, offering the option to progress on the basis of a price increase or to cancel (with full deposit refund). The dealership then changed their approach because they couldn't reliably determine which customers would be affected - especially as some vans were being delivered "out of the blue" (i.e. earlier than allocated build week or, in one case, without a build week having been allocated).
He said the dealership wanted to avoid the situation of a customer choosing to cancel, only for their van to be delivered before the end of March (a position I have sympathy with) and he reckoned that by early February they would be contacting all customers, as the probability of this happening would, by that point, be very low.
I also tried to engage him in a conversation regarding which options might be causing some builds to be delayed more than others (i.e. tow-bars, 4M, chips, etc), but he was totally non-comital. To be fair, I think he was as much in he dark as I am in this regard.
I will await for either the dreaded price increase call, or the happy days call telling me my van i arriving before any increase
and many others lining up to take over any cancelled orders.
