The VW buying experience
Discussion
So, this is the lovely story of trying to buy a £35,000 car from VW.
Firstly, looking at the Golf R earlier this year I went to a local VW dealer in Camberley one Saturday morning. Meeting a salesman outside I told him what I was looking for and he gestured to a black R, parked so tightly you couldn’t even see the sides and covered in large frozen water puddles. I suggested looking at the blue one at the front of the forecourt which we did (plenty of space and the car was dry). No test drive offered even though they were clearly not busy although I didn’t ask either. So, doing his job for him again I said I wanted details of the updated car when they came out and so he probably wanted(?) to take my contact details. We walked into the dealership where he got a scrap piece of paper and an old pen borrowed from the receptionist to write the details down. I left and never heard from them again. I bought a BMW instead.
Fast forward to now and I fancied the Golf R again. So I check the VW site and notice there is no information on what demo cars are available. I chose the online chat and select my local dealer (Guildford this time). After a bit of a chat about a car supposedly at their site the VW person tells me it’s reserved in Newcastle! When I point out I am in Surrey she apologises and says she is at a central point, but why the chat asked me to select my local dealer initially I have no idea.
Anyway, she sorts one in Guildford and I go along for the test. It was fine but 20 mins pootling about gives me little feel for the car at all. So I wonder if I can get a longer drive on my own in one, after all Lotus lent me an Evora for half a day and MINI a Cooper S for a day.
Back to my local dealer’s website (I really don’t seem to learn!) and I put in my enquiry details about wanting a longer test drive. I omitted my postcode in error when submitting the form and so it flagged up that I needed to do that. No problem but it deleted my entire message! FFS!
Today I happened to be driving past the dealer and so went in. With one guy outside with a customer I wandered in. 2 salesmen in their offices on their phones, no-one on reception (she was in the corner of the dealership on her phone). I wandered out and the guy outside noticed. A quick chat revealed 20mins is all you get from any VW dealer. 20 mins for a £35k car that I’d keep 2-3 years at least
I’ll stick with our BMW.
Firstly, looking at the Golf R earlier this year I went to a local VW dealer in Camberley one Saturday morning. Meeting a salesman outside I told him what I was looking for and he gestured to a black R, parked so tightly you couldn’t even see the sides and covered in large frozen water puddles. I suggested looking at the blue one at the front of the forecourt which we did (plenty of space and the car was dry). No test drive offered even though they were clearly not busy although I didn’t ask either. So, doing his job for him again I said I wanted details of the updated car when they came out and so he probably wanted(?) to take my contact details. We walked into the dealership where he got a scrap piece of paper and an old pen borrowed from the receptionist to write the details down. I left and never heard from them again. I bought a BMW instead.
Fast forward to now and I fancied the Golf R again. So I check the VW site and notice there is no information on what demo cars are available. I chose the online chat and select my local dealer (Guildford this time). After a bit of a chat about a car supposedly at their site the VW person tells me it’s reserved in Newcastle! When I point out I am in Surrey she apologises and says she is at a central point, but why the chat asked me to select my local dealer initially I have no idea.
Anyway, she sorts one in Guildford and I go along for the test. It was fine but 20 mins pootling about gives me little feel for the car at all. So I wonder if I can get a longer drive on my own in one, after all Lotus lent me an Evora for half a day and MINI a Cooper S for a day.
Back to my local dealer’s website (I really don’t seem to learn!) and I put in my enquiry details about wanting a longer test drive. I omitted my postcode in error when submitting the form and so it flagged up that I needed to do that. No problem but it deleted my entire message! FFS!
Today I happened to be driving past the dealer and so went in. With one guy outside with a customer I wandered in. 2 salesmen in their offices on their phones, no-one on reception (she was in the corner of the dealership on her phone). I wandered out and the guy outside noticed. A quick chat revealed 20mins is all you get from any VW dealer. 20 mins for a £35k car that I’d keep 2-3 years at least
I’ll stick with our BMW.
Frimley111R said:
So, this is the lovely story of trying to buy a £35,000 car from VW.
