Dealer Experience

[dspuk]

After a month of so of investigation and realising the longer I waited the harder (and more expensive) it would be so decided last week to pull the trigger on a Cali.

With foreign travel becoming more and more complicated and on/off, and there being plenty of our fair Isle to investigate and take my road bike and boots, as well as the residuals from heaven - it all started to make sense.

Cheers to this forum for helping make my mind up on the plethora of options I've gone for especially on the 150 vs 204 debate (I went 204), the colour debate (I went 2 tone green) and the Alloys debate (I went 18 Palmerston, life too short for stock Alloys). Lots of other extras too, from sat nav to drivers aids to showers to wood floors - I decided in the end, with such a long lead time, to save a bit extra in the resulting time gap and get ALL the options I wanted. after all, a Cali is for life, not just for Xmas...

I thought it would be useful to give some feedback on the experience. Mixed to say the least.

For info I used to work for an OEM and know all the tips and tricks of dealers - from margins to volume discounts to manufacturer bonuses. I'm basically a nightmare - when I bought my Tiguan the chap just held his hands up, turned round the screen and let me pick the price.

I initially started my journey with Drive The Deal - who I have to say have been honest, forthright and up front all the way through. After getting a number of quotes from them, I finally went with them and are in the last throes of that process. I did though want to see if a "real" dealer could match them, a face I could place so to speak.

Here is a list of the experience - anonymised (everyone has a living to make, especially in these times), but happy to give any details on PM.

Central UK Dealer (Closest to me).
- Zero response. No replies to any mails at all.
North West Dealer (2 Sites).
- Site 1 - Zero discount. When queried, ignored. Site 2 - 4.5% discount. When queried, no response, ignored.
South Coast Dealer.
- A good conversation and tried hard to match DTD. They got close (8.7%) but the experience was what I would class as "old school". From "chats with the manager" on discount levels to adding extras for paint protection and gap insurance on the invoice without being asked to not honouring a 9% discount or price protection promise, I decided in the end to pass this one by. Dealers be dealers ‍
AutoeBid
- a straight off no fuss no messing 9% discount. I could have gone on with them but I ended up confused over the 99 quid payment option and could not be bothered with the mental unpacking needed to find out why or how. For the work Jim had done at DTD I was happy to let them have the 100 quid difference in end price.

So - Drive the Deal it was - at 8.8%. After a week of faffing, calling and investigating, in the current market - 8.8 - 9 seems to be your best. If you get better I bow to you.

Q2 22 I'm told. March at best. I'll eat my hat if it's either.

Now - just have to sit back, have a lot of patience, and wait. I see the threads around delivery times, and I sympathise with the pain people are having - but TBH, you just have to sit back an let the scheduling gods do their thing. I used to code these systems - so my stress levels are not served by worrying about these things, they being far out of all of our control. Worry about things I can manage, not those I cant

DP

 

[66tim99]

when I bought my Tiguan the chap just held his hands up, turned round the screen and let me pick the price.

Great post. Particularly interested in this...like, why everyone wouldn't just pick the lowest price?
Glad I went with DtD then, as I followed a similar process as you in October. And I still don't have a confirmed build week. I've had 9 unconfirmed - the first being week 51 2020, the latest being week 35 2021.
I've seen Beaches and Coasts ordered this year, Feb even, being delivered, and Oceans ordered in Jan getting conformed build weeks. I guess there are some options having supply issues, and wish I'd had your zen wisdom earlier on, when the provisional weeks kept getting cancelled.
I know it'll come...but the frustration is the continued cancelled provisional weeks, the lack of information the dealer can give, and the fact that Californias ordered months after mine are now being delivered.
Anyway, great spec, and good luck with the wait. And...until you get a provisional week, you can amend your spec (but I'm sure you knew that).

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

After a month of so of investigation and realising the longer I waited the harder (and more expensive) it would be so decided last week to pull the trigger on a Cali.

With foreign travel becoming more and more complicated and on/off, and there being plenty of our fair Isle to investigate and take my road bike and boots, as well as the residuals from heaven - it all started to make sense.

Cheers to this forum for helping make my mind up on the plethora of options I've gone for especially on the 150 vs 204 debate (I went 204), the colour debate (I went 2 tone green) and the Alloys debate (I went 18 Palmerston, life too short for stock Alloys). Lots of other extras too, from sat nav to drivers aids to showers to wood floors - I decided in the end, with such a long lead time, to save a bit extra in the resulting time gap and get ALL the options I wanted. after all, a Cali is for life, not just for Xmas...

I thought it would be useful to give some feedback on the experience. Mixed to say the least.

