T6.1 new order delays

[Blaster T6]

I am a new member who has found this thread useful so I thought I'd post my own experience, which may assist others.

Placed an order for a new 110 Highline SWB P/V with a few options at the start of November. I went through a third party broker due to the discount on offer and the lack of interest shown by my local main dealers in securing my business. I was quoted an expected delivery of Feb/March so I lined up a conversion company for the fit out and sat back planning where I would be taking the camper in spring! Started to get a bit concerned in January when the broker was being evasive about delivery dates, then I got the dreaded email from them at the start of Feb to advise that my order had been cancelled by VW. They did suggest I reorder through them on a third party basis, or via their VW dealer contact at a slightly higher costs, but the trust had been blown at that stage so I pulled out and went back to the drawing board.

An initial search to try to locate a stock vehicle to my spec proved a waste of time and anything close was ridiculously priced. Reading other comments on this thread about lead times for new vehicles running into autumn, I phoned around various dealers enquiring about price and likely delivery. One benefit I discovered was the dealer discounts on offer where a lot more substantial than in October, but some dealers were quoting August build. Others offered the chance to secure a vehicle quicker by amending an order which was already in the pipeline but the discounts quoted by going down this route were much reduced. I eventually found a helpful dealer who provided a decent quote and had spare allocation for March orders. Whilst he didn't underestimate the current delivery issues with Transporters and explained he could not give me projected lead time until the order was in the VW system, he was confident it would be less than 6 months. I placed my order with him at the end of Feb (ahead of the price increase) on the understanding that if the build week being quoted by VW was too far into the future I could cancel and get my deposit back .

To my surprise the dealer came back within a fortnight to confirm a provisional build week 15, and when I contacted VW direct to double check they quoted week 14 (4 weeks today). I know from the comments of others that this could change, but my conversion company are happy to be flexible and I'm optimistic that I will still be able to get behind the wheel and enjoy some miles exploring the UK before the summer is over.

My advice to other novice prospective T6.1 Transporter/Camper owners would be - shop around but always use a main dealer and check on their VW allocation as well as their price.

 

[Red Fox]

I've just cancelled my order with a 3rd party fleet dealer after reading other peoples experiences on here. Got my deposit back. Ordered on 28th September and they are not able to provide me with any information regarding my order. They say VW are blaming Brexit and they were expecting a no deal, which in turn meant there would be less orders from the UK. Who knows

I have managed to re-order with a VW dealer via autoebid. Slightly more expensive than what I was going to pay with the 3rd party, however, at least I know I my order is directly with a VW dealer so should have less issues even if it still takes a longer time than expected.

Just to give everyone an update on my situation. Re-ordered via VW dealer on 5th Feb 2021 after my debacle with 3rd party fleet dealer. After reading the posts on here regarding build/delivery dates I was fearing the worst. I asked Autoebid to request an update from the dealer on 25th Feb and was told the following:

"The dealer has confirmed your order is with VW. VW are reviewing orders across all UK dealers to allocate build schedules as they are struggling to meet demand. The dealer is hoping to have this information in the next 1-2 weeks and then will be in touch."

I emailed Autoebid again today as a week and a half has passed, to be honest I wasn't expecting anything positive. However, I got an email back confirming that my van has a current build date of week 14 with an estimated delivery in April!

I am shocked and happy to say the least.

For info, I have ordered a Kombi Highline T32 SWB 110PS with a few factory extras.

 

[VioletVW]

I just checked with Autoebid and I am not as lucky as you. There is no build slot allocated to my van as of yet. .

You had my hopes up for a minute as I ordered (second time around like you) on the 6th Feb.

 

[Scruffy]

@Blaster T6 are you UK based or other? I ask as you say a 110 T6, and if you are elsewhere you may not be suffering the lack of build allocations for the UK market.

 

[Dogs Dung]

Still waiting on build date dealer order last week Sept 2020, 150 Kombi Highline with few bits & pieces, Merc Vito might be purchased yet!!

 

[Ozi]

Mine is still at Emden according to VW chat yesterday.

However......

I did also get confirmation it was actually built on 26th Feb (week 8), which confirms it was built early. And bizarrely, means that is was actually built at the time of an earlier chat with with them on 26th Feb, when I tried to check if my unconfirmed week 9 slot had been confirmed - they couldn’t confirm week 9 and clearly also couldn’t see it was in build/built either. Their system seems to be at least a day or two behind.

They also confirmed yesterday, that mine arrived at Emden on 1st March and was released to shipping on 3rd March. So that gives a sense of timing for others. 5 calendar days from built to cleared for shipping at exit port.

Just need to get it onto a ship and to the dealer now. But given VW chat seem behind the curve on info being updated, its always possible that it’s not in Emden at all anymore and may have arrived in Sheerness on the last run at the weekend, or will be on the next run tonight - he says hopefully! Let’s see what this week brings.

So key points - VW May just surprise a few more people (which I’m sure will be welcome when the do) and VW chat aren’t getting bang up to date info on progress of builds.

 

[Blaster T6]

@Blaster T6 are you UK based or other? I ask as you say a 110 T6, and if you are elsewhere you may not be suffering the lack of build allocations for the UK market.