Firstly, looking at the Golf R earlier this year I went to a local VW dealer in Camberley one Saturday morning. Meeting a salesman outside I told him what I was looking for and he gestured to a black R, parked so tightly you couldn’t even see the sides and covered in large frozen water puddles. I suggested looking at the blue one at the front of the forecourt which we did (plenty of space and the car was dry). No test drive offered even though they were clearly not busy although I didn’t ask either. So, doing his job for him again I said I wanted details of the updated car when they came out and so he probably wanted(?) to take my contact details. We walked into the dealership where he got a scrap piece of paper and an old pen borrowed from the receptionist to write the details down. I left and never heard from them again. I bought a BMW instead.
Fast forward to now and I fancied the Golf R again. So I check the VW site and notice there is no information on what demo cars are available. I chose the online chat and select my local dealer (Guildford this time). After a bit of a chat about a car supposedly at their site the VW person tells me it’s reserved in Newcastle! When I point out I am in Surrey she apologises and says she is at a central point, but why the chat asked me to select my local dealer initially I have no idea.
Anyway, she sorts one in Guildford and I go along for the test. It was fine but 20 mins pootling about gives me little feel for the car at all. So I wonder if I can get a longer drive on my own in one, after all Lotus lent me an Evora for half a day and MINI a Cooper S for a day.
Back to my local dealer’s website (I really don’t seem to learn!) and I put in my enquiry details about wanting a longer test drive. I omitted my postcode in error when submitting the form and so it flagged up that I needed to do that. No problem but it deleted my entire message! FFS!
Today I happened to be driving past the dealer and so went in. With one guy outside with a customer I wandered in. 2 salesmen in their offices on their phones, no-one on reception (she was in the corner of the dealership on her phone). I wandered out and the guy outside noticed. A quick chat revealed 20mins is all you get from any VW dealer. 20 mins for a £35k car that I’d keep 2-3 years at least
I’ll stick with our BMW.
Firstly, why not just ring and make an appointment with a salesman at your local dealers. They dont respond well to people just "wandering in". You're then giving them time to organise to have the car available and ready. If they dont / cant either escalate within the dealer group or go to one of the other 500 or so VW dealers in the country.Firstly, looking at the Golf R earlier this year I went to a local VW dealer in Camberley one Saturday morning. Meeting a salesman outside I told him what I was looking for and he gestured to a black R, parked so tightly you couldn’t even see the sides and covered in large frozen water puddles. I suggested looking at the blue one at the front of the forecourt which we did (plenty of space and the car was dry). No test drive offered even though they were clearly not busy although I didn’t ask either. So, doing his job for him again I said I wanted details of the updated car when they came out and so he probably wanted(?) to take my contact details. We walked into the dealership where he got a scrap piece of paper and an old pen borrowed from the receptionist to write the details down. I left and never heard from them again. I bought a BMW instead.
Fast forward to now and I fancied the Golf R again. So I check the VW site and notice there is no information on what demo cars are available. I chose the online chat and select my local dealer (Guildford this time). After a bit of a chat about a car supposedly at their site the VW person tells me it’s reserved in Newcastle! When I point out I am in Surrey she apologises and says she is at a central point, but why the chat asked me to select my local dealer initially I have no idea.
Anyway, she sorts one in Guildford and I go along for the test. It was fine but 20 mins pootling about gives me little feel for the car at all. So I wonder if I can get a longer drive on my own in one, after all Lotus lent me an Evora for half a day and MINI a Cooper S for a day.
Back to my local dealer’s website (I really don’t seem to learn!) and I put in my enquiry details about wanting a longer test drive. I omitted my postcode in error when submitting the form and so it flagged up that I needed to do that. No problem but it deleted my entire message! FFS!
Today I happened to be driving past the dealer and so went in. With one guy outside with a customer I wandered in. 2 salesmen in their offices on their phones, no-one on reception (she was in the corner of the dealership on her phone). I wandered out and the guy outside noticed. A quick chat revealed 20mins is all you get from any VW dealer. 20 mins for a £35k car that I’d keep 2-3 years at least
I’ll stick with our BMW.
