VW refusing to supply car in colour ordered

[Help me]

My wife and I have ordered a factory Tiguan RLine in Ruby Red from a local franchise on 29/06/18. Last week over 6 weeks later we were contacted by dealer to say VW have told them they will only now provide us with black, grey,white or silver as they have decided to stop making in all other colours.
I have contacted VW Uk as the supplying dealer has the exact car we want sat in its showroom but it has £900.00 of extras fitted. It is unregistered so ideal for our 29/09/18 scheduled handover. Initially the dealer was quite understandably reluctant to give us this car without me paying the extra £900 as it is not his error. I have now been contacted by VW asking me to pay £500 for the extras and they and the dealer will each pay £200.

This car is through Motability as my daughter is disabled and the AP is £2749.00. Other points of note are that VW configuration still allows Ruby Red to be specified. The car has actually been offered to me as a private purchase with £5k off the list price which includes (£2k VW contribution).
The car in the showroom is also MY18 which means very shortly it will need registering allowing for a month deregation (I think that’s correct) as not WLTP compliant. This will no doubt significantly impact on its value further.
So my questions are am I being unreasonable
A) Not just changing the colour.
B) Expecting VW to pay for the extras and save them being stuck with an old car that they cant get list for.

Thanks Mike

[Mexman]

I think this thread may not go the way you expect it to.
I also, just read the dreaded Motability word.
Oh dear.

[russy01]

Isn’t it just tough st?
Argue all you like about the car in the showroom - but you didn’t order that one and whilst it might seem the best solution to you, it might not be to them.

Just accept one of the colours they offer you, or go buy something else. Life’s too short...

[Monkeylegend]

Help me said:

My wife and I have ordered a factory Tiguan RLine in Ruby Red from a local franchise on 29/06/18. Last week over 6 weeks later we were contacted by dealer to say VW have told them they will only now provide us with black, grey,white or silver as they have decided to stop making in all other colours.
I have contacted VW Uk as the supplying dealer has the exact car we want sat in its showroom but it has £900.00 of extras fitted. It is unregistered so ideal for our 29/09/18 scheduled handover. Initially the dealer was quite understandably reluctant to give us this car without me paying the extra £900 as it is not his error. I have now been contacted by VW asking me to pay £500 for the extras and they and the dealer will each pay £200.

This car is through Motability as my daughter is disabled and the AP is £2749.00. Other points of note are that VW configuration still allows Ruby Red to be specified. The car has actually been offered to me as a private purchase with £5k off the list price which includes (£2k VW contribution).
The car in the showroom is also MY18 which means very shortly it will need registering allowing for a month deregation (I think that’s correct) as not WLTP compliant. This will no doubt significantly impact on its value further.
So my questions are am I being unreasonable
A) Not just changing the colour.
B) Expecting VW to pay for the extras and save them being stuck with an old car that they cant get list for.

Thanks Mike

If you were selling a car with a desirable option worth £900 and you had priced accordingly, how would you react if a buyer asked you to drop the price by £900 because they didn't want the option?

Would you offer to reduce the price by £400 or would you tell them to buy elsewhere?

[jas xjr]

I know nothing about motabilty and pretty much everything else but does it make sense that whoever is responsible for the deal thinks that the colour will have an impact on the residual value?

[anonymous-user]

Sounds perfectly reasonable, I’d say you’ve got a decent deal there assuming the options are ones you want.

Either pay the extra or order something else.

And before anyone starts banging on about Motability, it’s not a “free car”, people with them give up a chunk of disability benefits and pay to top up if the car they get exceeds that amount.

[Help me]

Thanks Mexman, put the dreaded word to one side. You are a salesman so I hope would appreciate that I am in no way criticising the dealer. Look at this simply as a customer orders car then half way through waiting period manufacturer removes colour. Currently most cars of interest have 6/7 month lead time.
In your experience would you not think VW could work with them to make the deal happen as it is a problem of their making?

[Tomo1971]

Call the Daily Express etc, they all love a story like this, it has all the marks of pulling the heart strings;

Disabled daughter,
Big corporation whom have screwed the country over on the emissions scandle
Few pictures with the red car in the background - sad faces of course.

[Mexman]

From what you are saying, I think they have tried to help.
They have offered you a contribution towards the better spec available car.
Why are you not happy with that to get the colour and car that you want?
The dealer may be happy to have that car with that spec in that colour and may not want to discount it or give anything off it, as he knows it may be desirable.
Bear in mind that the dealer will only be taking a very small percentage of the price of that car in profit, and he may hopefully want to maximise that profit with your average customer looking for conventional HP or PCP finance on that price of car.
In the big scheme of things if you have been offered £200 from VW and £200 from the dealer, then you are only £500 away.
Do you really want to lose that particular car for the sake of £500?

[Squiggs]

Order a black one …… but demand that VW re-spray it red - job jobbed

[Auto810graphy]

Contact Motability and explain as they may offer you a price adjustment in your monthly additional payments.

The only problems I see are the early term of you current car for a non WLTP car.

[ZX10R NIN]

It's really a case of accept their offer (maybe try & get them to contribute £250 each) & get the car as long as Motability are happy with this being a non WLTP car then go for it, or just get another colour.

[HTP99]

ZX10R NIN said:

It's really a case of accept their offer (maybe try & get them to contribute £250 each) & get the car as long as Motability are happy with this being a non WLTP car then go for it, or just get another colour.

Motability won't have an issue with it being non WLTP, as long as it isn't registered in August but not delivered till September.

Whilst not common this sort of thing does happen; dealers are told to still take orders leading up to a change, whether spec change, facelift, or likely in this case the change from NEDC to WLTP and it has also been used to streamline the range a bit or drop colours and/or spec that doesn't sell and the dealer then finds out that the order cannot be fulfilled in its entirety, it is frustrating for the dealer too.

I had a similar thing recently this year; a car was ordered under Motability on 4th April, just as we heard about the forthcoming changes, we were told to still take orders and they would still be fulfilled, then we found out that the order as it was couldn't and all specs had changed, however we managed to get them into a higher spec for the same advance payment £nil, they are collecting tomorrow; almost 5 months later.

Either accept the offer or go for a different colour, it's a pain but in the grand scheme of things there are more things to worry about in this world than a colour!

[SCEtoAUX]

Tough luck. Buy the colour they have or pay the extra £900.00 FFS.

[Help me]

Thanks for the replies particularly the constructive ones. I do wonder why some take the time to post such as the last. The world would be a nicer place without keyboard warriors and I was hoping for insights from other people’s experiences.
Again thanks all those constructive people.

[DocJock]

I don't think you are being unreasonable, expecting VW to supply the car you ordered. As they won't, I don't think it's unreasonable of you to expect a little 'sweetener' from them.

I do think you are unreasonable criticising posters who disagree with you. You asked for opinions and that is what you got, like them or not.

[russy01]

They are offering a sweetness in the form of £400?

[manracer]

My understanding is that the dealer and therefore the salesman make very little on motability cars.

I don't think you are being unreasonable in your attempt to get money off, nor I do I think their offer is unreasonable.

I would personally approach seat or even Skoda to see what red alternatives they may have hitting the UK imminently.

Failing all that, you already know your options.

[Pistonheader101]

russy01 said:

They are offering a sweetness in the form of £400?

Not bad, id probably take it