For info I used to work for an OEM and know all the tips and tricks of dealers - from margins to volume discounts to manufacturer bonuses. I'm basically a nightmare - when I bought my Tiguan the chap just held his hands up, turned round the screen and let me pick the price.

I initially started my journey with Drive The Deal - who I have to say have been honest, forthright and up front all the way through. After getting a number of quotes from them, I finally went with them and are in the last throes of that process. I did though want to see if a "real" dealer could match them, a face I could place so to speak.

Here is a list of the experience - anonymised (everyone has a living to make, especially in these times), but happy to give any details on PM.

Central UK Dealer (Closest to me).
- Zero response. No replies to any mails at all.
North West Dealer (2 Sites).
- Site 1 - Zero discount. When queried, ignored. Site 2 - 4.5% discount. When queried, no response, ignored.
South Coast Dealer.
- A good conversation and tried hard to match DTD. They got close (8.7%) but the experience was what I would class as "old school". From "chats with the manager" on discount levels to adding extras for paint protection and gap insurance on the invoice without being asked to not honouring a 9% discount or price protection promise, I decided in the end to pass this one by. Dealers be dealers ‍
AutoeBid
- a straight off no fuss no messing 9% discount. I could have gone on with them but I ended up confused over the 99 quid payment option and could not be bothered with the mental unpacking needed to find out why or how. For the work Jim had done at DTD I was happy to let them have the 100 quid difference in end price.

So - Drive the Deal it was - at 8.8%. After a week of faffing, calling and investigating, in the current market - 8.8 - 9 seems to be your best. If you get better I bow to you.

Q2 22 I'm told. March at best. I'll eat my hat if it's either.

Now - just have to sit back, have a lot of patience, and wait. I see the threads around delivery times, and I sympathise with the pain people are having - but TBH, you just have to sit back an let the scheduling gods do their thing. I used to code these systems - so my stress levels are not served by worrying about these things, they being far out of all of our control. Worry about things I can manage, not those I cant

DP

Hi @dspuk
We also went with DtD and the experience was painless. I’m guessing you will be ‘allocated’ Eurovans in Crawley as the supplying dealership? We were, and again found them fine to deal with (Vic and Mike). Subsequent to taking ownership of our Cali, we have elected to use Citygate in Wooburn Green for warranty work/extras/servicing, as they are our closest van centre - again no complaints about them.

 

[dspuk]

Sounds about right - I was told "Gatwick area"...

 

[dspuk]

Hi @dspuk
We also went with DtD and the experience was painless. I’m guessing you will be ‘allocated’ Eurovans in Crawley as the supplying dealership? We were, and again found them fine to deal with (Vic and Mike). Subsequent to taking ownership of our Cali, we have elected to use Citygate in Wooburn Green for warranty work/extras/servicing, as they are our closest van centre - again no complaints about them.

Sounds about right - I was told "Gatwick area".

 

[dspuk]

Great post. Particularly interested in this...like, why everyone wouldn't just pick the lowest price?
Glad I went with DtD then, as I followed a similar process as you in October. And I still don't have a confirmed build week. I've had 9 unconfirmed - the first being week 51 2020, the latest being week 35 2021.
I've seen Beaches and Coasts ordered this year, Feb even, being delivered, and Oceans ordered in Jan getting conformed build weeks. I guess there are some options having supply issues, and wish I'd had your zen wisdom earlier on, when the provisional weeks kept getting cancelled.
I know it'll come...but the frustration is the continued cancelled provisional weeks, the lack of information the dealer can give, and the fact that Californias ordered months after mine are now being delivered.
Anyway, great spec, and good luck with the wait. And...until you get a provisional week, you can amend your spec (but I'm sure you knew that).

Agree on the lowest price part - I'm happy to be close if it's the right dealer - but not 4% off close....

In the end, after a sleep, I felt like I'd been taken for a bit of a mug by the dealer so even though it was close it was a no from me.

 

[Lizzibeth78]

Great post. Particularly interested in this...like, why everyone wouldn't just pick the lowest price?
Glad I went with DtD then, as I followed a similar process as you in October. And I still don't have a confirmed build week. I've had 9 unconfirmed - the first being week 51 2020, the latest being week 35 2021.
I've seen Beaches and Coasts ordered this year, Feb even, being delivered, and Oceans ordered in Jan getting conformed build weeks. I guess there are some options having supply issues, and wish I'd had your zen wisdom earlier on, when the provisional weeks kept getting cancelled.
I know it'll come...but the frustration is the continued cancelled provisional weeks, the lack of information the dealer can give, and the fact that Californias ordered months after mine are now being delivered.
Anyway, great spec, and good luck with the wait. And...until you get a provisional week, you can amend your spec (but I'm sure you knew that).