Secondly, why on earth would you be on the VW website speaking to someone in some call centre or other via chat about trying to org a test drive at your local dealers? Just ring your local dealer. The website is VW UK, seperate entities entirely to each dealer franchise.
Thirdly, if you had a 20 min test drive, why did you not ask there and then for an extended test drive to be organised? Why go back to the VW UK website?
Finally, it may be a £35,000 Golf R to YOU however its a "unit" to them. They wont by default make you feel special and fawn over you just because its an R.
Bought a 2016 Passat from a VW main dealer.
Rang them up in advance, arranged a mutually convenient time, told them i wanted a test drive. Turned up at the agreed time, they had the car ready, test drove it.
Sat down with them at a spreadsheet of VW UK stock and hammered out a price / spec / colour / mileage combo that worked for me and worked for them.
They had the car delivered from central stock. Picked the car up the following week.
No websites involved, no emails, no "chat" with call centres, no problems.
Rang them up in advance, arranged a mutually convenient time, told them i wanted a test drive. Turned up at the agreed time, they had the car ready, test drove it.
Sat down with them at a spreadsheet of VW UK stock and hammered out a price / spec / colour / mileage combo that worked for me and worked for them.
They had the car delivered from central stock. Picked the car up the following week.
No websites involved, no emails, no "chat" with call centres, no problems.
Frimley111R said:
20 mins for a £35k car that I’d keep 2-3 years at least
Yet you're looking to change your current car after a few months?Frimley111R said:
I’ll stick with our BMW.
I've been into our local BMW dealer a few times and apart from the receptionist, no-one has ever spoken to me. BMW doesn't know I exist.To be fair, the salesmen always seem busy with people showering them with orders.
daemon said:
Firstly, why not just ring and make an appointment with a salesman at your local dealers. They dont respond well to people just "wandering in". You're then giving them time to organise to have the car available and ready. If they dont / cant either escalate within the dealer group or go to one of the other 500 or so VW dealers in the country.
Because I was on their site and it there was a big button saying book here.'They don't respond well to people wandering in off the street.' - You have got to be joking!!!! i wasn't expecting an instant test drive (heaven forbid), I just popped in to ask them about long test drives.
daemon said:
Secondly, why on earth would you be on the VW website speaking to someone in some call centre or other via chat about trying to org a test drive at your local dealers? Just ring your local dealer. The website is VW UK, seperate entities entirely to each dealer franchise.
Its 2017. VW have huge site to help potential customers. Are you seriously saying its my fault VW is s
te at online comms?daemon said:
Thirdly, if you had a 20 min test drive, why did you not ask there and then for an extended test drive to be organised? Why go back to the VW UK website?
Well because I needed some time to tihnk about it. i was looking to see if there was one a bit nearer/a better car (this one was an estate).daemon said:
Finally, it may be a £35,000 Golf R to YOU however its a "unit" to them. They wont by default make you feel special and fawn over you just because its an R.
Now I know your joking! 'Don't expect to feel special for spending £35,000 because to the salesperson its just a lump of metal.' Seriously?! Have a word with yourself.Frimley111R said:
Stuff
Ok, so compare and contrast my experience with yours. Mine was ringing the local dealer in advance, give them my expectations, turn up. Expectations met.Yours was - turn up randomly at the dealers, faff about on their website "chatting" to someone in a call centre somewhere about something they'd probably little control over with the vain hope that person would send off an email to someone who might get it and might read it, then test driving the car - presumably not giving the salesman ANY info, then returning to the website to progress it?
Which one of us got the car we wanted?
Yes, its 2017 and they all have shiny websites and contact us buttons, but VW UK and each franchise are seperately owned, why make life difficult for yourself?
Frimley111R said:
Now I know your joking! 'Don't expect to feel special for spending £35,000 because to the salesperson its just a lump of metal.' Seriously?! Have a word with yourself.