Hi Scruffy - Yes I am uk based - order was for T6.1 110 panel van - dealer said if I wanted a Kombi he had used all his allocation for the next 4 months - so I guess its model dependant and will varies between dealers

 

[auldal]

Just to recap-ordered beginning December with provisional delivery April 2021. T32 4motion 150Kombi. Dealer advised a week or so ago that delivery now slipped to Sept/Oct at earliest......so today I had an online chat with vw and was advised that still no build date and an error code was showing on the order. Very helpful chap told me he would find out what that meant and he came back and advised that it was on hold as the factory was waiting on a part or parts to be delivered. No idea what they were referring to. Advisor told me to check back in a couple of weeks——so I will.

 

[cetera]

The state of play in Ireland: I ordered a new T6.1 Panel Van 110 (with options) on the 12th of January and it arrived in Ireland today; the dealer will have it ready for collection next week. From order to port delivery, it took 8 weeks. Apparently, in Ireland, the dealers are really struggling with new Caddy orders from factory, but experiencing very few delays on the T6.1.

 

[Ticsmon]

I must of been one of the lucky ones because I reordered my t32 150 lwb Kombi with extras on the 5th of feb after a third party cancelled my order and the dealer has just told be it’s a confirmed week 12 build. So I should have it in May

 

[Scruffy]

@Ticsmon could I ask who you ordered with? as they clearly have space on their allocation. Myself and a few on here, who have been told not to expect delivery before Oct 21 at the earliest, have placed orders with dealerships who have either no allocations left, and yet are still taking orders, or have been unlucky in having all their orders pushed into the second half of the year.

I would like to bet if you walked into one of these dealerships tomorrow and placed an order, you wouldn't hear anything about the huge delays for at least a month.

 

[Woodman]

I can tell everyone on here one thing for certain, nothing on this ordering farce makes sense. !! I have written to VW customer care suggesting they come on here and see what is being discussed and even suggested they engage with the discussion to provide feedback on the comments. I have explained that I believe it is unprofessional that they keep amending dates with no single word of explanation to their customers. At one point I had week 5 and worst has been 18. If its a parts supply issue, don't accept that as the variance is so great. Told today w/c 19th April i.e. 16. But still only provisional. Ordered 22/9/20. When I get a confirmed build date I can see me instantly becomming Victor Meldrew!! I DON'T BELIEVE IT !!!

 

[Ticsmon]

@Scruffy i ordered from Vw Lancashire in Preston. The dealer sounded as surprised as me and had to double check when he saw it had a build date. The only explanation I have is that, the van I originally ordered last year through a third party was already given a build date and as I ordered the exact same van they’ve just used that van. Could be wrong and just got lucky. The dealer said he’d ordered vans in September that still don’t have build dates. I’ll only be uncrossing my fingers when I actually get the van

 

[Ozi]

To be honest, it’s all seems extremely random.....and frustrating, for some more than others.

It had crossed my mind as well, whether some of the original 3rd party orders were actually still in the system and being used to fill other orders. We’ll never know, and guess we just have to be thankful for those that get a result, and sympathise with those being messed about.

But @Woodman has hit the nail on the head in my view with VW - they just need to engage a bit more proactively and fess up to what ever the real issues are. People are generally more tolerant when they get a straight answer, even if it’s not the answer they wanted. The problem here is the shifting sand, mixed messages, and the random allocation and moving of built dates, some of which defy logic, or simply contradict previous updates.

 

[Kev the Rev]

Hi all you expectant Mums and Dad's waiting for the delivery of Vans. Been on live chat to enquire about an order and have been told that it's waiting to be accepted by the factory. Can anybody shed some light on this and possible time scale to build date. Stay safe

 

[Ozi]

That’s a question thats really tricky to answer @Kev the Rev as everyones experiences seem quite variable as above.

As far as I can tell, it can take anything from 2 weeks to a couple of months for the factory to accept the order. Doesn’t seem to be any logic to it. Once they do, it will sit on the books until they allocate a provisional build date, which nearer the time should then be confirmed. However, as you’ll see from other posts, there is a great deal of variation in whether those build dates stay the same or move, and how and when they get confirmed. Some come forward, some go back - why? No idea.

My own never got a confirmed build date at all and was actually built before the provisional build week. Others have had very different experiences. Conversely I know of some cases where a build date gets confirmed some weeks in advance. So, there doesn’t seem to be any consistency. The 199/204 engines have been delayed in some cases due to emissions standards changes, but again that isn’t a uniform picture.

One thing I have found though, is that the dealers info seems be be a bit more update to date that VW chat for some reason. Again that makes no sense, as you’d expect VW chat to be linked into the same systems, but take a look back in my earlier posts over the last week or so to see what I mean.

So basically the short answer on build dates is, its pretty random. Enjoy the magical VW mystery tour of anticipation like the rest of us!

 

[Woodman]

well @KevtheRev who knows the way that the random selection goes, bit like Darwin's theory of Evolution, your van is probably on the bloody ferry

 

[Randolph]

well @KevtheRev who knows the way that the random selection goes, bit like Darwin's theory of Evolution, your van is probably on the bloody ferry

My order on 25th November was allocated to build week 7 on the 6th of January.
I think it is dependable on parts for certain orders.

 

[Ozi]

Has it reached the UK yet @Randolph ?

 

[Randolph]

Has it reached the UK yet @Randolph ?

I haven’t heard anything since it was on its way to Ebden on 26th February @Ozi. Have you found out where your van is?