Have you checked recently about build week? I got an update at the end of last week. I‘m just thinking that yours might be a similar time, given that the sports pack seems to be the hold up.

 

[Perfectos]

dspuk,

nice write up.

congrats on the order.

can’t fault your homework.

my experience in 2018 with dealers were similar to yours, DTD were not offering Calis back in 2018.
I could not believe that most dealers were simply not interested to the point where phone calls and follow up emails were routinely ignored.

I configured a van with autoebid, who were excellent both on price and service. Not pushy, just professional. (As it should be).

However in a twist of fate I ended up buying a very high spec in stock Beach from a local dealer. (The dealer I put GG onto For servicing and warranty work)
we came to an acceptable deal very close to the Autoebid price (the in stock van had more options than the autoebid Configuration).

my point is that the money you saved looks better in your Bank than in a franchised dealers account, who will not / cannot compete with a broker (who are actually brokering via a franchised dealer).
If I was to do it all again, I would cut the dealer BS out of the equation totally and opt for the route you have chosen, (via your researched approach) purely just to cut out the BS that you as a potential customer have to endure via franchised dealers, only to be told that you are expected to pay more for the same product that you can buy in the open market via a broker.?
IMO many dealers add nothing to the experience in many cases and can turn a “VW“ sale into a sale for a competitor.

there seems to be a common misconception by many that by ordering a higher cost (less discount from list price) vehicle from a franchised dealer as you can get via a broker (the exact same vehicle) you are going to get some special treatment or other tangible benefit or even non tangible benefits such as a relationship with a dealer, where in reality you are paying a business to transact the provision of a vehicle for the exact same product but at a higher price.

the beauty is you are not tied to any one dealer for servicing once you have your van, so you are free to choose from the entire dealer network where you take your van for service / repair. (Build your relationship then )

Win Win in my book

see you on the roads

 

[dspuk]

dspuk,

nice write up.

congrats on the order.

can’t fault your homework.

my experience in 2018 with dealers were similar to yours, DTD were not offering Calis back in 2018.
I could not believe that most dealers were simply not interested to the point where phone calls and follow up emails were routinely ignored.

I configured a van with autoebid, who were excellent both on price and service. Not pushy, just professional. (As it should be).

However in a twist of fate I ended up buying a very high spec in stock Beach from a local dealer. (The dealer I put GG onto For servicing and warranty work)
we came to an acceptable deal very close to the Autoebid price (the in stock van had more options than the autoebid Configuration).

my point is that the money you saved looks better in your Bank than in a franchised dealers account, who will not / cannot compete with a broker (who are actually brokering via a franchised dealer).
If I was to do it all again, I would cut the dealer BS out of the equation totally and opt for the route you have chosen, (via your researched approach) purely just to cut out the BS that you as a potential customer have to endure via franchised dealers, only to be told that you are expected to pay more for the same product that you can buy in the open market via a broker.?
IMO many dealers add nothing to the experience in many cases and can turn a “VW“ sale into a sale for a competitor.

there seems to be a common misconception by many that by ordering a higher cost (less discount from list price) vehicle from a franchised dealer as you can get via a broker (the exact same vehicle) you are going to get some special treatment or other tangible benefit or even non tangible benefits such as a relationship with a dealer, where in reality you are paying a business to transact the provision of a vehicle for the exact same product but at a higher price.

the beauty is you are not tied to any one dealer for servicing once you have your van, so you are free to choose from the entire dealer network where you take your van for service / repair. (Build your relationship then )

Win Win in my book

see you on the roads

Spot on - you will only seem us out on the roads in a hire one until then, but with any luck, at the least, this time next year!

 

[Graham T]

We were really lucky and ordered when things were a bit mad but just before they went completely crazy (so I don't think it could be repeated now). Went through the same process as you and hovered over the 'order now' button with Autoebid, when something told me to try calling the one dealer I hadn't tried (maybe your North West dealer?). They agreed to match our quote and actually, marginally beat it (£100 is £100). Couldn't fault the service from there on and the 7 month wait now looks like something a lot of people would be very happy with. Good luck (and to everyone else still in the dreaded queue).

 

[dspuk]

We were really lucky and ordered when things were a bit mad but just before they went completely crazy (so I don't think it could be repeated now). Went through the same process as you and hovered over the 'order now' button with Autoebid, when something told me to try calling the one dealer I hadn't tried (maybe your North West dealer?). They agreed to match our quote and actually, marginally beat it (£100 is £100). Couldn't fault the service from there on and the 7 month wait now looks like something a lot of people would be very happy with. Good luck (and to everyone else still in the dreaded queue).