This comes up on Merc forums I frequent - people get very miffed 'cos they've spent £60K to £100K and they still get treated like crap.I've said this before, but I've had better experiences buying £500 watches than buying cars - although it has been pointed out that there might be more profit for the watch retailer than the garage gets.
For me it's actually pretty simple:
Don't want people to walk in off the street? Lock the doors.
Don't want people to call? Don't have a phone number.
Don't want people to email? Don't publish an email address
I know there are three sides to everything but it does make me scratch my head how it's somehow the customers fault when the dealer or manufacturer offers a service but doesn't seem too bothered about how good or bad it works when people try and use it.
Don't want people to walk in off the street? Lock the doors.
Don't want people to call? Don't have a phone number.
Don't want people to email? Don't publish an email address
I know there are three sides to everything but it does make me scratch my head how it's somehow the customers fault when the dealer or manufacturer offers a service but doesn't seem too bothered about how good or bad it works when people try and use it.
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: For me it's actually pretty simple:
Don't want people to walk in off the street? Lock the doors.
Don't want people to call? Don't have a phone number.
Don't want people to email? Don't publish an email address
I know there are three sides to everything but it does make me scratch my head how it's somehow the customers fault when the dealer or manufacturer offers a service but doesn't seem too bothered about how good or bad it works when people try and use it.
For me its actually simple too.Don't want people to walk in off the street? Lock the doors.
Don't want people to call? Don't have a phone number.
Don't want people to email? Don't publish an email address
I know there are three sides to everything but it does make me scratch my head how it's somehow the customers fault when the dealer or manufacturer offers a service but doesn't seem too bothered about how good or bad it works when people try and use it.
No dealer doesnt want people to call in or ring. Theres no issue with that. However do yourself a favour and make an appointment. Its not difficult. It means the cars ready, the sales person is ready, and everyone is happy. Rock up un-announced and they're on the back foot, and maybe juggling other activities too.
Emails typically have a very low percentage conversion, so the last thing a salesman will do is trawl through emails answering a load of questions from dolts on the off chance theres a genuine email in there.
Whilst there may be a shiny website "interface" on car sales that the manufacturer / importer wants to portray as their corporate image, they are all individual businesses with individual stock levels and people to support that.
Its not difficult - ring the dealer up, speak to a human being, tell him what you want, and then go see it, drive it, negotiate it and get it.
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: For me it's actually pretty simple:
Don't want people to walk in off the street? Lock the doors.
Don't want people to call? Don't have a phone number.
Don't want people to email? Don't publish an email address
I know there are three sides to everything but it does make me scratch my head how it's somehow the customers fault when the dealer or manufacturer offers a service but doesn't seem too bothered about how good or bad it works when people try and use it.
This is 100% correct.Don't want people to walk in off the street? Lock the doors.
Don't want people to call? Don't have a phone number.
Don't want people to email? Don't publish an email address
I know there are three sides to everything but it does make me scratch my head how it's somehow the customers fault when the dealer or manufacturer offers a service but doesn't seem too bothered about how good or bad it works when people try and use it.
British customer service is among the worst on planet Earth.
The OP experiences a cr*p website, chaotic coordination, and unhelpful staff... and somehow it becomes the customer's fault...
VW have for years been ranked middle or bottom in the dealer-satisfaction surveys from AutoExpress, JDP, etc. No surprises to see they are still a disaster.
Can't speak for other dealerships but I booked a test drive online with BMW with my fussy requirements (wanted to drive a manual and an auto) and then got an email back from a salesman at the local dealership who took on board all my requirements and arranged for two cars to be available at the weekend.
Turned up, drove both, thrashed out a deal and ordered there and then. He kept me updated through the build process by email and I certainly felt valued despite spending at the lower end of the product range (and getting them to pricematch a deal which must have eaten significantly into their profits!)
Chris
Turned up, drove both, thrashed out a deal and ordered there and then. He kept me updated through the build process by email and I certainly felt valued despite spending at the lower end of the product range (and getting them to pricematch a deal which must have eaten significantly into their profits!)
