How far would you travel?

snowy55 · Aug 28, 2014

During the purchase of our Cali we had attempted dealings with 3 VW van centres.
All the individual people were nice but the whole experience was shambolic to say the least.

How far would you travel to go to a VW California Specialist who dealt solely with California's had sales people who knew how to order them and how to operate all the equipment which battery did what etc, technician's that knew how to fix all the interior equipment.

If there was say 6 across the country would you be prepared to travel that far for specialist attention and lessen the grief that a lot of us seem to have, which when you're spending life changing sums of money is stressful enough?

Is there a big enough market in Californias to support this idea?

Meoncoast · Aug 28, 2014

The issue for me is not the buying it is the follow up service and repairs

SMG is a good hour each way from me and will get my "California" related work however Breeze is 10 minutes away so got my service done there and "van" related work

the problem comes if my van is off the road more than a day if a daily drive

prior to buying I did all my research mainly on this web site so in fact I had a better insight into how things worked rather than the selling dealer I also read all manuals cover to cover between buying and picking up

think you have to shop around to find dealers you trust that's what I did

Stu · Aug 28, 2014

I think Andy makes a great point that in most cases if you've done your homework then you would know more about the Cali than the sales person, it's not how it should be but it's how it is.

Then the purchase location essentially becomes a facility to obtain the item - in this case a van and can be more about price than anything else in my view. More so if you'll not be going back for servicing etc.

I travelled around 120 miles to buy my van, would have travelled further if needed.

I now travel about 1.5 hours to SMG for everything else.

KernowLad · Aug 28, 2014

350 mile to Preston for me. No one else had a 180 4motion in stock at the time!

gatvol · Aug 28, 2014

This is a very good question. I have had very patchy experiences with two vw franchisees, both within about an hour of me, and would happily travel further, say two hours, to visit one that was competent.

Cooperman19 · Aug 28, 2014

There pretty poor where I live so the only dealership I have found thus far who are enthusiastic, helpful, speak the same language and know their Cali is SMG and they will be getting my work, a Good 2 hour journey on a good day :thumb

Hotel California · Aug 28, 2014

We have the same problem in Belgium , you would fall from from your chair if i told the tings they told me at the local dealer in Antwerp where i bought my Cali...
I knew when i drove away with the new Cali , first thing to do ...search for a dealer with knowledge...i bought a stock car with a reasneble discount and they gave a good price for my ten year old Defender , i had a Cali within a week times... :mrgreen: but no way they had the knowledge of a Cali
I found my new dealer in the Netherlands , at approx. 1,5 hour drive. Camper Centrum Amersfoort! Owner had sevral Cali's of his owm , bits and pieces in stock , many accecoirs in stock , brandrup dealer , ...they turn a Cali inside out and back without any probs...
Went ther sevral times to purchase accecoires , placing of a Bearlock , 20.000km maintenance .
They have many forreing Cali clients , even an American who comes over every year to europe to travel in his Vw Karmann , he bought it in Holland and leaves it in a carpark when returning to the states .

malc · Aug 29, 2014

How about this....
Have California owners throughout the country to give demos and explain everything. Then buy the Cali on line thru Amazon.

Stu · Aug 29, 2014

malc said:
How about this....
Have California owners throughout the country to give demos and explain everything. Then buy the Cali on line thru Amazon.

It could catch on!! :mrgreen:

Gasgas · Aug 29, 2014

The problem that I see with a limited network of California dealers is that it would create a bit of a cartel regarding the price ,plus VW would probally not sell as many units due to the market becoming less competitive. What VW should do is make sure all dealers put their service,parts and sales staff through decent training programmes as the level of awareness/knowledge out there is indeed shocking !!! which is a real shame on such a terrific product.

Freeley · Aug 29, 2014

It's not just cali's that vw sales staff struggle with - when my in laws bought an Up! earlier this year I read the brochure a few times and during the test drive and subsequent discussions it soon became clear that the salesman didn't know much about that either!
I make a 100 mile round trip to Carrs Exeter with our cali when I have a dealer in the town I live in - it's annoying I have to do it but Carrs know what they're doing and don't trash it like my local dealer did

swisspace · Aug 29, 2014

We also decided to buy from a dealer about 50miles away rather than the local one 3 miles away or next nearest 30 miles purely because of good service, They way we were spoken to at the others is not the way to get my custom. We will make teh extra journey come service time etc because that dealer took the time and effort to explain when buying and also during handover, so we get the impression he will look after our bus.

snowy55 · Aug 29, 2014

Thanks for all the replies and it looks like distance is not problem when buying or servicing your Cali's.

In all the dealerships we visited the California is always given pride of place in the showroom with the roof elevated and the picnic chairs and table arranged on piece of plastic grass yet they know F all about them. :headbang

dancingbear2022 · Apr 14, 2023

snowy55 said:
During the purchase of our Cali we had attempted dealings with 3 VW van centres.
All the individual people were nice but the whole experience was shambolic to say the least.

How far would you travel to go to a VW California Specialist who dealt solely with California's had sales people who knew how to order them and how to operate all the equipment which battery did what etc, technician's that knew how to fix all the interior equipment.

If there was say 6 across the country would you be prepared to travel that far for specialist attention and lessen the grief that a lot of us seem to have, which when you're spending life changing sums of money is stressful enough?

Is there a big enough market in Californias to support this idea?

I bought my Cali online and picked it up a month later. I was confident it would be properly prepared as it was an approved VW Van Centre (Hawco Inverness) and wasn’t disappointed.. it was pristine and looked like new - fully supported in a couple of after questions and very happy with it. Mind you I was going north to Inverness anyway and rented a car to go pick up