Cheers - was the South Coast one got close, but also tried to jack up their margin with paint protectors and Gap Insurance - without telling me. I got that "you been mugged" feeling and walked away after getting the deposit mail from them. DTD were up front from the start, should hear from the actual dealer in the next few days.

All the North West dealers have been atrocious - funny seeing as how they have a popular chap on YouTube. I got a mail back from one of them today (automatic mail) saying sorry to have lost our business - replied straight back that they never even tried. Sent a zero discount quote and then ignored all mails until this auto close our loop ones. Ticking some boxes for their VW zone manager in likelihood to show they closing all leads.

 

[Trudi]

Looks like I was lucky then.
Went in on 30th December, discussed pricing. Got a bit of banter going with the sales man. Left to think about it. Looked on drive the deal. Cheaper by a fair bit so called the dealer back the next day to see if they could match it and they did.
Can't fault them so far. Should of been picking it up Friday but due to having to isolate will be going on Monday.
I'm old school so much prefer sitting down and talking (although I appreciate not been possible these last few months). It also makes me feel that any questions or problems I have I know who I'm talking too.
Although if they couldn't have come close to matching I would have a different story to tell as its 1 hell of a discount.

 

[dspuk]

Looks like I was lucky then.
Went in on 30th December, discussed pricing. Got a bit of banter going with the sales man. Left to think about it. Looked on drive the deal. Cheaper by a fair bit so called the dealer back the next day to see if they could match it and they did.
Can't fault them so far. Should of been picking it up Friday but due to having to isolate will be going on Monday.
I'm old school so much prefer sitting down and talking (although I appreciate not been possible these last few months). It also makes me feel that any questions or problems I have I know who I'm talking too.
Although if they couldn't have come close to matching I would have a different story to tell as its 1 hell of a discount.

I finally heard back from one NE dealer yesterday - the reply?

"We are not doing discounts - don't need to."

Very much looking at the short term - dealers either play the immediate sale margin game or the volume bonus game - these chaps playing the former and making hay while the Cali sun shines.

My DTD order went through today smooth as silk, so all systems go.... slow

 

[Mike Jenkins]

I bought my Cali using DTD 6 years ago - no problems, very smooth. From memory about 8% discount. Pick up was Eurovans in Crawley (I live in Cornwall). Great handover and lovely drive home to get acquainted.

 

[66tim99]

I bought my Cali using DTD 6 years ago - no problems, very smooth. From memory about 8% discount. Pick up was Eurovans in Crawley (I live in Cornwall). Great handover and lovely drive home to get acquainted.

Ahh back in the days when the factory could deliver to a programme

 

[Begize]

Ordered my new Cali Ocean at the end of last month, went for a lot of extras (about £5K worth list) so came to just over £70K. Got a quote from DtD at around 9% discount and then went to a local dealer (again NW England) to test drive a similar T6 van and see what they could do.

Helpful guy but got the same story about not needing to offer discounts and also heavily promoting the usual paint protection / mats package stuff for £700. Also tried to heavily imply that VW treat dealers using DtD differently, that they might limit their supply, delay builds etc. He also quite funnily mentioned he'd had a run in with "California Chris" over him stealing business from him and had to go and have words! Got the quote by email a few days later for £67400 (including £400 for the paint thing).

Have a mate who is a vehicle leasing broker so he spoke to a couple of the dealers he uses. One came back with £65K, only slightly more than DtD but felt happier going somewhere that mate recommended and has a relationship with (and he got a finder payment from the dealer). Out of politeness went back to the original place I had the test drive and, after a few days (after I'd already ordered), got an email back saying they could meet the lower quote if I would place the order with them and not go backward and forwards to argue it down further. Was honest and went back to tell him where I'd gone (after all, I'll be taking it there for servicing most likely).

According to my mate (and backed up by the dealer when I ordered), the NW dealers are easily selling their allocations and targets atm, so there's no pressure to offer discounts. Where they are located, they easily sell, the NW sales guy admitted he'd sold 16 vans last month to a company doing camper conversions. In his words, it's just crazy at the moment.

 

[66tim99]

Very interesting- anyone else see any truth in this?