Chris
ScoobyChris said:
Can't speak for other dealerships but I booked a test drive online with BMW with my fussy requirements (wanted to drive a manual and an auto) and then got an email back from a salesman at the local dealership who took on board all my requirements and arranged for two cars to be available at the weekend.
Please name and praise them.I must be an oddball then. I can tell within 5 mins of driving a car if it's for me or not. My local dealer were pretty helpful organising back to back half hour test drives of golf gti, manual and dsg and a polo gti aswell. Little did they know I was only testing in prep for a lease.
I did get asked to slow down a bit on one drive on a twisty a road. My reply was im testing a gti not an UP. Ok carry on.
I did get asked to slow down a bit on one drive on a twisty a road. My reply was im testing a gti not an UP. Ok carry on.
+1
No issues with my local VW dealer - Edwin Mays, Portadown (i appreciate thats in NI)
Family run franchise, attentive sales, told them what i wanted and what they needed to do to get the sale and they delivered on it.
Had a problem with the car subsequently (EML came on), they took it seriously and resolved it to my satisfaction.
Wouldnt dream of trying to arrange a test drive / purchase through the UK website
No issues with my local VW dealer - Edwin Mays, Portadown (i appreciate thats in NI)
Family run franchise, attentive sales, told them what i wanted and what they needed to do to get the sale and they delivered on it.
Had a problem with the car subsequently (EML came on), they took it seriously and resolved it to my satisfaction.
Wouldnt dream of trying to arrange a test drive / purchase through the UK website
Its dealers in general. I've enquired about 3 Mini's, from the Mini approved website you can request a video. On the request i've also added please contact by email as its not possible to speak during working hours. The first one took 5 days to reply, that was by phone, then email, i replied to the email and haven't had anything back and still no video.
I then enquired about 2 more today, one i'm still waiting for, the other sent me a video within the hour. Thumbs up to a mini dealer in Bristol.
I then enquired about 2 more today, one i'm still waiting for, the other sent me a video within the hour. Thumbs up to a mini dealer in Bristol.
daemon said:
Wouldnt dream of trying to arrange a test drive / purchase through the UK website
That's fine but some people have busy lives.Situation A:
Ring sales team at 8am - sorry they're in their weekly sales meeting can you call back?
RIng at 9am - all our salesmen are with customers can you call back?
Ring at 11am and ask for salesman x - sorry he's with a customer, he will call you back?
Missed call - I'm busy - call back, salesman x is busy can you call back?
Situation B:
Send salesman an e-mail
Salesman replies when he is free
I wouldn't dream of trying to arrange a test drive/purchase by phone
Chris
ScoobyChris said:
daemon said:
Wouldnt dream of trying to arrange a test drive / purchase through the UK website
That's fine but some people have busy lives.Situation A:
Ring sales team at 8am - sorry they're in their weekly sales meeting can
"Yes, that would be great thanks."
Salesman rings back - "ok, heres what i want to do, heres my purchase parameters (buying this week / whatever), heres my trade in details so you can do your homework on it, heres what i want to test drive, heres when i can get there, if we can reach an agreement i will be in a position to buy on the day, can you facilitate that?"
. If they dont then i either go elsewhere OR if i'm feeling particularly nasty i'll ring and ask to speak to the Sales Manager and let him know.Never had to do any of the latter though.
ScoobyChris said:
Situation B:
Send salesman an e-mail
Salesman replies when he is free
I wouldn't dream of trying to arrange a test drive/purchase by phone
Chris
If that works for you then grand - just dont come whinging on a forum when the first it doesnt Send salesman an e-mail
Salesman replies when he is free
I wouldn't dream of trying to arrange a test drive/purchase by phone
Chris
Edited by daemon on Friday 4th August 20:52
ScoobyChris said:
daemon said:
If that works for you then grand - just dont come whinging on a forum when the first it doesnt
I won't - I'll just find another dealership 
Chris
Likewise if i didnt get satisfaction from a phone call / return call.
Never had to though.
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