Shipping

[AnthonyH89]

I'm just wondering how long it would take to arrive in the UK from germany. I found out today my new polo gti plus is stuck at the port of exit in Germany. Does anyone know how long it would take, once Germany begins shipping again?

[monkeyhanger]

I'm just wondering how long it would take to arrive in the UK from germany. I found out today my new polo gti plus is stuck at the port of exit in Germany. Does anyone know how long it would take, once Germany begins shipping again?

If things were moving fluidly, it old be in your hands in 5 days. Unfortunately they're not.

If your car was ready to board the next ship at Emden, the crossing route is about 16 hours, add a day or 2 to clear customs

Depending on which port it's going to and which dealer it ends up at, it can take from a day to 3 weeks to get to the dealers. Cars move from Tyne very quickly, Grimsby and Sheerness can be very slow. For me, VWs previously bought from Benfield (now Lookers) in Newcastle and Pulman (Sunderland) are very close to Tyne Dock and have moved very fast for me previously. Your supplying dealership location dictates which dock your car arrives at.

Anything north of Northallerton goes to Tyne (inc all of Scotland. South of Northallerton to Leicester/Norwich will generally go to Grimsby, and south of there everything goes to Sheerness. The ship your car will end on May well visit other ports en-route, but they only unload VWs at those 3 ports.

[AnthonyH89]

Thanks for advice! Wait has been long. Quite surreal with how close it is to taking delivery.

I purchased my car from Bolton ( so greater Manchester. North West) does that mean it will come from Tyne?

[Ima]

Has your dealer organised a social distanced handover? How will it work?

[SRGTD]

Has your dealer organised a social distanced handover? How will it work?

That’s an interesting one.

Off topic, but relevant to anyone who’s received a confirmed build date notification but not received a tracking update to say their car’s actually been built, then there’s a fair chance it might not have been built yet.

Forum member OomStu_ZA posted a link to a news item back on 31/03/20 which reported that SA car makers didn’t foresee any disruption to production as a result of Covid-19. This was the news item in question;
https://www.wheels24.co.za/News/sa-auto ... s-20200318

However, like most other VW production facilities (and other car manufacturers’ factories) elsewhere in the world, VW’s Uitenhage production facility did temporarily shut down, with production scheduled to re-start this month.

https://www.iol.co.za/motoring/industry ... y-46766961

If restarting Polo production follows the same process as other VW plants, then this will be a staged approach - presumably meaning initially the plant won’t be at normal / full operating capacity, but will build up to full capacity over a period of time. Employees may also need to be trained in and adopt revised safe working practices too. What this means in terms of build delays is anyone’s guess, but if the factory was closed for most or all of April (and the beginning of May?), and it’ll take a while to get back up to full operating capacity, I dare say realistically, this could add 5-6 weeks to lead times - maybe longer, depending on how much below normal capacity the plant is operating at in the initial weeks after re-starting production. That’s assuming there’s no disruption to VW’s supply chain or transportation of cars from the factory to the UK and on to the dealerS.

Interesting times.......

[Ima]

I’ll let you know. My car was due to be built in week 18 and VW when I asked during week 18 if it was delayed just said it was still week 18 and didn’t mention any factory delays. I’m waiting on them to call me back though this week to confirm if it was built and if not expected new build date.

[lancslad1985]

It’s looking like car dealerships may be opening as part of non-essential retail after 1st June. Can’t come quick enough for me as I’m itching to test drive some cars and get something sportier, even if it’s an r line!

[SRGTD]

It’s looking like car dealerships may be opening as part of non-essential retail after 1st June. Can’t come quick enough for me as I’m itching to test drive some cars and get something sportier, even if it’s an r line!

With social distancing and the requirement to maintain 2m distance from others, presumably it will mean only unaccompanied test drives allowed .

I can’t see how accompanied test drives would work just now with social distancing, and dealers will be desperate to sell some cars, so they’re unlikely to say ‘no test drives’, unless restrictions such as ‘small print’ in the dealership’s insurance on demonstrator cars don’t allow unaccompanied test drives (unlikely?).

[monkeyhanger]

I've had plenty of unaccompanied test drives, it's about trust mainly. If you have a "usual" salesperson or you have history with a dealership, an unaccompanied test drive is like taking a courtesy car after dropping your car off for warranty work or a service.

[SRGTD]

I've had plenty of unaccompanied test drives, it's about trust mainly. If you have a "usual" salesperson or you have history with a dealership, an unaccompanied test drive is like taking a courtesy car after dropping your car off for warranty work or a service.

Me too. In fact thinking about it, in well over 40 years of driving, any test drive I’ve ever had (and there’ve been quite a few in that time) has been unaccompanied - even when driving some quite nice hot hatches when I was in my very early 20’s. Perhaps I just have an honest, trustworthy looking face .

Some dealers aren’t as accommodating though - I have friends who’ve not been so lucky and the salesperson has gone along for the ride.

[green justin]

On the German forum,

You can no longer buy the Polo GTI. One user received an email stating the POLO GTI is no longer available for order until further notice.
It is has been taken off the Model Configurator.

Possibly Covid 19 situation. i assume different factory for the left hand drive models?

[SRGTD]

On the German forum,

You can no longer buy the Polo GTI. One user received an email stating the POLO GTI is no longer available for order until further notice.
It is has been taken off the Model Configurator.

Possibly Covid 19 situation. i assume different factory for the left hand drive models?

I think left hand drive models of the Polo are built in Spain. The Polo GTI / GTI+ models (right hand drive) are still on the configurator on VW”s UK website, so it seems that whatever the reason(s), it’s currently only LHD models of the GTI where VW have stopped taking orders.

[stuartrendall]

On the spanish VW website you can still order a LHD polo gti. Maybe it's a government thing.

[stevereeves]

All my test drives for various brands have been solo apart from one - Ford. For some reason I took my sister along, as a 2nd pair of eyes and ears are helpful in any case, and at the pre-arranged test drive half of the showroom staff accompanied us - 3 Ford staff members insisted on coming along with with us . If my sis hadn't tagged along there could well have been 4 of them. I was infomed it was 'company policy, no solo test drives' but I wasn't at all happy and TBH I found it quite intimidating. But I kinda liked the car and arranged another test provided half the Ford plant didn't pile in like some weird 'how many students can be crammed into a Mini for charidy' scenario. On arrival the salesman asked "why are you back for another test drive, you've already driven the car, it's time to complete the purchase, obviously". At the end of the drive the tall salesman stood very close and tried to tower over me, so I stood up, went toe to toe with him, looked him dead in the eye and informed him "I'm not keen on the car afterall and didn't appreciate the way I've been treated here and I don't like YOU, so won't complete any purchase. Obviously" . My only regret is not turning round to see the look on his face ....

[lancslad1985]

On the German forum,

You can no longer buy the Polo GTI. One user received an email stating the POLO GTI is no longer available for order until further notice.
It is has been taken off the Model Configurator.

Possibly Covid 19 situation. i assume different factory for the left hand drive models?

I think left hand drive models of the Polo are built in Spain. The Polo GTI / GTI+ models (right hand drive) are still on the configurator on VW”s UK website, so it seems that whatever the reason(s), it’s currently only LHD models of the GTI where VW have stopped taking orders.

Blame me if they stop doing it. It’s because I’m looking at a gti plus.