Also tried to heavily imply that VW treat dealers using DtD differently, that they might limit their supply, delay builds

 

[Lexlogie]

I posted on this site a few months ago about the price I’d been quoted on DTD. Somebody who works at a south coast dealer said give them a call and you’ll be looked after…so I did and got 10% straight away! So pulled the trigger there and then & tbf they have been brilliant and kept me updated. Also got service and warranty packs / Europe brake-down cover and membership of camping and motor home club thingy for 4 years!! Brucy Bonus!!
I’m not sure if vw have tightened up on deals as it seems there are less deals around now

 

[66tim99]

I posted on this site a few months ago about the price I’d been quoted on DTD. Somebody who works at a south coast dealer said give them a call and you’ll be looked after…so I did and got 10% straight away! So pulled the trigger there and then & tbf they have been brilliant and kept me updated. Also got service and warranty packs / Europe brake-down cover and membership of camping and motor home club thingy for 4 years!! Brucy Bonus!!
I’m not sure if vw have tightened up on deals as it seems there are less deals around now

Which dealer?

 

[Dysie]

Another one here. Ordered last month with DTD through Eurovans Crawley. About the same terms as OP. All very professional and functional but not the most joyful experience. Certainly not desperate for the business. No doubt it will all be forgotten come March or maybe April. Nice to have this to look forward to..

 

[dspuk]

I bought my Cali using DTD 6 years ago - no problems, very smooth. From memory about 8% discount. Pick up was Eurovans in Crawley (I live in Cornwall). Great handover and lovely drive home to get acquainted.

Basically exactly the same here. Slightly more discount but that just covers the upgraded alloys ;-)

 

[dspuk]

Ordered my new Cali Ocean at the end of last month, went for a lot of extras (about £5K worth list) so came to just over £70K. Got a quote from DtD at around 9% discount and then went to a local dealer (again NW England) to test drive a similar T6 van and see what they could do.

Helpful guy but got the same story about not needing to offer discounts and also heavily promoting the usual paint protection / mats package stuff for £700. Also tried to heavily imply that VW treat dealers using DtD differently, that they might limit their supply, delay builds etc. He also quite funnily mentioned he'd had a run in with "California Chris" over him stealing business from him and had to go and have words! Got the quote by email a few days later for £67400 (including £400 for the paint thing).

Have a mate who is a vehicle leasing broker so he spoke to a couple of the dealers he uses. One came back with £65K, only slightly more than DtD but felt happier going somewhere that mate recommended and has a relationship with (and he got a finder payment from the dealer). Out of politeness went back to the original place I had the test drive and, after a few days (after I'd already ordered), got an email back saying they could meet the lower quote if I would place the order with them and not go backward and forwards to argue it down further. Was honest and went back to tell him where I'd gone (after all, I'll be taking it there for servicing most likely).

According to my mate (and backed up by the dealer when I ordered), the NW dealers are easily selling their allocations and targets atm, so there's no pressure to offer discounts. Where they are located, they easily sell, the NW sales guy admitted he'd sold 16 vans last month to a company doing camper conversions. In his words, it's just crazy at the moment.

Sounds like a good explanation to why the NE dealers basically ignored me. That's life - but for sure I'll never go to them again if needed.

 

[dspuk]

Another one here. Ordered last month with DTD through Eurovans Crawley. About the same terms as OP. All very professional and functional but not the most joyful experience. Certainly not desperate for the business. No doubt it will all be forgotten come March or maybe April. Nice to have this to look forward to..

Having worked for an OEM manufacturer you get used to a soulless experience when picking up a new car every 6 months - like you I found DTD great and eager for biz and while Eurovans was functional, TBH, that's all I want from a dealer. We had a mini chat though and they said DtD was working out for them as it was enabling them to pickup the volume bonus. For the other posters experience of the dealer saying the OEM would treat Eurovans any different it's pure salesman twaddle. They sell all cars to all dealers for the exact same price - and as long as the order bank full and they keeping their CS scores high, they don't really care.

 

[dspuk]

I posted on this site a few months ago about the price I’d been quoted on DTD. Somebody who works at a south coast dealer said give them a call and you’ll be looked after…so I did and got 10% straight away! So pulled the trigger there and then & tbf they have been brilliant and kept me updated. Also got service and warranty packs / Europe brake-down cover and membership of camping and motor home club thingy for 4 years!! Brucy Bonus!!
I’m not sure if vw have tightened up on deals as it seems there are less deals around now

Great stuff - I think the 10%'ers are a time gone by, but for 9%, give or take, given the environment, I'm happy.

 

[Lexlogie]

Which dealer?

Breeze in Poole! The service packs ect were a deal on until end of June (instead of finance contributions ) & I’m planning on buying outright!
Really good customer service and very knowledgable about the Cali